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As the need for accessible interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) grows, empirically supported telehealth interventions become increasingly necessary. With the current COVID-19 public health crisis, in-person interventions have become largely infeasible; therefore, it is crucial that providers have information regarding the effectiveness of telehealth interventions. This systematic review evaluates and synthesizes existing group design research on telehealth ASD interventions. Sixteen articles were evaluated on implementer and child-level intervention outcomes as well as factors that promote equitable access to intervention. Findings suggest that telehealth programs are highly acceptable, comparable to face-to-face interventions, and can be an effective method of training implementers in interventions. Recommendations for future research and for maximizing equitable access to telehealth interventions are presented.

Background Organized physical activity programs have been shown to provide wide benefits to participants, though there are relatively few studies examining the impact of these programs for individuals with developmental disabilities. This pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility and impact of an undergraduate-led dance intervention program for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. We evaluated the impact of the dance program on motor ability and social skills. Methods The study design was a waitlist control clinical trial in which participants were randomized to active and control groups. Eligible participants included male and female children and adolescents between the ages of 4 and 17 years with neurodevelopmental disabilities. The Motor Assessment Battery for Children Checklist and the Social Responsiveness Scale were used to assess change in motor and social skills, respectively. After gathering baseline data, the active group completed 1 h of online dance classes per week for 10 weeks, while the control group entered a 10-week waiting period. All participants then returned for a follow-up visit. Pre- and post-intervention data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects modeling adjusting for age and class attendance with subject random intercept. Results We recruited and randomized 43 participants with neurodevelopmental disabilities (mean age = 8.63, SD = 2.98), of which 30 participated in dance classes. The attendance rate was 82.6% for the active group and 61.7% for the control group. The active group demonstrated a significant improvement in motor skills in an unpredictable environment, as indicated on the Motor Assessment Battery for Children Checklist ( n  = 21, p  = 0.05). We also observed positive trends in social skills that did not reach significance. Conclusions Our results indicate that it is feasible to develop and implement a fully digital dance intervention program for individuals with developmental disabilities. Further, we find that change in motor skills can be detected after just 10 h of low-intensity participation. However, a lack of significant change in social skills coupled with limitations in study implementation suggests further research is needed to determine the full impact of this dance program. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration System: Protocol ID 20-001680-AM-00005, registered 17/2/2021 – Retrospectively Registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04762290 .

The Brief Observation of Social Communication Change (BOSCC) measures subtle changes in social communication behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this brief communication, we examine an online platform that was developed to streamline BOSCC coding and support the development of machine learning-based automatic coding. This study found online coding was comparable to manual coding, capturing social communication changes among children receiving ASD intervention. This advancement offers an efficient alternative to paper-and-pencil coding methods, increasing access and usability of this innovative measure.

Interest in telehealth assessment for autism has increased due to COVID-19 and subsequent expansion of remote psychological services, though options that are easy for clinicians to adopt and available through the lifespan are limited. The Brief Observation of Symptoms of Autism (BOSA) provides a social context with standardized materials and activities that can be coded by clinicians trained in the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. The current project examined psychometric properties to determine optimal use for each BOSA version. Three hundred and seven participants with 453 BOSAs were included to determine best performing items for algorithms, validity, sensitivity, specificity, recommended cut-offs, and proposed ranges of concern. While preliminary, the BOSA provides a promising new option for telehealth-administered assessment for autism.

Children’s early language, communication, and social skills are often learned through social interactions with their caregivers. Being jointly engaged with caregivers provides the referential context for children to learn these early skills; however, many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are impaired in their ability to share experiences with others and can thereby miss out on crucial opportunities for language and social development. There are many interventions for young children with ASD that teach children to share attention with others, from those that are more adult-driven and structured (e.g., Discrete Trial Training (DTT)) to child-led and naturalistic (e.g., Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation (JASPER)). Training parents in intervention strategies is effective for improving a wide range of children’s outcomes. This study aimed to: a) examine changes in parents’ use of four ABA-based strategies during parent-child free play interactions over the course of intervention (entry, 2 months into the intervention, 4 months into the intervention, and exit) and b) explore the relationship between parents’ use of strategies and children’s joint engagement and language outcomes over time. The current study was a secondary data analysis of a randomized controlled trial that compared two different interventions for children with ASD. Children (n = 156) with limited expressive language ability received either 6 months of DTT or JASPER from an interventionist. In the last 8 weeks of intervention, parents received weekly parent training in whichever intervention their children were randomized to. Parent strategies (responsiveness, pacing, prompting, and environmental arrangement), child joint engagement, and child language were coded from a 10-minute free-play assessment that was collected at each timepoint. Results indicated that parents increased in their appropriate use of parent strategies over time. Parents’ pacing and environmental arrangement were related to children’s joint engagement across time and across treatment groups, while only parents’ pacing was related to children’s language outcomes. Implications for parent-child interactions and for parent trainings within early intervention contexts are discussed.