Telepractice parent-implemented training and coaching in a rural area in the UK: Impact on mothers and their children with autism

Abstract

Background: Parent-implemented interventions are reported to have positive outcomes for both children with autism and their parents. Online parent training and coaching have been increasingly used as an effective alternative or supplemental to traditional face-to-face services, especially after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which parents of children with autism can implement a set of newly acquired strategies and the impact these had on their children's communication skills. Method: Four mother–child dyads from a rural area in the UK participated in the study following a multiple-baseline design across strategies. Asynchronous training and synchronous coaching were provided, all online. Results: The present study extended the results of the original US based study it replicated (Meadan et al., 2016). Mothers learned to use the targeted naturalistic teaching strategies they were trained and coached in (i.e., i-PiCS- internet-based Parent-implemented Communication Strategies) and their children's responsiveness and initiations of communication increased and were mostly maintained after the end of the study. Changes in the mothers’ use of strategies were observed in many cases even after training only, and the strategy of time delay was linked to increases in the children's initiations of communication. Conclusions: This replication study showed that i-PiCS is an appropriate intervention to use with mothers of children with autism in the UK and telepractice training and coaching can be a feasible and effective service delivery method.