Association for Behavior Analysis International

Many applied behavior analytic service providers for autistics/individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have had to transition from in-person service delivery to providing services through telehealth – directly or otherwise. Much of the telehealth research in the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has focused on training other individuals through telehealth to implement in-person ABA-based procedures. More research is needed to guide best practices for behavioral interventions delivered via direct telehealth. This symposium includes three studies that evaluated behavioral interventions (i.e., the Cool versus Not Cool™ Procedure, instructive feedback within a dyad arrangement, and discrete trial teaching) for autistics/individuals diagnosed with ASD delivered via direct telehealth.

The target audience is practicing behavior analysts (e.g., BCBA, BCaBA, RBTs) and those providing intervention for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many applied behavior analytic service providers have had to quickly change how they provide services for individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and transition away from in-person service delivery. One way in which behavior analysts have adapted is to provide services directly through telehealth. This study sought to evaluate the effects of instructive feedback in a dyad arrangement during discrete trial teaching delivered via telehealth to teach tact relations to six children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. During all sessions all participants and the experimenter were located in different physical locations. Results of a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design demonstrated that all participants learned their primary and secondary targets. Five of the participants acquired the observational primary and secondary targets without direct teaching. Areas of future research and clinical implications are discussed in the context of telehealth service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic and in general.

Recent behavior analytic research has demonstrated that the provision of applied behavior analytic services via direct telehealth can be an effective teaching modality for some learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Historically, teaching procedures based on applied behavior analysis, including discrete trial teaching (DTT) have been provided and evaluated via in-person delivery. This study sought to compare the implementation of DTT via direct telehealth to DTT implemented in-person within and across participants. Specifically, this study evaluated the two delivery modalities in terms of skill acquisition, maintenance, efficiency, and learner responding during teaching sessions. Results of an adapted alternating treatments design nested into a multiple baseline design demonstrated that all three participants diagnosed with ASD met the mastery criteria for the expressive labels taught. Areas of future research, participant prerequisite skills, and clinical implications will be discussed in the context of these results.