Training Parents of Children with ASD Via Telehealth to Implement Communication Interventions: A Narrative Review

Children with ASD experience communication deficits that necessitate intervention. Involving parents of children with ASD in interventions is helpful for generalization of skills and the overall success. Also, involving parents is beneficial for their mental health. Not all children with ASD and their families have access to intervention services especially those who live in rural or underserved areas. Fortunately, telehealth is a cost-effective option to provide services to children with ASD and their families. In this narrative review, we synthesized the existing literature about training parents of children with ASD via telehealth to implement communication interventions.

We found different telehealth modalities were successful in coaching parents on implementing communication interventions for their children with ASD. The efficacy of parent-mediated intervention in increasing communication skills was evidenced in most studies, but generalization and maintenance were assessed in a few studies. Most studies reported positive social validation outcomes from the viewpoints of the participating parents.

While most studies yielded positive outcomes, further research is needed to address gaps such as the effectiveness of individual components of multicomponent training packages, the social validity from the perspective of children, and the role of different implementers in parent training.