Telehealth Implementation of ABA: 

Optimizing the Patient Experience

Original Webinar Date: May 1, 2020

Webinar Duration: 1 hr 30 min

Short Title:  Telehealth & ABA: Optimizing the Patient Experience

CEU offered: 1.5 Learning CEUs 

CE Instructors: 

  • Dr. Joy Pollard Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA
  • Lynnette Aguilar M.A., BCBA, LBA


Abstract:  ABA services can help ensure continued access to medically necessary treatment to many individuals who have had their traditional on-site services impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The information presented will support an ABA provider’s foundational knowledge as it relates to optimizing the patient and family experience by conducting effective services using remote technology. The presenters will review strategies to increase provider preparedness for rendering services remotely, outline HIPAA and privacy considerations for practitioners when working from home, identify standards that promote positive provider/patient interactions when interfacing remotely, and share quality assurance considerations for organizational assessment of staff’s implementation of telehealth ABA services.

Learning Objectives:
Objective #1: Providers will gain information to support their professional interaction with patients through a telehealth delivery modality by means of provider conduct, professional dress/appearance and maintaining a professional workspace.

Objective #2: Providers will gain information on leveraging their technology and equipment (e.g., minimizing distracting movements, optimal lighting, monitor positioning etc.) to promote positive provider/patient interactions.

Objective #3: Providers will gain information on HIPAA and privacy requirements when working from home or remote work spaces to ensure patient privacy and confidentiality.

Objective #4: Providers will gain information on establishing session preparation procedures for service providers and quality assurance measures to monitor effective delivery of ABA services remotely.

Instructor(s)

Ph.D., BCBA-D Joy Pollard

Dr. Joy Pollard is the Co-founder and CEO of Clinical Operations at Behavior Change Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in Disability Disciplines, with a Specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis and her clinical experience has spanned across the home, clinical, school, and residential home settings. Dr. Pollard serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where she provides clinical supervision and collaborates on research focused on children with ASD and neurogenetic syndromes. Her research and clinical practice have focused extensively on practitioner capacity building initiatives and pioneering telehealth applications to increase access to medically necessary ABA treatment for individuals living in rural and geographically isolated areas. Her scholarly publications include articles on ethical considerations in the design and implementation of telehealth service delivery models and she has served as a subject matter expert for the Telehealth Guidelines by the Council for Autism Service Providers (CASP).

M.A., BCBA, LBA Lynnette Aguilar

Lynnette Aguilar earned her M.A. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Texas Pan American, with a specialization in ABA in 2011. She has served as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst since 2012 with over 10 years of experience supporting persons diagnosed with Autism and other related Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Mrs. Aguilar has worked internationally supporting rural and underserved populations through ABA consultation in home, school, and community settings. Mrs. Aguilar previously served as the Director of IDD Behavioral Services for a Texas Community Mental Health and IDD Center where she oversaw numerous projects which provided behavioral health services to low income and uninsured persons with IDD residing in rural Texas communities. She joined Behavioral Change Institute (BCI) in 2018 and currently serves as a Senior Clinician at BCI where she works to extend Behavior Analytic services to support distant rural families through BCI’s Telehealth service delivery model.