U of M Home Page Features ICI's Telehealth Lab

The University of Minnesota home page featured the outreach work that ICI's telehealth lab is doing to assist Minnesota families who have children with autism. The feature story explains that early identification, treatment, and intervention helps children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities reach their potential. Yet some families can encounter waitlists of up to a year for evaluation services. Part of the reason for this wait is geography: while most autism evaluation clinics are located in the Twin Cities, the families of children with autism live all over the state.

Telehealth refers to using telecommunications devices like smart phones and home computers to support long-distance clinical health care, health management, and education. The lab provides training and technical assistance to enable providers, educators, and researchers to improve and extend their practices. “The lab allows us to use technology to reach children and families who may live in rural areas or may be on lengthy waitlists for intervention,” says lab manager Jessica Simacek.

The University website story is based on a feature that first appeared in FYI -- ICI's newsletter -- and on the ICI website in December 2018.