Behavioral Assessment and Treatment via Telehealth for Children with Autism: From Local to Global Clinical Applications

• Authors: Kelly M Schieltz, University of Iowa; Matthew J O'Brien, University of Iowa; Loukia Tsami, University of Houston; Nathan Call, Emory University; Dorothea C Lerman, University of Houston
• Journal Title: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
• Volume: Volume 19, Number 4
• Publisher: MDPI | 2022-02-01
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042190
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Human Development
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Environmental Sciences; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; telehealth; applied behavior analysis; functional analysis; functional communication training; challenging behavior; FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS; YOUNG-CHILDREN; CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR; PARENTS

Abstract

Functional analyses (FA) and functional communication training (FCT) are the most commonly used behavioral assessment and treatment approaches via telehealth for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who display challenging behavior. The FA + FCT telehealth model has been shown to maintain treatment effectiveness (i.e., child behavioral outcomes and parent acceptability), as well as demonstrate treatment efficiency (i.e., cost savings). However, the majority of these studies have been conducted in the United States. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes obtained with the telehealth FA + FCT model that included global applications. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results of the 199 participants who enrolled in the telehealth project across all project sites. The results showed that behavioral outcomes and parent acceptability maintained at similar levels to previous studies across all sites. Additionally, very few differences were found across project sites in relation to drop-out rates, visit cancellations, and technology issues. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the FA + FCT telehealth model for addressing the challenging behavior needs of children with ASD globally and highlight areas in need of additional evaluation (e.g., drop-outs, cancellations) to determine the conditions under which telehealth could be best used.