Effectiveness of Using Telehealth to Increase Parent Skill Acquisition and Implementation of Behavioral Protocols

The advancements in today’s technology allow for parents, professionals and students to have access to health services remotely. Telehealth use has increased for varied professions, including ABA services, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Koonin et al., 2020). Online parent training as an ABA service is not a new concept for specific populations that may have limited direct access with providers with past research indicating its potential. Heitzman-Powell et al. (2013) evaluated an online training program for parents within a rural setting and indicated varied success. While online parent training has been utilized for some time, this need for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder became more apparent during the COVID 19 pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this need when in-person delivery temporarily halted, and services delivered via telehealth began to help address this gap.” (Batton et al., 2022). Since the pandemic, additional studies on telehealth have been conducted. Research has established that delivering an assessment and intervention package via telehealth technologies is efficient and acceptable to caregivers in the United States (Wacker et al., 2013b).