Telehealth training may benefit parents’ who have children with ASD. The use of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can provide better outcomes. There are very few randomized trials to compare telehealth parent training in the Early Start Denver Model (P-ESDM) with a community treatment-as-usual, early intervention program. This study is one of the trials to compare telehealth parent training in the Early Start Denver Model (P-ESDM) with a community treatment-as-usual, early intervention program.
Parents of children with ASD were randomized to video-conferencing sessions with website access to P-ESDM learning resources or to monthly 1.5-hr videoconferencing sessions with website access to alternative resources to support their intervention. Telehealth training was observed to be a useful program that facilitated higher parent fidelity gains and program satisfaction for more of the P-ESDM than the community group at the end of the 12-week training and at follow-up.
The study concluded through its findings that the feasibility of telehealth training with improved parent intervention usage and satisfaction from the program. However, the impact of these effects on children’s development over time is yet to be understood.
Reference: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1088357616651064
