Description
This paper presents the development and experimental evaluation of telehealth methods in behavioral caregiver training in rural Iceland pre-COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons learned from the study will be described and considerations for professional training and practice in behavioral telehealth for families of children with autism will be discussed. The study was conducted with Icelandic families of preschool-aged children with autism that did not have access to evidence-based services. The experimental design was a multiple baseline across parent and child skills, replicated across 5 families.Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected for experimental and social validity purposes.
Caregivers were taught to apply the Teaching DANCE (Ala‘i-Rosales, Cermak and Guðmundsdóttir, 2013) during play interaction with their children in order to teach their children social communication skills and enhance the quality of the relationship between the parent and child. The majority of the training was conducted through telecommunication methods. The results showed measurable progress for parents and children across all skill areas. Furthermore, the caregivers valued the increased access to evidence-based intervention and expertise, despite various challenges during the intervention. The results indicated that training via telecommunication is a viable approach for rural families with low speed internet connection. Critical training components for higher and continuing education will be highlighted and recommendations for professional training and practice will be discussed in the context of the research as well as the lessons learned. These recommendations include considerations regarding technical skills, effective training procedures, ethical and cultural considerations, and challenges when conducting data-based behavioral consultation via telecommunication.
| Period | 29 May 2022 |
|---|---|
| Event title | 48th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International: Invited Symposium #244: Practitioner Experiences With Telehealth Across the World |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Boston, United StatesShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |