The experiences of speech-language therapists providing telerehabilitation services to children with autism spectrum disorder.
Saira B Karrim, Penelope S Flack, Urisha Naidoo and 2 others
PMID 36073081WHAT IT FOUND
South African speech-language therapists described telerehabilitation for children with autism as workable when parents were trained, routines were kept, and distractions were reduced.
They valued home observation and access, but warned against overprompting.
Key findings
01Participants applied a family-centred approach and worked closely with caregivers during telerehabilitation.
02Caregiver involvement could become a problem when parents overprompted the child or too many family members were present.
03Telerehabilitation was described as reducing travel time and costs and allowing services to reach outlying rural areas.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The participants were only private-sector speech-language therapists recruited through social media groups, so public-sector and rural service contexts may be missing. The study reports therapists' experiences and not measured child outcomes, so it does not show whether telerehabilitation works better or worse than face-to-face therapy. Only themes linked to selected objectives were discussed. The sample was small and may not represent all South African speech-language therapists.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that telerehabilitation is proven as effective as face-to-face therapy. This study reports therapists' experiences, not measured child outcomes, and the sample was small and private-sector only.