Utilization of telemedicine to support caregivers of young children with ASD and their Part C service providers: a comparison of intervention outcomes across three models of service delivery.
Six-session parent coaching for toddlers with ASD works as well on screen as it does in the living room.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Corona’s team compared three ways to coach parents of toddlers with ASD. One group got all six sessions through video calls. One group met in person. One group mixed both.
They tracked parent satisfaction and caregiver-reported child progress after the six-week program.
What they found
All three groups posted positive child gains and high parent satisfaction. The telehealth-only route scored slightly lower, but families still called it good.
In short, going fully online did not break the intervention.
How this fits with other research
Ferguson et al. (2018) already pooled 28 telehealth ABA studies and saw the same trend: remote parent training helps, yet most trials were weak. Corona adds firmer quasi-experimental evidence that telehealth keeps pace with face-to-face coaching.
Rollins et al. (2016) showed in-home parent coaching works for toddlers. Corona’s work now says you can drop the home visit and keep most of the benefit.
Agiovlasitis et al. (2025) ran a stricter RCT in India with autism-risk infants and saw big early gains that faded by three months. Corona’s toddler sample kept steady gains, hinting that older age or booster calls may lock in progress.
Why it matters
You can offer parent coaching through Zoom without hurting outcomes. Rural families, sick siblings, or tight schedules still get quality service. Start with telehealth; add in-person touch-ups only if data dip.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Families of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently experience barriers to accessing evidence-based early intervention services. Telemedicine presents an opportunity to increase access to these services, particularly for families in rural and under-resourced areas. The present article describes a brief behavioral intervention and support model for families of young children with concerns for ASD. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this service model shifted to telemedicine-only service delivery, resulting in an opportunity to analyze intervention outcomes from services delivered either via traditional in-person visits, telemedicine-only sessions, or a hybrid model including both in-person and telemedicine sessions. Data are presented for 115 families with toddlers 16-33 months of age who participated in a six-session behavioral intervention and support service model either in-person, through telemedicine, or through a hybrid service model. This intervention was available for families referred for ASD evaluation through the state Part C early intervention program. Intervention feasibility, fidelity of implementation, child outcomes, and stakeholder satisfaction are compared across service delivery models. Caregivers, behavioral consultants, and Part C early intervention providers reported satisfaction with services, regardless of service delivery model. Caregivers and consultants also reported positive child outcomes. Statistically significant differences emerged for caregiver- and consultant-reported child outcomes in some domains, with stakeholders in the telemedicine-only group reporting slightly less improvement, compared to stakeholders in the in-person-only group. Caregivers and consultants in the telemedicine-only group also provided qualitative feedback on benefits and challenges related to telemedicine services. Both caregivers and behavioral consultants reported positive outcomes following a brief behavioral intervention and support model targeted at families of young children with concern for ASD. Stakeholders reported improvement in child behavior and satisfaction with services across in-person, telemedicine-only, and hybrid models of service delivery. These results suggest that telemedicine presents a promising opportunity for increasing service access. Additional research is needed to continue optimizing the experience of telemedicine-based service delivery for both families and intervention providers.
Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 2021 · doi:10.1186/s11689-021-09387-w