The Efficacy of Using Telehealth to Coach Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder on How to Use Naturalistic Teaching to Increase Mands, Tacts and Intraverbals
Telehealth parent coaching on naturalistic teaching reliably boosts kids’ mand, tact and intraverbal use during play.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ferguson et al. (2022) taught parents to use naturalistic teaching during play. The team met families through video calls only.
They tracked three skills: mands (requests), tacts (labels), and intraverbals (conversation fill-ins). A multiple-baseline design showed when each skill changed.
What they found
Parents hit high fidelity scores after coaching. Kids used more mands, tacts, and intraverbals during everyday play.
Gains stayed when coaches stopped joining the calls.
How this fits with other research
Hao et al. (2021) ran a head-to-head test: telehealth versus in-person parent training. Both groups improved the same amount. Ferguson adds proof that fully remote coaching still works when you isolate naturalistic teaching.
Azzano et al. (2023) pushed telehealth even younger. They coached parents of 30-month-olds showing early signs. Results matched Ferguson’s, showing the model stretches from toddlers to school age.
Ingersoll et al. (2013) first built Project ImPACT in living rooms with therapists on the floor. Ferguson swaps the couch for a laptop and gets similar child language gains, updating the delivery method without losing punch.
Why it matters
You can run parent training without driving to homes. Schedule a Zoom, share short clips, give live feedback, and watch requests, labels, and chat increase. Try it next time travel, staffing, or illness blocks in-person visits.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pick one play routine, model a mand-tact-intraverbal loop on video, and have the parent try it while you watch and praise.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of telehealth to provide parent training in behaviour analytic interventions and researchers have begun to focus on international demonstrations of this model. The current study assessed the efficacy of a training package focused on naturalistic teaching strategies designed to upskill parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and provide them with ready to use strategies to increase social communication behaviours across verbal operants. Two parent–child dyads were trained to increase mand, tact and intraverbals during play. Parents displayed increases in fidelity for each strategy and viewed the training favourably. Both children showed gains across verbal operants, as captured by a multiple baseline across behaviours design. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10882-022-09859-4.
Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s10882-022-09859-4