Is Telehealth Effective for ABA?

When schools and clinics started closing down in March 2020 due to COVID-19, providers of applied behavior analysis (ABA) scrambled to make the transition to online services. In many cases, there was concern about students and clients regressing if they failed to receive support, especially in the context of a global pandemic. While the transition to providing remote ABA services was swift, a healthy level of skepticism still existed (at least from this BCBA) in regard to the effectiveness of ABA being delivered in this manner. However, a recent review of telehealth has yielded very promising results for the world of "virtual" behavior analysis.

In the highly relevant journal article Functional assessment and function-based treatment delivered via telehealth: A brief summary, Schieltz & Wacker (2020) conducted an extensive review of previous studies in which ABA services were delivered via telehealth. They concluded that ABA delivered remotely was effective in assessing and treating challenging behaviors exhibited by children with developmental disabilities.

The journal article is especially significant because it included a review of previous literature and research in regard to telehealth and ABA. In other words, it was a summary of many, many other articles that appeared to point to the same conclusion: ABA can be effective when delivered remotely in certain situations.

This is great news as both clients and behaviorists will likely be relying on platforms like ZOOM.us and Doxy.me to work together for the foreseeable future. Healthy skepticism is still encouraged as this makes sure we remain attentive to all aspects of a learner's digital experience. But we can work (and breathe) a little easier knowing that research exists that supports our current efforts.

Reference:

Schieltz, K.M. & Wacker, D.P. (2020). Functional assessment and function-based treatment delivered via telehealth: A brief summary. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9999, 1-17.