Autistic young people's experiences of remote psychological interventions during COVID-19.
Lucy Adams, Nicoletta Adamo, Matthew J Hollocks and 7 others
PMID 36645009WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic young people found remote psychological therapy challenging but valued less intense social interaction and no travel.
Three also found it positive, despite home distractions, reduced cues and technical issues.
Key findings
01All six autistic young people said remote therapy was challenging because it felt different from in-person therapy.
02All six young people said remote delivery reduced or made social interaction more controllable; four valued convenience and practicality.
03Technical issues or inadequacies were reported by five young people, and compromised therapy and home environment issues were each reported by four.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The young-person sample was only six, recruited by convenience from one specialist service, and was mostly female and from quaternary services, so findings may not represent autistic young people in local services or with other profiles. Participants needed fluent English, sufficient verbal and social communication ability, and no intellectual disability or crisis, so this excludes people who may be most affected by remote delivery. The study reports experiences and themes, not whether remote therapy improved symptoms, engagement, or social communication. The comparison with clinicians included two clinician-young person dyads, so their responses may not be independent. Remote therapy experiences were confounded by COVID-19, and not all young people had prior in-person therapy. Interviews were done by video call, which may have missed young people uncomfortable with that format.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The project was funded by PRT and NIHR.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that remote therapy works or does not work for autistic young people. It describes the experiences of six participants in a service evaluation and did not test clinical outcomes.