A twelve-month follow-up of an information communication technology delivered intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder living in regional Australia

Dave Parsons; Sharmila Vaz; Hoe Lee; Catherine Robinson; Reinie Cordier

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103743

A twelve-month follow-up of an information communication technology delivered intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder living in regional Australia

Res Dev Disabil. 2020 Nov:106:103743. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103743. Epub 2020 Aug 21.

Authors

Dave Parsons¹, Sharmila Vaz², Hoe Lee², Catherine Robinson³, Reinie Cordier⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work, and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent St., Bentley, Western Australia, 6102 Perth, Australia. Electronic address: dave.parsons@curtin.edu.au.
² School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work, and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent St., Bentley, Western Australia, 6102 Perth, Australia.
³ Kids are Kids!, Australia.
⁴ School of Occupational Therapy, Social Work, and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent St., Bentley, Western Australia, 6102 Perth, Australia; Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

PMID: 32835895
DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103743

Abstract

This study investigated the long-term follow-up of an information communication techonology based intervention, the Therapeutic Outcomes By You application, for children with autism spectrum disorder living in regional Australia. Fifteen participants who completed a three-month randomised controlled trial of the Therapeutic Outcomes By You were assessed at least 12 months post-intervention to determine the maintenance or continued improvement of their language and social communication skills. Findings demonstrate the receptive language, social skills, pragmatic language and playfulness of children with autism spectrum disorder improved during the three-month intervention period and were maintained at least 12 months after ceasing the Therapeutic Outcomes By You app intervention.

Keywords: Early intervention; Information technology; Parent training.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Australia
Autism Spectrum Disorder* / therapy
Child
Communication
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Technology