Telehealth Training in Naturalistic Communication Intervention for Mothers of Children with Angelman Syndrome

Abstract

Objectives : Young children with Angelman syndrome have significant delays in expressive communication. Parents of children with Angelman syndrome require training to support their child’s communication development. Unfortunately, parent training focused on the needs of families of children with rare genetic syndromes is unavailable to many families. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a telehealth parent training program on naturalistic communication intervention for young children with Angelman syndrome. Methods: Using two single-case multiple baseline designs across a total of six parent–child dyads, we evaluated the effects of a telehealth parent training program on parent implementation fidelity of a naturalistic communication intervention, child communication, and child engagement. Results: With the telehealth parent training program, parent implementation fidelity of naturalistic communication intervention improved, maintained and generalized to untrained home routines. Small effects on child communication and engagement were observed during the program. Conclusions: Parents of children with Angelman syndrome were successfully taught via telehealth to implement a naturalistic communication intervention with their child at home. Additional research is needed to promote positive child communication outcomes through parent-mediated intervention.