Transitioning ABA Services From in Clinic to Telehealth: Case Study of an Indian Organization’s Response to COVID-19 Lockdown
Full telehealth ABA with parent coaching kept 92 Indian kids learning new language skills during lockdown.
01Research in Context
What this study did
An Indian ABA company had to close its clinics when COVID-19 hit. They moved 92 kids with autism or other delays to Zoom sessions in their homes.
Parents got live coaching while the child worked on language goals. Sessions were shorter, but frequency stayed the same.
What they found
Every child kept learning. Half of them mastered more skills than they had in the clinic.
Parents rated the change at 4.6 out of 5 for satisfaction.
How this fits with other research
Sergi et al. (2021) saw the same thing in Italy: toddlers with ASD held their communication gains when parents ran ABA at home. Two countries, same story — telehealth parent coaching works.
Sutton et al. (2022) looks like a contradiction. French families got only weekly phone check-ins and saw no change in child skills. The gap is dosage: India kept full ABA hours on video; France offered light phone support.
Garikipati et al. (2024) extends the idea past the pandemic. Their 2024 charts show parents who received 40+ hours of training can keep teaching long after clinics reopen.
Why it matters
You can keep a caseload moving when the office shuts. Shorten the session, keep the frequency, coach the parent live, and kids still hit language goals. Build a telehealth plan now — the next closure will not wait.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Draft a one-page telehealth script: 30-minute Zoom, parent demo, instant feedback, keep daily frequency.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, around the middle of March 2020, in-clinic intervention services based in applied behavior analysis provided to children had to be stopped abruptly in India. This qualitative and quantitative case study details how Behavior Momentum India (BMI), an organisation providing ABA-based interventions, transitioned services from in clinic to telehealth while continuing to target each student’s skill acquisition goals in language and communication domains. A cohort of 92 students diagnosed with autism or other learning disabilities participated in this study; 51 therapists, 9 behavior supervisors, and a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst collaborated with parents; 78% of the students and 82% of the therapists used smartphones; and only a few used iPads and laptops. Therapists conducted direct sessions and parent-mediated sessions with 82 students. With 10 students, behavior supervisors trained parents to implement interventions with their children. The critical transition decisions, logistics, and ethical challenges were identified using qualitative methods. Despite significantly reduced session durations, all students continued to acquire targeted skills, and 52% of the students acquired more skills in telehealth compared to in clinic. A parent satisfaction survey returned high ratings onour organization’s initiative, and 72% of the parents reported that their familiarity and confidence with the science of applied behavior analysis had increased.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2021 · doi:10.1007/s40617-021-00600-9