A Preliminary Study of Telepractice Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental neurological disorder characterized by impaired social interactions. The aim of study was to examine the telepractice Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (PMT) for ASD children. 

This study followed a pretest–posttest design. 11 mothers of children with ASD aged 26-71 months (mean=47.09 months, SD=14) were included. Mothers were given the necessary training on the PMT for 12 one-hour weekly sessions, through the WhatsApp software. The self-reported McArthur-Bates communication development inventories (CDIs) was the main outcome measure. The data were analyzed using Wilcoxon test.

Mean scores of expressive and perceptive words significantly improved after treatment with large effects sizes (Cohen’s d >0.8). The activity and gestures section scores showed significant improvements after treatment in the areas of communication gestures, play and routines, working with objects and imitation of adult activities (Cohen’s d >0.8). 

This study provides preliminary evidence that the telepractice of PMT is effective for children with autism spectrum disorder. Further study with a rigours design is warranted.