Caregiver-Implemented Digital Activity Schedules With Virtual Coaching.
Bug-in-ear Zoom coaching lets parents run Google-Slides activity schedules that same day and still grow child independence.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three families joined a Zoom call from their living rooms. A BCBA watched the parent and child through the laptop camera. The parent wore a tiny earbud. The coach whispered tips in real time while the parent showed the child a Google-Slides schedule on a tablet.
The schedule used big pictures and simple text. It told the child what to do during free play. The coach never spoke to the child—only to the parent. The study kept this up until each child followed the steps without help.
What they found
Every child started finishing the play routine on their own. Minor tech hiccups—like a frozen slide—did not stop the gains. Parents said the earbud felt natural after five minutes.
How this fits with other research
Koyama et al. (2011) looked at 23 older studies and found paper picture schedules already worked well. Aguilar et al. (2023) shows the same idea now runs on free cloud slides and still works.
Oliver et al. (2014) first used the bug-in-ear trick to coach parents during housework. The new study moves that trick into telehealth and links it to digital schedules.
Aiello et al. (2022) also coached parents online, but they used video feedback after the session. Juliana streams live audio during the moment—faster help, same happy families.
Kunze et al. (2025) stretched virtual parent coaching to kids with broader delays, not just autism. The schedule study joins that trend: remote coach, real progress, wider reach.
Why it matters
You no longer need to drive to homes or mail laminated strips. Open Google Slides, share the link, pop an earbud in the parent, and you are there. Try it next time a family asks for evening or rural hours—schedule independence can start on Monday.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many insurance companies approved the funding of telehealth-based behavior analytic services for both training and direct-care purposes. Activity schedules are a simple and effective intervention that can be used in the home environment to improve independence for children with ASD. Recent efforts have shifted the format of activity schedules from paper-based schedules to digital platforms that make the schedules more portable and provide easier access for both the caregiver and the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Google Slides® is a readily available web-based platform that has been used to design and deliver behavior analytic instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across three child-caregiver dyads was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a caregiver-implemented digital activity schedule intervention on the independent play behaviors of children with ASD. The activity schedule was created and shared on the Google Slides® platform and caregivers received bug-in-ear (BIE) coaching from practitioners to implement the intervention. Regardless of some minor treatment implementation difficulties attributed to the remote service delivery and the digital format, the digital platform and coaching intervention were effective in increasing independent schedule following with minimal training on the part of the caregiver. We hope that the results of this study provide BCBAs with additional guidance on effective interventions and procedures for remote service delivery.
Behavior modification, 2023 · doi:10.1177/01454455221118341