Telehealth parent training for a young child at risk for autism spectrum disorder
Twenty-nine weeks of telehealth BST gave parents of an at-risk toddler 80% fidelity and clear child gains without a single home visit.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Azzano and team worked with one 30-month-old who showed early signs of autism. The parents met the coach on Zoom every week for 29 weeks. The coach used BST: explain, show, practice, and give feedback until mom and dad hit 80% fidelity.
Each week the parents tried new skills with their child while the coach watched and guided. The study tracked parent steps correct and child target behaviors across three skills.
What they found
Both parents topped 80% fidelity by the end. The toddler improved on every skill the team trained. No in-home visit was needed.
The gains held after coaching ended, showing the parents could keep using the tools on their own.
How this fits with other research
The result lines up with Ferguson et al. (2022) and Lancioni et al. (2008). Both used weekly telehealth BST and saw high parent fidelity plus child communication gains. Azzano extends those wins to a child who is only at risk, not yet diagnosed.
Gerow et al. (2021) pushed telehealth parent coaching into daily-living skills for older kids. Azzano shows the same model also works for toddlers and social-communication targets.
Yi et al. (2021) looks like a clash: public early-intervention staff used telehealth coaching yet showed low fidelity. The gap is about support. Azzano gave one family 29 weeks of steady, researcher-led BST. Yi watched busy providers with little training. Same screen, very different back-stage help.
Why it matters
You can run a full parent-training program on Zoom and still hit clinic-level fidelity. Long weekly BST blocks let parents master skills before the next target is added. If your wait list is long or families live far away, try a 30-week telehealth schedule. Start with one skill, require 80% fidelity before moving on, and keep the camera on while parents practice. You save drive time and the child still moves forward.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AbstractThe global pandemic has highlighted the importance of telehealth to access behavioral interventions. Face‐to‐face parent training improves the development and behaviors of young children at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We evaluated a telehealth parent training intervention for a child at risk for ASD. Two parents identified possible early ASD symptoms in their 30‐month‐old son (lack of imitation, pointing, and vocal manding). Both parents simultaneously received telehealth behavioral skills training on the Parent Intervention for Children at Risk for Autism program for 1 hour per week over 29 weeks. Multiple baseline designs across parent and child behaviors showed that both parents improved their parent teaching fidelity above 80% and the child improved on all trained behaviors. This study expands the utility of telehealth behavioral parent training to young children at risk for ASD to mitigate early symptoms of ASD.
Behavioral Interventions, 2023 · doi:10.1002/bin.1917