
Like a lot of places around the country, and likely around the world, COVID restrictions have shut down business and the ability for people to access services that require face to face interactions. This is inconvenient when you can’t get your nails done. This is much more impacting when you have a child with a disability or developmental delays that can no longer access direct therapy services. Early intervention can be instrumental in closing neurocognitive gaps for children with speech and language delays, motor deficits, and autism spectrum disorders. Children with emotional regulation issues because of early mood disorders or a history of trauma need time to work with a play therapist, behavioral therapist, or counselor. However, I am hearing resoundingly from Kids BRAIN families that their younger children are struggling with virtual services. Even with neurotypical and non-disabled children, the interface with a screen is not as engaging, personal, or manageable as what can be provided when in the same room with a provider. With COVID numbers climbing in many states around the country and the local Texas and Dallas numbers continuing to rise, it may be a while before it is deemed safe to walk into your child’s OT clinic, speech therapy office, or play therapy room. Those of us who provide diagnosis and early intervention to children are both frustrated and distressed at the inability to safely go back to business as usual. We all entered our various fields to help children. To a certain extent, we are all limited to some extent in our ability to see patients, help parents, and support children who need it. Now is the time to get creative. Our kids need us to.
If you have an existing relationship with a speech therapist, occupational therapist, or counselor, make a call and connect. All should be offering some form of virtual service. Even if you child is young and is not a good match for sessions in a telehealth format, you should be asking about options for parent training. Although being a therapist requires training, experience, and expertise, it does not take a special degree to be therapeutic. Don’t forget that you are the expert on your child. Take this time to schedule one or more parent training sessions. Work with your existing therapists to come up with a home program. Discuss with them the explicit desire to build a more therapeutic relationship with your child. The purpose of parent training is to help parents be able to work on skills between sessions. Even with very consistent services, you as a parent will spend the vast majority of your time in normal day to day activities with your child. This means working on making these everyday interactions opportunities to build motor skills, sensory tolerance, communication, articulation, eye contact, and reciprocal play. For those of you who suspect that your child has a developmental delay or is at risk of autism spectrum disorder, it may be a while before in person testing is possible. At Kids BRAIN we are only completing testing with children who can wear a mask for the whole testing session. This is in line with CDC guidelines and county regulations.

Even if a 2 or 3 year old was able to keep a mask safely on their face, a high quality developmental evaluation can’t be completed without the chance to sit together, to play with the same toys, share the same snacks, and pop the same bubbles. That means that there are lots of “littles” out there who don’t have a diagnosis but still need intervention. So, consider reaching out to an occupational therapist, speech therapist, play therapist, family counselor, ABA therapist, or behavioral therapist and talk about time for a consultation and parent training sessions. If you are willing to spend more intensive time, consider a self-guided set of videos or parent training materials that focus on interaction, engagement, communication, and sharing of social experience. Your child does not need to be on the autism spectrum to benefit from therapeutic intervention. In fact, all preschoolers would benefit from time with a parent focused on sharing, joining, engaging, communicating, laughing, and building their bond. Most parents are lucky enough that no special approaches are needed to make this happen. However, there are lots of parents out there who just don’t have the right mix of techniques to make this happen with their developmentally delayed child. Check out the below parent training programs for consideration. Each offers an at-home version of a program usually taught in person and is presented either as a set of material for reading, training videos, or a combination.
The Early Start Denver Model is a guide to using everyday activities to help kids connect, communicate, and learn, with particular focus on infants and toddlers showing signs of autism spectrum disorder. Early Start Denver Model Parent Coaches
Self-Study Program Greenspan Floortime Method is a parent guide to using the Floortime (or DIRFloortime) program. This is a method used to help children, young adults, and even adults with a wide range of emotional, sensory, regulatory, motor, learning, and developmental challenges. Although not specific to autism spectrum disorders, this can also be used with developmental delays in isolation or as part of another diagnosis like an intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder.
The New England Center for Children online ABA Parent Training is a self-paced learning platform. Paraprofessionals, parents, and caregivers looking to increase their knowledge of applied behavior analysis (ABA), and how to apply ABA principles when teaching children with autism, can register to take this course. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the use of techniques that increase positive behaviors and reduce those behaviors that may cause harm or interfere with learning
Love and Logic Parenting Online. Love and Logic’s focus is the ability for parents to raise self-confident, motivated children who are ready for the real world. Loving, yet powerful tools for parenting children of all ages.
E-Unstuck and On Target. Unstuck and on Target is designed to be easy and accessible. It’s a program focused on teaching the skills needed to be more flexible. Although it is designed for children on the autism spectrum, it could be used with any child who gets “stuck” easily and can’t move on. By learning just a few key phrases and how to implement them, parents become the “coaches” of their children to help them improve their flexibility and problem solving skills