New Brunswick is a Canadian (and North American) Leader In Early Autism Intervention and School Autism Services

New Brunswick is a Canadian, and North American,  leader in early autism intervention and school autism services.  I do not doubt that that statement is enough to prompt a retort from many jurisdictions.  New Brunswick is not one of the wealthiest jurisdictions in Canada, let alone North America, but the fact is that New Brunswick has had publicly provided early ABA autism intervention to the extent of 20 hours per week for ages 2-5 for several years.  700-800 education aides and resource teachers also  received the same UNB-CEL Autism Intervention training.  

These services have been provided by both Liberal and Conservative governments.  The drive to put these services in place resulted from intense, persistent and well organized parent advocacy.  Above all we had the advantage of guidance from local autism experts.  The UNB-CEL program that provided these autism services was able to do so in both of New Brunswick's official languages, French and English, even though the French language Université de Moncton chose not to participate in developing the program.  Ultimately NB was recognized as a leader in provision of early intervention by Dr. David Celiberti of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment.  

Over the past year several international and local experts, listed in the attached letter from Nicole Gervais, Executive Director, have developed an on line program which has provided ABA based autism training to NB teachers and aides. They did so in conjunction with the NB government's new, combined Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. The predecessor Department of Education's officials had long felt that paying the UNB-CEL for the autism training was too expensive and were clearly annoyed that the program resulted from parent advocacy, professional advice and direct political initiative. Officials including the Director of Student Services moved to assert control over autism programs in the Education Department, even going so far as to threaten me with legal notice to stay out of a meeting between the Department and ASNB at which autism training was discussed. Nonetheless senior department officials essentially claimed ownership of the program developed by UNB-CEL and have, over the past year, developed the in house departmental training program described in Ms Gervais letter:

I am very impressed with both the international and local autism expertise involved with developing the program and I have to believe that this program will bode well for New Brunswick children and youth with autism spectrum disorders. Many of the concerns which I raised in a  recent letter to NB autism officials, and raised several years ago, as an Autism Society New Brunswick representative, when advocating for provision of UNB-CEL autism training for resource teachers and aides are dealt with in this program as described. Given the recognized expertise of those who developed the UNB-CEL program further I am certain that the program itself will be excellent.  

I am much less assured though by the in house elements of the program, particularly the evaluation of the candidates practicum completion, in the context of a collective bargaining environment where the parties conducting the evaluations are representatives of the employer in the collective bargaining relationships with NBTA and CUPE Local 2745 representing the teachers and aides respectively.  I have 30 years experience as a labour lawyer in New Brunswick and federally. I have also been very active as an ASNB representative on autism education issues over the past dozen years. On these issues I do not defer to the Department autism experts or to their in house legal advisers.  There will be grievances filed if any aides or teachers fail their evaluations with resulting pressures on those conducting the evaluations.

CUPE Local 2745 in particular has been averse to even supporting autism training for the aides they represent for fear that older aides would be unable to complete training and their ability to utilize their seniority for preferred assignments would be compromised.  As an ASNB president I had invited and met with the then CUPE Local 2745 President to discuss autism training for TA's (Education Aides) at a breakfast meeting at Bolden's Cafe in Fredericton.   She was totally disinterested in my suggestion that CUPE support parents in advocating for autism training for teachers and education aides.  Her successor, the current CUPE Local 2745 President, Sandy Harding, has been much more openly hostile to our efforts advocating for autism trained education aides in their bargaining unit. 

Notwithstanding my concerns over the in house elements of the program I do recognize the considerable expertise both of the international and the local experts involved in the development of the program and that expertise bodes well for New Brunswick children and students ... particularly if the Department officials have the will to properly evaluate those who take the training.  If education officials can stand up to CUPE 2745 pressure and provide honest, accurate evaluations of autism course participants New Brunswick will continue as a North American leader providing early autism intervention and autism school services to ALL students not just those who can afford specialized instruction or live in Fredericton where evidence based intervention and autism instruction have historically been embraced.

New Brunswick Autism Service Delivery Model At ABA International Symposium in Chicago, May 23-28

The New Brunswick Autism Service Delivery Model is one of 4 models that will be presented at the #72 International Symposium of the Association for Behavior Analysis International 34th Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois from May 23-27, 2008 at the Hilton Chicago. As a parent who saw the establishment and growth of the pre-school autism intervention program here in New Brunswick I am very appreciative of the efforts of Paul McDonnell, Barb D'Entremont, and Amanda Morgan of the University of New Brunswick and Sheila Bulmer of he Province of New Brunswick for what has been accomplished in providing pre-school autism intervention services in New Brunswick. Such services would not be possible without a training program of quality and integrity for service providers such as that provided by Anne Higgins and Sheila Burt at the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program. I thank you all and the other dedicated people at UNB, and with the Province of New Brunswick, who have given New Brunswick's autistic children access to effective evidence based autism treatment.

