Association for Behavior Analysis International

The abrupt threat of the disruption of services and the health risks of in-person contact during the COVID-19 pandemic created the need, and the opportunity, to explore and evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of telehealth treatment services delivered directly to caregivers and individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (Pollard et al., 2021). This symposium includes three diverse empirical papers that explore the application of behaviour analysis through telehealth. Keith and Luke will present a study examining the effectiveness of virtual caregiver-implemented behavioural teaching strategies to teach joint attention to children dual-diagnosed with cortical visual impairment and other co-occurring disorders. Bajcar and Zonneveld will present a study evaluating the effectiveness of a modified TAGteach intervention package to improve the accurate and fluent performance of gymnastics skills to children via synchronous videoconferencing. Finally, Sureshkumar and Zonneveld will present a study evaluating the effectiveness of video prompting procedures conducted via telehealth to teach children with intellectual and developmental disabilities to perform first aid on themselves for common childhood injuries under simulated conditions. The results of each will be discussed within the context of limitations and implications for future research.

Immediate – Researchers and practitioners who (a) work with individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities and (b) use behaviour analytic strategies to teach skills to these individuals or their caregivers.

Joint attention (JA) is an essential skill in children’s later social and language development. Previous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of various behavioural teaching strategies in increasing children’s joint attention skills. However, research has predominantly relied on gaze alternation to evaluate the attainment of joint attention. This is problematic as gaze alternation is not the only method of demonstrating the skill; other sensory modalities can serve the same function. Although research in joint attention attainment is scarce among the child population with cortical visual impairment (CVI), theories suggest children with visual impairment can learn joint attention through enriching social experiences and with the support of a competent caregiver. We examined the effectiveness of a virtual caregiver-implemented behavioural teaching strategy to teach joint attention to children dual-diagnosed with CVI and other co-occurring disorders. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used with three children between 3-4 years with CVI. In addition, pre to post changes in children’s joint attention engagement were monitored. The caregiver-implemented intervention was highly effective in increasing target JA behaviours for one of three participants. Further, the study also offers preliminary evidence that JA performance can generalize to a novel caregiver.

Unintentional injuries are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). First aid training involves teaching critical first aid skills, some of which are designed to treat unintentional injuries. To date, no study has (a) evaluated the effects of video prompting procedures to teach first aid skills to children with IDD or (b) attempted to teach these skills to children using a telehealth delivery format. We used a concurrent multiple baseline across skills design to evaluate the effectiveness of video prompting procedures via telehealth to teach five children with IDD to perform first aid on themselves for insect stings, minor cuts, and minor burns under simulated conditions. For all participants, training resulted in large improvements, which maintained for a minimum of 4 weeks. Further, effects of the training generalized to novel confederates for all participants, and these effects maintained for a minimum of 4 weeks. In addition, participants and their caregivers expressed high satisfaction with the video prompting procedures and telehealth experience.