Analysis of the SPARK study COVID-19 parent survey: Early impact of the pandemic on access to services, child/parent mental health, and benefits of online services.
Anjana Bhat
PMID 34591364WHAT IT FOUND
Families of children with autism reported severe service disruptions, especially for speech, OT, and PT.
Parents of younger children and those with greater impairments or language delays saw the least benefit from online services. Low-income families hoped for future online options.
Key findings
01Speech-language therapy was the most disrupted service (59.8%), followed by special education (56.7%) and physical/occupational therapy (46.8%).
02Parents of children with greater language delays reported significantly lower benefits from online services and were less confident about benefiting from them in the future.
03Families with younger children and those with cognitive, functional, or motor delays reported greater service disruptions and concerns, and perceived fewer benefits from online services.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Reliance on parent report introduces potential bias, such as the Horn effect where parents of children with greater severity may rate negative impacts higher. The COVID-19 impact survey is not a validated measure. The sample is biased toward Caucasian and urban families, limiting generalizability to diverse populations. Online recruitment and inclusion of participants from large autism centers may introduce ascertainment bias. Confusion around the term 'Early Intervention' may have led to inaccurate reporting for that service type.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume telehealth is equally effective for all children with autism. The study found that parents of younger children and those with language, cognitive, functional, or motor delays reported significantly lower benefits from online services. Using telehealth as a default for these subgroups may lead to poor engagement and outcomes.