International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience
Open Access

Immigrant family perceptions of virtual therapy for young children on the autism spectrum during the pandemic

Hoda Hashemi^* and Matthew Brock

Department of Special Education, College of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State University, Columbus, United States

Received Date: Feb 24, 2023 / Published Date: Mar 24, 2023

Copyright: © 2023  . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

To read the full article Peer-reviewed Article PDF | Peer-reviewed Full Article

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions in services for young children on the autism spectrum and their families. These impacts may be particularly pronounced for immigrant families who face unique challenges. In this qualitative study, we conducted one-to-one virtual interviews with eight Persian-speaking immigrant parents of young children on the autism spectrum who were receiving in-person behavioral therapy before the pandemic but who transitioned to virtual therapy during the pandemic. Families reported that challenging behavior was more frequent with longer duration after the transition to online instruction, they were less satisfied with services, and their children may have regressed on progress made before the pandemic. Meditation, counseling, and yoga were among the coping mechanisms reported for dealing with stress. We offer recommendations for how practitioners can be responsive to family perspectives, as well as how researchers can further investigate the impacts of the pandemic that are not yet fully understood

Keywords