A Family-Based Weight Loss Intervention for Youth With Intellectual Disability

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria for the adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) will be:

• Age 14-22 years
• Clinically overweight or obese, as indicated by BMI guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Scores of ≤ 75 on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT) and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 2nd Edition to establish criteria for the presence of an intellectual disability
• Living at home in a single- or two-parent family with no plans to leave home in the next year
• Verbal ability and necessary behavioral/social skills to participate in a group classroom-based educational program (determined by clinical observation and judgment accomplished through a structured interview during enrollment)
• Signed approval to participate by the adolescent's primary care provider (and by other specialists such as cardiologists or neurologists if the participant has a heart condition or neurological disorder).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria will be:

• Cardiac problems that preclude participation in moderate-to-vigorous-physical-activity (MVPA)
• Insulin-dependent diabetes
• An active seizure disorder not stabilized on medication
• Non-ambulatory, i.e. uses a wheelchair, or orthopedic injuries/deformities that prohibit moderate walking and other exercise
• Colitis, Crohn's Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Prader Willi syndrome
• Unwillingness to wear the accelerometer at screening or enrollment
• Recent history of disruptive, inappropriate or dangerous behaviors (e.g., self-injury, aggression/injury to others, property destruction, and extreme and ongoing use of inappropriate language).