Finding solutions to bridge the gap

Finding solutions to bridge the gap between services and rural availability of services is an issue in many service fields, and many areas of education and social services are looking toward technology for solutions (Coe & Youn, 2008; Gibson, Pennington, Stenhoff, & Hopper, 2010; Ludlow et al., 2007; Smith & Meyen, 2003; Zahn & Buchanan, 2002). Researchers need to look at how family-centered services currendy are implemented and how other areas of educational and social services are bridging the gap between rural and urban communities. For instance, Coe and Youn found that there has been increased use of distance education in the area of social work. Online instruction and live desktop videoconferencing can be used effectively in many areas of education for teacher preparation, consultation, professional development, promotion of school-home communications and as a means to help parents gain knowledge about their child's disability (Gibson et al., 2010; Smith & Meyen, 2003). Studies show that technology can be used successfially to train teachers to work with children with autism (Ludlow et al., 2007; Zahn & Buchanan, 2002). Zahn and Buchanan were able to use video of the children with whom teachers worked to help the teachers assess challenging behaviors. Researchers have found that distance learning can be equally effective as live instruction (Vismara, Young, Stahmer, Griffith, & Rogers, 2009). Technology can aid in documenting the behavior of a child with autism and make that documentation accessible to specialists nationally and internationally to shorten diagnosis turnaround and improve diagnostic accuracy (Reischl & Oberleitner, 2009). The use of technology can be cost-effective and one-way to bridge the gap between services and the rural availability of services (Ludlow et al., 2007; Reischl & Oberleitner, 2009; Rule, Salzberg, Higbee, Menlove, & Smith, 2006; Smith & Meyen, 2003). Related service fields have used technology as an alternate method of providing parents with training and information (Mandel, Bigelow, & Lutzker, 1998;Nefdt et al., 2010; Pacifici, Delaney, White, Nelson, & Cummings, 2006; Sanders, Calam, Durand, Liversidge, & Carmont, 2008; Sharry, Guerin, Griffin,&Drumm, 2005).