The potential of a store and forward tele-behavioral platform for effective treatment and research of autism.

This paper describes the justification and the design principles of a behavioral medicine store & forward telemedicine platform to facilitate the capturing and communication of spontaneous patient behaviors for the improved evaluation, diagnosis and ongoing treatment of people with autism. This Tele-Behavioral Health platform will allow families and other caregivers to readily capture spontaneous patient behaviors for subsequent evaluation by appropriate medical specialists. A unique feature of the system is its capability to archive and index the data for access as well as comparison over time by clinicians and other researchers. Such a system may serve as a precursor to further advances in other health information technology applications leading to more effective treatment and a better understanding of this disability.