Autism spectrum disorder: communicative profile before and after remote family guidance
A short package of online slides and booklets lets parents raise their autistic child’s communication rate to age-expected levels.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Silva et al. (2025) tested a short online course for parents of autistic children. The course had slides and booklets families could view at home.
Before and after the course, the team counted how often each child talked, gestured, or used other communicative acts.
What they found
After the online coaching, children produced more communicative acts each minute. Most kids moved into the age-expected range.
Parents also saw gains in the variety of communicative functions their child used and in the space where the child communicated.
How this fits with other research
LEStagnone et al. (2025) ran the same remote slide-and-booklet package and got the same positive jump in communication. The two studies are direct replications, giving double evidence that brief telehealth works.
Strömberg et al. (2025) also used telehealth parent coaching, but focused only on eye contact. Their narrow skill result pairs well with Silva’s broad communication boost, showing telehealth can target different social goals.
Bradshaw et al. (2017) and Bozkus-Genc et al. (2024) taught parents PRT in person. Silva’s online method matched their gains, so remote delivery now looks like a time-saving alternative rather than a second-best option.
Why it matters
You can give families a short slide deck and printable booklets and still see meaningful communication growth. No travel, no clinic space, no long waitlists. Try opening your next parent meeting by emailing the Silva slide set and asking caregivers to track communicative acts for one week. You will have baseline data and parent buy-in before the second session even starts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To compare the communicative profile of children diagnosed with or at risk for autism spectrum disorder before and after speech-language-hearing guidance (indirect treatment). The study included caregivers and/or parents of children aged 2 to 9 years with a diagnosis of or at risk for autism spectrum disorder, with or without speech-language-hearing therapy. Before the intervention, caregivers answered the sample characterization form and clinical history. They also sent a 10-minute audio and video recording of interaction between the child and a familiar adult for pragmatic analysis based on the ABFW Child Language Test. The intervention included online guidance meetings with slides and guidance booklets. After the intervention, a new video of child-adult interaction was collected for pragmatic analysis. There was a statistically significant increase in the number of communicative acts per minute, the number of communicative functions used, and the communicative space occupied by the children from before to after the intervention. Most children changed their preferred means of communication and increased the number of responses, although these changes were not statistically significant. After the guidance meetings, most participants reached the age-appropriate number of communicative acts. Indirect treatment is a good tool to benefit the pragmatic abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder.
CoDAS, 2025 · doi:10.1590/2317-1782/e20240238en