Evaluation of a Telehealth Parent-Training Program in Japan: Collaboration with Parents to Teach Novel Mand Skills to Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Zoom-based BST let four Japanese parents quickly teach their autistic kids new ways to ask for things.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four Japanese parents of autistic children met a BCBA on Zoom.
The BCBA used BST: explain, model, practice, feedback.
Parents learned to prompt and reinforce new mand sounds and signs.
Sessions happened online, no one left home.
What they found
Every parent hit high fidelity after a few Zoom meetings.
Their kids asked for toys and snacks more often and more clearly.
Parents said the program felt useful and doable.
How this fits with other research
Wainer et al. (2021) ran a bigger RCT on telehealth RIT and also saw gains in child communication.
Andrews et al. (2021) added ACT to telehealth BST and cut parent stress while raising accuracy.
Solares et al. (2019) used a pyramid model to train staff online and still got more child mands.
All four studies show the same trend: remote coaching works, no matter who gets trained.
Why it matters
You can teach parents mand skills without flying across town.
Record a short model, watch parents practice on camera, give instant feedback.
Try it for families on wait lists or in rural areas.
Start with one family this week and track how many new mands the child uses each day.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study developed a telehealth parent-training program to teach parents of children with autism spectrum disorder the process of mand-training implementation in Japan, and to further the international dissemination of evidence-based training strategies. Parent-training sessions were based on a behavioral skills training (BST) model, combined with weekly graphic and video feedback. The sessions were conducted by a board-certified behavior analyst-doctoral residing in Japan. Four parents with children with autism spectrum disorder participated in this study. The results preliminarily support the effectiveness and social validity of the program. This study extends previous parent-training research conducted in Japan by comprising all of the following features: (1) online program design; (2) mand training; (3) BST model; (4) session-by-session data on children’s behavioral changes and procedural integrity; (5) within-subject experimental design; and (6) social validity evaluation.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2023 · doi:10.1007/s40617-022-00752-2