Helpful answers to common questions

Before participating in a research study, researchers must provide participants with a description of the project’s methods and goals. what the study is about and what participants will be asked to do. Then, you must complete a form acknowledging that you have received and understand that information about the study and that you agree to participate.

Signing / completing the informed consent form is NOT like signing a contract; you can leave the study at any time, for any reason. You are also encouraged to ask questions at any time throughout the study.

Parents / primary caregivers of a child who has received a clinical diagnosis of corpus callosum dysgenesis (malformation) via MRI, CT, or ultrasound and who is either less than 14 months of age (DCC Infant Study) or over 14 months & less than 18 years of age (DCC Infant & Child Study). Dysgenesis of the corpus callosum (DCC) includes complete and partial agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC, cACC, pACC) and hypoplasia of the corpus callosum (hCC). Caregivers must be 18 years or older and must be proficient in reading and speaking English.

Participation in the DCC Infant Study and the DCC Infant & Child Study involves completing several hours of online questionnaires regarding your child’s medical history and behavior, as well as your own behavior and family context. You may also be asked to complete an interview by phone or internet regarding your child’s current behaviors.

For both studies you will be asked to complete these questionnaires on up to five occasions by the child’s 3rd birthday. For the DCC Infant & Child Study you will also be asked to complete these questionnaires one time a year from ages 4 through 17.

For both studies, you will be asked to submit copies of your child’s brain scans (MRI, CT, or ultrasound) and radiology reports, which will be used solely to confirm the corpus callosum diagnosis required for study participation.

You may be mailed a kit to contribute salivary samples for future extraction of salivary DNA. These samples will be stored by the Caltech team.

Some families enrolled in the DCC Infant Study will be asked to participate in an additional phase of this research that includes visiting the University of Minnesota for an in-person developmental assessment. Travel expenses will be covered.

We will make every effort to assure that your Personal Health Information (PHI) is kept extremely confidential. Efforts will be made to limit the use and disclosure of your personal information, including research study data and medical records, to people who have a need to review this information. Your information will not be shared without your permission or except required by law.

Caregivers will participate on up to 5 occasions when their child is between 6 and 36 months of age (around the ages of 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30/36 months). For the DCC Infant & Child Study, caregivers will also participate once a year from ages 4 up to 18.

At each visit, caregivers will complete questionnaires online (~2-3 hours) and may participate in phone-based interviews (~1-2 hours), which could take ~4-5 total hours per visit.

If you miss one time-point, you can simply continue the study at the next time-point.

You can choose to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. You do not need to provide a reason for withdrawing from the study.

If you do not qualify for the DCC Infant Study, you may be invited to participate in the DCC Infant & Child Study. If you do not qualify for either of these studies, but have completed the online consent to participate and provided your contact information with permission to contact you regarding future studies, we will keep this basic demographic information about your family and may inform future studies of both current and future study opportunities related to DCC.

While we will be happy to talk to you about the scientific findings of our work, we will not be able to give you any clinical feedback. This means we cannot tell you how you or your child compares to other people/children on any of the measures. Most tests done on samples in research studies are only for research and have no clear meaning for health care.

If you first agree to participate and then you change your mind, you are free to withdraw your consent and discontinue your participation at any time. To withdraw from this study, you only need to let the experimenter or the principal investigator know. You can do this by calling them on the phone or by email. You will not be asked to explain your reasons. You may also ask to have your data removed from the study. You will not be asked to explain your reasons. Drs. Paul or Elison will contact you to confirm receipt and fulfillment of your request.

You will be asked questions about your child and your own personal history, medical history, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. These questions may raise negative feelings and may be stressful.

No, you do not have to pay anything to take part in the study.

DCC Infant Study:  We will pay you $20 US for completing the testing at each time-point. If you complete at least 5 time-points, including the 30/36 month testing, you will receive an additional $50 US. (This does not include in-person testing in Minnesota.)

DCC Infant & Child Study: This is a pilot study and is currently unfunded. Thus, participants will not receive compensation.