Telehealth parent coaching to improve daily living skills for children with <scp>ASD</scp>
Live Zoom coaching lets parents teach daily living skills to their kids with autism without anyone stepping inside the home.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four kids with autism, took part.
Parents got live coaching through Zoom.
Coaches taught parents how to prompt dressing, tooth-brushing, and hand-washing.
No one came to the house; everything happened on screen.
What they found
Every child learned the daily living skills.
Parents used the steps correctly a large share of the time.
Skills stayed high one month later.
How this fits with other research
Popple et al. (2016) also used remote help, but sent tooth-brushing videos by email.
Both studies show kids with autism can gain daily skills without in-person visits.
Klein et al. (2024) pushed the same idea even younger, coaching parents of 9-15-month-olds online.
Solomon et al. (2007) did parent training the old way: staff drove to homes.
Gerow et al. (2021) proves you can drop the drive and still win.
Why it matters
You can coach parents through Zoom and still see strong skill gains.
This saves travel time and opens slots for families in rural areas.
Try adding a short Zoom check-in after your next parent training to see if you can fade in-person visits.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder often display deficits in daily living skills. Behavior analysts can use telehealth, such as videoconferencing technology, to deliver interventions to families of these children. Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the common barriers to accessing behavioral interventions, it is imperative to evaluate the effectiveness and practicality of delivering behavioral interventions via telehealth. This study evaluated the efficacy of a parent-implemented intervention with coaching via telehealth to improve daily living skills. Children ranging in age from 5 to 9 years participated in the study with 1 or 2 of their parents serving as the primary implementer(s). Parents implemented the intervention with fidelity and the intervention yielded increases in independent daily living skill completion for all 4 participants.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2021 · doi:10.1002/jaba.813