The COVID-19 global pandemic has changed the delivery of rehabilitation services for people with disabilities. Telehealth interventions can help contain the spread of the virus, especially for the services that involve close contact between the client and therapist, like applied behavior analysis (ABA). In Italy, ABA services for people with autism and intellectual disabilities are not recognized as essential health services. Therefore, professionals have made a transition, at least temporarily, towards telehealth services during which services are delivered through videoconferencing systems (Rodriguez, 2020). Telehealth may also be beneficial after the pandemic if it contributes to better results or provides more efficient or cost-effective outcomes.In Italy, during the pandemic, the opportunity for in-person rehabilitation services decreased dramatically for families with children with disabilities. Therefore, parents and other family members have taken on essential roles in supporting and managing their children, and many families have not been trained in delivering specialized interventions based on ABA. Previous research has shown that video modeling, in which the behavior is demonstrated through a video, can increase intervention fidelity by paraprofessionals who have little or no training in discrete trial training (DTT) with a high level of social validity (Cardinal et al., 2017). Video models also reduce the need for a behavior analyst during initial training and reduce the cost of parents' interventions in the home setting (Barboza et al., 2019).
This study used a functional communication training procedure with delay to reinforcement to increase communication and decrease elopement of a 14-year-old boy with Dravet syndrome. The initial functional analysis showed that elopement was maintained by access to tangibles and avoidance of requests. The experimental design used was multiple probes across settings experimental design. The results indicated that the communication level increased, and elopement decreased during sessions conducted in the rehabilitation center and the home environment. Implications for practice are discussed. K E Y W O R D S communication, delay to reinforcement, Dravet syndrome, elopement, FCT 1 | INTRODUCTION Dravet syndrome (DS) is a rare form of infantile-onset epilepsy characterized by frequent, prolonged seizures accompanied by psychomotor and neurological impairments (Dravet, 2011). It affects between 1/20,000 and 1/40,000 of persons. Children with DS begin to show a psychomotor decline in the second year of life, which then arrests around 6 years resulting in a moderate or severe intellectual disability (Ceulemans, 2011). Most patients develop language planning difficulties, dysarthria, and expressive language deficits that cause significant communication difficulties. When growing up, adolescents with DS may have difficulties walking and need equipment to support mobility (Knupp et al., 2017). The syndrome also dramatically affects children's behavior (Sinoo et al., 2019), who nearly inevitably develop behavior problems. The most frequent behavior problems in children with DS are attention deficits, hyperactivity (Ragona et al., 2010), and autistic-like characteristics. Children are reported to be noncompliant with adult requests; they are restless and do not seem to be interested and participate in activities typical of their peers (Sinoo et al., 2019). Other behavior problems include opposition, irritability, and
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