Parent Perceptions of Caregiver-Mediated Telemedicine Tools for Assessing Autism Risk in Toddlers.
Laura L Corona, Amy S Weitlauf, Jeffrey Hine and 10 others
PMID 32488583WHAT IT FOUND
Parents found a parent-led video autism screening acceptable and comfortable.
They liked guiding play with their child, but some worried the short visit could miss the behaviors they were most concerned about.
Key findings
01Most parents reported feeling comfortable playing with their child, finding the spoken instructions easy to follow, and believing the screening lasted about the right amount of time.
02A minority of parents (12%) indicated that the screening activities did not elicit the child behaviors about which they were most concerned.
03Parent ratings did not differ between the TELE-STAT and TELE-ASD-PEDS screening tools.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and had unequal numbers of children with autism spectrum disorder, developmental delay, and typical development. Only English-speaking primary caregivers were included, so it says little about families who speak other languages. Families volunteered for telehealth research, so they may already have positive views of telemedicine. The study was designed to get parent feedback, not to validate the tools; psychometric properties were not available. Diagnostic agreement was preliminary, and analysis of who was accurately identified was still ongoing. Some children had prior diagnoses from different providers at different times, and current scores were not available for them.
Declared interests
Funding was from the National Institute of Mental Health. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that these tele-screening tools are validated diagnostic assessments. The study was a feasibility and optimization component, the tools' psychometric properties were not yet available, and the diagnostic agreement was preliminary.