Behavioral Assessment and Treatment via Telehealth for Children with Autism: From Local to Global Clinical Applications.
Telehealth FA+FCT cuts challenging behavior in kids with autism anywhere in the world.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Schieltz and team ran a big Zoom study with 199 families. Every child had autism and showed hitting, yelling, or running off.
Parents learned to do a functional analysis at home. They then taught their child a new way to ask for what they wanted instead of acting out.
Families lived in 12 countries. Most got coaching in English over the internet.
What they found
Kids' problem behavior dropped after the online training. Parents said they liked the program and would use it again.
Results matched earlier small US studies. Distance, language, or time zones did not block success.
How this fits with other research
Spackman et al. (2025) ran almost the same plan three years later. They saw a large share behavior drops in the kids, showing the model keeps working.
Davis et al. (2023) swapped the long FA for a quick trial-based version. Parents still cut problem behavior, proving the steps can bend without breaking.
Perry et al. (2024) coached families in person, not on Zoom. They also got good drops, so the method works both face-to-face and online.
Why it matters
You can now trust telehealth FA+FCT for families far from clinic. Start with a brief Zoom intake, mail simple toys, and coach parents to test and teach. Keep sessions short and record data in a shared sheet. If a family misses a visit, reschedule online instead of canceling.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Functional analyses (FA) and functional communication training (FCT) are the most commonly used behavioral assessment and treatment approaches via telehealth for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who display challenging behavior. The FA + FCT telehealth model has been shown to maintain treatment effectiveness (i.e., child behavioral outcomes and parent acceptability), as well as demonstrate treatment efficiency (i.e., cost savings). However, the majority of these studies have been conducted in the United States. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes obtained with the telehealth FA + FCT model that included global applications. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results of the 199 participants who enrolled in the telehealth project across all project sites. The results showed that behavioral outcomes and parent acceptability maintained at similar levels to previous studies across all sites. Additionally, very few differences were found across project sites in relation to drop-out rates, visit cancellations, and technology issues. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the FA + FCT telehealth model for addressing the challenging behavior needs of children with ASD globally and highlight areas in need of additional evaluation (e.g., drop-outs, cancellations) to determine the conditions under which telehealth could be best used.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022 · doi:10.3390/ijerph19042190