Association for Behavior Analysis International

Numerous professionals, including board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs), have had to pivot to delivering ABA therapy via telehealth due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned from these experiences can provide insights to researchers and practitioners about the state of telehealth practice in the community. This symposium includes a series of presentations to inform the field and support the application of telehealth services during times of crisis. The first presentation will describe results from a convergent mixed-methods survey study of the experiences of 657 BCBAs, three months after stay at home orders went into effect. The second will describe the results of a single-case, multiple probe design study across three BCBAs who were provided professional development via telehealth on strategies for building better rapport with caregivers and coaching them to bring about maximum clinical efficacy. The third will describe results of a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of a series of online parent training modules on caregiver’s use of behavioral principles with their young child with challenging behaviors.

The importance of family engagement in their children's education and treatment is emphasized by researchers, professional organizations, and legislations. Providing services with caregivers via telepractice has gained more support and is becoming especially timely due to the current pandemic and social distancing requirements. Professionals, such as board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs), who work with caregivers with children with disabilities may benefit from receiving professional development on strategies for building better rapport with caregivers and coaching them to bring about maximum clinical efficacy. The current study replicated an earlier study by Meadan et al. (2020) to examine the effects of the Coaching Caregiver Professional Development (CoCarePD) program, in which (a) BCBAs received training and coaching from researchers via telepractice on their caregivers coaching practices, (b) BCBAs coached caregivers of children with autism. A single-case, multiple-probe design study across three BCBAs was conducted. Findings support a functional relation between the CoCarePD and BCBAs' use of coaching practices. Participating BCBAs were also satisfied with the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the program. The detailed method, findings, limitations, and implications will be discussed.

Consistent challenging behaviors of young children are known to have significant impact on the child’s optimal development, such as social-emotional development or communication skills (Dunlap et al., 2006). Furthermore, some parents who live in Korea have exacerbated hardships due to limited opportunities for treatment for their children with autism. Intervention delivery using telepractice is supported with more research in these cases. To strengthen the capacity of parents in Korea, we developed and examined the effectiveness of a series of online parent training modules on behavioral principles using a randomized controlled trial with a waitlist control group (N = 88). We found significant interaction effects of Group X Time for (a) parental knowledge of behavioral principles, (b) positive parenting practices, and (c) parental stress, with no preexisting differences between the two groups. Furthermore, qualitative social validity data indicated that parents were highly satisfied with the goals, procedures, and outcomes, and that the modules affected their parenting styles, increased knowledge leading to better child outcomes, and recommendations for future research.