Brief Report: Remotely Delivered Video Modeling for Improving Oral Hygiene in Children with ASD: A Pilot Study

Popple’s team mailed parents a 3-week supply of tooth-brushing videos. Each morning and night the parent opened an email link and played the 2-minute clip for their child with autism.

Twenty kids were split into two groups. One group watched the videos; the other did not. Dentists checked plaque before and after.

Kids who watched the videos had less plaque at the end. The control group barely changed.

The change was small but real. Parents did not need any in-person training.

Gerow et al. (2021) later showed parents can learn full daily-living routines over Zoom. Their telehealth coaching covered more skills than just brushing and still worked without face-to-face visits.

Lde Leeuw et al. (2024) and Camilleri et al. (2024) swapped tooth videos for kid-made Social Stories delivered through an app. The idea is the same: show a visual script at home. Both studies kept the remote format and still improved skills.

Simacek et al. (2020) rounded up 22 similar telehealth studies. They say the field is growing fast but quality varies. Popple’s 2016 pilot is one of the first tiny dots in that picture.

You can email a short video tonight and probably see cleaner teeth in three weeks. No clinic space, no travel, no extra staff. If brushing works, try the same trick for hand-washing, face-wiping, or hair-combing. One click, twice a day, keeps the plaque—and maybe problem behavior—away.