40 Big Ideas

Summary

Using technology to connect children and families, and their care teams, with important services faster has greatly improved the care of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Using teleoutreach to support children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families who often spend months—and years— on waiting lists for services, has improved both access to and the quality of care. Families needed help sooner to support children with neurodevelopmental disabilities while they waited for more comprehensive care. Teleoutreach refers to using telecommunications to go beyond delivering healthcare to patients. It incorporates educational, research, and other support services to broaden access to care and resources.

For example, one teleoutreach program focused on supporting children and families during wait times for care, through coaching families in their homes on early play and communication skills soon after a child’s diagnosis. Another example: The use of Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO), an ‘all teach, all learn’ training model conducted over video conferencing for providers in rural locations to improve access to specialized support.

The teleoutreach idea also provides other training and education opportunities for providers and families, inspires research across large geographic areas, helps make quicker connections for families and providers facing urgent situations, and provides scalable community connections. Teleoutreach extends the transfer of knowledge and discovery and improves inclusion in the search for better services for everyone.

Dreaming of the next 40 years. Given rapidly advancing technology, the innovation possibilities feel both endless and overwhelming, making it hard—or impossible—for science to keep up. Our team continues to keep the core belief that innovation is less about the technology, and more about how these tools improve care access and quality; enhancing, not replacing, in-person care.