#72 International Symposium Intensive Early Intervention: Organizational Design, Evaluation and Management of Comprehensive Systems in Diverse International Locations BACB CE Offered. CE Instructor: Eric Larsson, Ph.D., BCBA

5/24/2008
3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
Continental B
AUT/OBM; Service Delivery
BACB CE Offered. CE Instructor: Eric Larsson, Ph.D., BCBA

Intensive Early Intervention: Organizational Design, Evaluation and Management of Comprehensive Systems in Diverse International Locations
Chair: Eric Larsson (Lovaas Institute Midwest)

The applied behavior analysis of Intensive Early Intervention for children with autism is conducted at many different levels of resolution. All levels of ABA are necessary to effectively manage the best possible outcomes for the greatest number of children. In order to build a sustainable program, numerous issues in accountability and management must be addressed. This symposium will present the results of four different organized systems for delivering and managing treatment efficacy. The management procedures of the organizations will include the molecular levels of ABA (single-subject analyses of all facets of treatment; component and package analyses of all facets of treatment; analysis of maintenance of treatment effects; analysis of the limits of generality of the treatment); the intermediate analysis of staff training, parent training, consumer responsiveness, and the organizational management necessary to sustain the treatment; and long-term traditional epidemiological analyses of consumer validity, cost-effectiveness and social validity to provide overall guidance to organizational design. Cultural and language issues will also be addressed. Current results of these organized systems will be presented.

St. Amant Applied Behavior Analysis Program: Publicly-Funded Centralized Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention. DANIELA FAZZIO (University of Manitoba/St. Amant) and Angela Cornick (St. Amant, Canada)

Abstract: The St. Amant ABA Program Preschool Services has operated since September 2002, serving 58 children in a home-based model (36 weekly hours, one-to-one, 3 years) funded by the Province of Manitoba to eligible children (diagnosis of Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, and PDD-NOS, under 5-years-old at intake, resident of Manitoba). Transition to group settings with program staff is planned based on client characteristics and school entry approach. The Program adopted the ABLLS® as a curriculum guide and evaluates group outcomes yearly (normative and criterion assessments of development, language, cognitive, adaptive skills and challenging behaviors, discrimination abilities, autism characteristics, and ABLLS skill acquisition.) Treatment is based on ABA principles and procedures with emphasis on discrete- trials teaching, is designed and supervised by ABA consultants (caseloads of 8) with graduate training in behavior analysis. Procedures are individualized, based on a standard package for skill acquisition and functional assessment and communication training for behavior problem reduction. Senior yutors (caseload of 4 clients) assist in training and supervision of tutors (caseloads of 2 clients) and parents, data collection (trial-by-trial) and summary. Overall supervision is provided by BCBA and licensed psychologist.

Meeting the Challenge of Organizational Development in Diverse Language and Cultural Contexts in Spain. VICTOR RODRIGUEZ GARCIA (Fundacion Planeta Imaginario) and Melissa J. Gard (Lovaas Institute Midwest)

Abstract: One of the challenges in replicating Lovaas’ 1987 outcome study is to translate the methods and evaluation procedures into other languages. This presentation will describe the organization and results of a privately-funded clinical intervention program in Catalonia, Spain, where there are actually two very different languages in predominance. This organization has been in the process of development for 14 years, and has met several challenges required to translate social and language norms, methods, and measurements into these other languages and cultures. In addition, the need for developing a comprehensive organization, in the face of little to no formal funding have also been addressed. Critical demands for treatment integrity will be reviewed, as well as systems that are being developed to meet these demands. The overall organizational design will be presented, as well as direct clinical data on short-term gains made by children in the program. The presentation will conclude with a focus on the directions of further development.

From Zero to 300: Development of a Comprehensive Preschool Intervention Program from “Scratch” in the Province of New Brunswick. PAUL M. MCDONNELL, Barbara D’Entremont, and Amanda Morgan (University of New Brunswick)

Abstract: This presentation describes the establishment of a preschool intervention in a largely rural Canadian province. When the initiative first began, there were virtually no services and no trained therapists or Clinical Supervisors anywhere within the province. After four years, there are now more than 300 trained therapists working throughout the province. The process of how supervisors and therapists were trained and how services were delivered on a province-wide basis is discussed. Special challenges included delivery of services in New Brunswick’s two official languages (French and English), delivery of services to First Nations children, and delivery of services to rural settings. Furthermore, a sample of outcomes from our first year of the province wide intervention is described. These data allow for the comparison of children in day care settings receiving eclectic programs with children in intensive behavior intervention. Finally, current initiatives to extend intervention services to school-aged children are examined.

Organization and Evaluation of a Responsive, Quality-Focused System for the Delivery of Intensive Early Intervention. ERIC V. LARSSON and Kara L. Riedesel (Lovaas Institute Midwest)

Abstract: The need for responsible accountability to consumer and stakeholder interests is paramount in the design of a sustainable intensive early intervention effort. This presentation will report the results of 13 years of effort in designing a comprehensive clinical management system for intensive early intervention. Given the authors’ direct participation in long-term early intervention research over a period of 25 years, the presentation will review the major challenges to treatment integrity and the management and evaluation systems put in place to address these challenges. The critical needs for organizational management and the methods and results of the organizational system across 238 children will be presented. The presentation will summarize the integration of single-subject analyses of the treatment of individual children, with the clinical system, which is designed to ensure the highest rate of best outcomes. The comprehensive clinical management system will be presented as it is designed to assure both consumers and stakeholders that the optimum services are being delivered to each child, and that the organizational capacity is being developed to increase the number of children who are effectively served. The current results will be described as will recommendations for standard accountability procedures for early intervention.

autism