Behavioral Telehealth Consultation with Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

In this study, desktop video teleconferencing was used to facilitate behavioral consultation at a distance with three parents of school‐age children with autism spectrum disorders. Parents were supported via desktop video teleconferencing as they conducted functional analyses and learned to implement an antecedent manipulation strategy, functional communication training, and a consequence‐based strategy. Parents then conducted a brief multi‐element treatment comparison to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of each intervention strategy on their child's challenging behavior. The results of this study provide additional support to previous research suggesting that a telehealth model of behavioral consultation may be an effective way to assist parents of children with autism spectrum disorders address challenging behavior that disrupts family routines. Suggestions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Training Individuals to Implement Applied Behavior Analytic Procedures via Telehealth: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Studies were conducted by research teams primarily located in the USA, with one study conducted by a research team in Norway. Where information was reported on the distance over which telehealth support was provided, distances varied from a different room in the same building (Higgins et al 2017;Machalicek et al 2009b), a different location under 100 miles away (Barretto et al 2006;Gibson et al 2010;Lindgren et al 2016;Machalicek et al, 2009a;Machalicek et al 2016;Neely et al 2016), between 100 and 200 miles away (Barretto et al 2006;Lindgren et al 2016;, or over 200 miles away (Knowles et al 2017;Lindgren et al 2016;Wacker et al 2013a, b). In three cases, training was provided for trainees in a different country located 300 (Wainer and Ingersoll 2015), 5863 (Barkaia et al 2017), and8333 (Alnemary et al 2015) miles away from the trainer.…”

“…Some researchers cited practical difficulties with offering support in-person, such as large waiting lists for support or costs and time involved with traveling around rural areas (Barretto et al 2006;Gibson et al 2010;Hay-Hansson and Eldevik 2013;Knowles et al 2017;Machalicek et al 2009aMachalicek et al , b, 2010Machalicek et al , 2016Neely et al 2016;Wacker et al, 2013a, b;Wainer and Ingersoll 2015). Alnemary et al and Barkaia et al further cited a lack of behavioral expertise and support available internationally in Saudi Arabia and Georgia, respectively.…”

“…Where the characteristics of the trainer were stated, these individuals were most commonly professionals who had had prior experience or training in behavior analytic approaches. For example, in six articles (Higgins et al 2017;Machalicek et al 2009aMachalicek et al , b, 2010Machalicek et al , 2016Neely et al 2016), it was explicitly stated that trainers were Board Certified Behavior Analysts. Trainers were often Doctoral or Master's students Higgins et al 2017;Knowles et al 2017;Lindgren et al 2016;Machalicek et al, 2009aMachalicek et al, , b, 2010Suess et al 2014Wacker et al 2013a, b) and trainees had varying levels of experience using behavioral approaches, ranging from one ) to 20 years' experience of implementing behavioral techniques (Wacker et al 2013a).…”

“…Three trainees in one study had some prior experience although it was not possible to determine whether these received training via telehealth or in-person (Hay-Hansson and Eldevik 2013), and in one study, therapists were used who had reportedly taken a class relating to ABA (Barkaia et al 2017). In five studies (fifteen trainees), it appeared that agents may have had prior experience in behavior analytic techniques, but had no experience in the specific technique used in the study (Higgins et al 2017;Machalicek et al, 2009aMachalicek et al, , b, 2010Machalicek et al, , 2016, and in three articles (seven trainees), it was not clear how much prior experience the trainees had (Barretto et al 2006;Gibson et al 2010;Suess et al 2014). In some cases, other individuals were also present during the sessions to offer logistical support to trainees.…”

“…Children were aged between 12 months and 16 years (where it was possible to determine age) and in thirteen studies (78 children) children reportedly displayed challenging behaviors such as self-injury, property destruction, aggression or noncompliance (Alnemary et al 2015;Barretto et al 2006;Fischer et al 2016;Gibson et al 2010;Knowles et al 2017;Lindgren et al 2016;Machalicek et al 2009bMachalicek et al , 2010Machalicek et al , 2016Suess et al 2014Wacker et al 2013a, b). Only seven studies (Barkaia et al 2017;Gibson et al 2010;Machalicek et al 2009bMachalicek et al , 2010Machalicek et al , 2016Neely et al 2016;Wacker et al 2013b) reported on client's communication abilities. However, across these studies, they had a range of abilities from no spoken language to fluent speech.…”