Journal Article

Feasibility of Parent Training via Telehealth for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Disruptive Behavior: A Demonstration Pilot

Bearss, Karen, Postorino, Valentina, Challa, Saankari A, Gillespie, Scott E, Scahill, Lawrence, T Lindsey Burrell, Crooks, Courtney

2018

Overview

Telehealth is a potential solution to limited access to specialized services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in rural areas. We conducted a feasibility trial of parent training with children ages 3–8 with ASD and disruptive behavior from rural communities. Fourteen children (mean age 5.8 ± 1.7) from four telehealth sites enrolled. Thirteen families (92.9%) completed treatment, with 91.6% of core sessions attended. Therapists attained 98% fidelity to the manual and 93% of expected outcome measures were collected at week 24. Eleven of 14 (78.6%) participants were rated as much/very much improved. Parent training via telehealth was acceptable to parents and treatment could be delivered reliably by therapists. Preliminary efficacy findings suggests further study is justified.

• Publisher: Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Applied Behavior Analysis / Autism / Autism Spectrum Disorders / Autistic children / Behavior Problems / Behavior Rating Scales / Behavioral Sciences / Benchmarking / Caregivers / Child Health / Children / Cost Effectiveness / Daily Living Skills / Disruptive behaviour / Efficacy / Family (Sociological Unit) / Feasibility / Fidelity / Influence of Technology / Medical technology / Meta Analysis / Outcome Measures / Parent Education / Parent-child relations / Parenthood education / Parents & parenting / Psychological Patterns / Rural Areas / Rural communities / Specialized services / Telecommunications / Telemedicine / Therapists / Therapy / Training / Videoconferencing / World Problems / Young Children