Speech-Language Pathologists' Experiences on Telepractice in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in India-A Qualitative Study.
Niveditha P Rao, Sebastian Padickaparambil, Shivani Tiwari
PMID 40622071WHAT IT FOUND
Sixteen Indian speech therapists described telepractice for children with autism as heavily reliant on parents acting as the therapist in the home.
They prioritized technical stability, sensory breaks, and parent training, while preferring in-person care for complex behavioral needs.
Key findings
01Therapists reported that parents play a role in telepractice that may outweigh the clinician's, as parents must implement guidance throughout the week.
02Technical issues such as network connectivity and audio/video interruptions were the primary challenges, often requiring compensatory sessions or home plans.
03Many therapists preferred in-person sessions for children with severe autism or behavioral issues due to the difficulty of managing sensory needs and lack of physical contact online.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only 16 participants, all of whom were skilled and experienced therapists working in urban areas with clients from well-to-do families, which limits generalizability to rural or lower-income populations. The findings reflect therapist perspectives only and do not include parent or child outcomes or experiences. Purposive sampling may have introduced bias by selecting therapists already engaged in telepractice.
Declared interests
No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these therapist preferences as evidence of clinical efficacy. This is a qualitative description of experiences from a small, urban sample; it does not prove that telepractice works better or worse than in-person therapy for specific outcomes.