Autism ABA Accreditation for Brock University

The following press release from Brock University offers encouraging news for families with autistic children in Ontario as Brock University announces it has received Behavior Analysis Certification board accreditation. It is easy for government and other service providers to reach for cheap, easy, internet glamorous answers to the demand for competent professionally trained ABA providers. The development of programs such as that at Brock University will help ensure that autistic children in need of ABA intervention actually obtain proper ABA services.

Centre for Applied Disability Studies at Brock University receives Behavior Analysis Certification Board accreditation

    ST. CATHARINES, ON, Aug. 28 /CNW/ - With the recent approval of its
Applied Behaviour Analysis graduate course sequence by the Behavior Analysis
Certification Board (BACB), the Centre for Applied Disability Studies at Brock
University in St. Catharines, Ont., is positioning itself to help meet the
growing demand for qualified behaviour analysts in Ontario.

  Students obtaining a Master of Arts in Applied Disability Studies, Master
of Applied Disability Studies or the Graduate Diploma and who specialize in
the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) field will now be eligible to apply to
become a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst.

  Brock's master's programming in Applied Disabilities Studies, which
offers specialization in ABA, is the only graduate program of its kind in the
province, and only the third in Canada, to offer an approved course sequence
to become a BCBA-certified behaviour analyst.

  "This is big news for the disabilities community because there is a
tremendous need for well-trained and accredited behaviour analysts in
Ontario," says Maurice Feldman, Director of the Centre for Applied Disability
Studies. "The BACB qualification is becoming increasingly important for many
positions involving interventions for persons with a variety of disabilities,
including autism, intellectual disabilities and acquired brain injury."

  The Centre offers the BACB-approved course sequence at times and places
convenient to working students, including week-long and weekend courses in
some cases. Courses have been offered in Toronto and Hamilton, as well as in
St. Catharines, and there are plans to offer a satellite program in the Ottawa
area in the near future.

  "This is welcome news for our organization, since BACB-certified staff
are needed to supervise Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) programs in
the province's nine regions currently serving more than 1,000 children with
autism," says Margaret Spoelstra, Executive Director, Autism Ontario.

  Faculty members in the Centre for Applied Disability Studies at Brock are
internationally respected researchers and teachers in disabilities and applied
behaviour analysis. Faculty have published extensively and many serve as
consultants to governmental and non-governmental organizations.

For further information: please visit: www.brocku.ca/disabilitystudies,
or contact: Maurice Feldman, Director, Centre for Applied Disability Studies,
(905) 688-5550, ext. 3785, mfeldman@brocku.ca; Jeffrey Sinibaldi, Media
Relations Officer, Brock University, (905) 688-5550, ext. 4687,
jsinibal@brocku.ca