Great Autism News in New Brunswick!

Great autism news in New Brunswick as the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program is being made available for the public.  (Applications available online.) The college program has previously been recommended by US autism experts Dr. Eric Larsson and Dr. David Celiberti. Dr. Celiberti in particular is very familiar with the program and had recommended the New Brunswick autism service delivery model which was based on the program  for consideration by other Canadian provinces.  Unfortunately for New Brunswick's autistic children, students and adults the successful UNB-CEL Autism Training Program, first utilized by the Premier Bernard Lord's Conservative government, and then by Liberal Premier Shawn Graham's government, has been abandoned by the David Alward government and its non evidence based, philosophically driven partners at the NBACL. 

The UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program was born in response to requests for tenders for autism training put out by the Lord government. That request resulted from intense and effective advocacy by many New Brunswick parents of autistic children led by the Autism Society of New Brunswick.  The actual program itself was first conceived at a meeting of a committee which was  meeting to establish an autism centre of excellence at UNB in Fredericton.  During a committee meeting a parent advocate member of the committee suggested that UNB should provide training in response to the government tenders. Dr. Paul McDonnell who was at the meeting confirmed that UNB had the professional resources to provide the training.  Anne Higgins, then with UNB-CEL, laid out a step by step process, including necessary time lines, that could be followed to meet the tender requirements. A pilot program was run and the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training was born!

Parent advocates, including yours truly, lobbied strenuously for the extension of the UNB training to our schools.  We met fierce opposition from some in the Department of Education who had their own agendas to pursue.  I was even subjected to threats from Department of Justice legal counsel, at the request of the then Director of Student Services, Robert Gerard, to keep me from participating in meetings between the Autism Society and Education department officials to discuss implementation of a commitment by Premier Shawn Graham to increase the numbers of UNB-CEL autism trained education assistants working with autistic students. 

We also met with fierce opposition from the New Brunswick Association for Community Living which included direct opposition from NBACL icon, then NB Human Rights chair, and now Alward transition team member Gordon Porter.  The current Education Minister's wife Krista Carr is an executive officer with NBACL and at the time she also opposed the Autism Society's position that alternative learning environments were necessary for some autistic students and in particular for those receiving ABA based instruction, provided by UNB-CEL autism trained aides, in quieter settings outside the regular classroom.  Danny Soucy is a current member of the Alward government, also affiliated with NBACL, and was also a  public opponent of Autism Society efforts to achieve the flexible inclusion necessary for many autistic children to be educated at all and in particular to receive ABA instruction from UNB-CEL Autism trained aides.

A third force opposing parents advocating for UNB-CEL training for our children was, and is, the union representing education aides, CUPE Local 2745 and its leader Sandy Harding. During the time I was ASNB President I had requested a meeting with Ms. Harding's predecessor to seek the CUPE Local 2745 support for autism trained education aides (TA's).  Ms Harding's predecessor was not interested and she herself upon taking office as Local 2745 president has been openly hostile to any serious training requirement for aides working with autistic students.  

CUPE Local 2745 has used its considerable clout to resist any training requirement and pushed hard for seniority as the only requirement for aides working with children with autistic disorders. As a labour lawyer with a quarter of a century experience, in New Brunswick and federally, I can say that such a lop sided approach to any job posting requirement is almost unheard of and, as the Alward government currently genuflects before CUPE Local 2745, constitutes an abandonment of management rights. Removal of the UNB autism training requirement in favor of pure seniority considerations and refusal to permit learning outside the classroom when necessary also constitute failure to accommodate the autistic disorders, the neurological based disabilities of children with autism contrary to Human Rights Act requirements.   Both the Alward government and CUPE Local 2745 are now discriminating against children with autism disorders by refusing to acknowledge the need for autism training for aides working with children with autism disorders which are in fact serious neurological disorders.

With these three major institutional forces aligned in lock step opposition to the accommodation of New Brunswick's autistic students comes a fourth factor - the current shaky state of the world economy. Economic factors currently provide perfect cover for the Alward government to abandon the quality and integrity of the UNB-CEL autism training for the sloppy in house training that was opposed by the Autism Society New Brunswick and for a surrender of our children's best interests in the face of the adult interests of untrained senior members of CUPE Local 2745.

In this perfect storm the revival for the public of the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention training program, and the quality and integrity it provides, is one bright light in the darkness.  It  is a beacon to guide us and provide hope that better days are ahead.

Have Higgs and Harding Sacrificed New Brunswick Students with Autism?

Have Minister Blaine Higgs and CUPE Local 2745 President Sandy Harding 

Sacrificed New Brunswick Students with Autism?

It appears that the first New Brunswickers asked to sacrifice, or to be sacrificed, in the austerity era formally ushered in yesterday with the Budget Speech by Finance Minister Blaine Higgs may be New Brunswick students with autism disorders. Unnoticed by important news sources like the CBC the government announced the day before the budget speech the ratification of a new collective agreement with CUPE Local 2745.  The new collective agreement is not yet available publicly but it has been indicated to me that the agreement will give the edge to seniority over qualifications, experience, special circumstances  or special relationships between teacher aides who will now be called education assistants and students with autism disorders.

What this means, if correct,  is that when the school year starts education assistants will be assigned to posted job positions solely on the basis of seniority.  An education assistant who has received the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program will lose the opportunity to work with and help a student with autism if an education assistant who has been working longer as an aide applies for the position.  Autism is a neurological disorder which requires special learning approaches and understanding of complex and at times challenging behavior.  But, if the information proves correct, it appears that Finance and Human Resources Minister Blaine Higgs and CUPE Local 2745 President Sandy Harding have other adult interests more important to consider and are willing to sacrifice the best interests of New Brunswick students with autism disorders.

As a lawyer my work has focused on labour law and labour relations for a quarter century, both federally and provincially and included time as a legal adviser to the Canada Labour Relations Board, now called the Canada Industrial Relations Board.  Most collective agreements strike a balance between seniority and qualifications  by assigning a standard of qualifications and position specific ability to be met before seniority kicks in. Others assign the position to the most qualified person for a position with seniority acting as a tie breaker where candidates are equally qualified.  Very few agreements simply give a position to the person with the most seniority regardless of qualifications or ability as the new CUPE 2745 is rumored to do.

The NB government web site provides little details about the new CUPE 2745 collective agreement except the financial bottom line:

We are pleased that this agreement has come together and is supported by CUPE's membership," said Finance Minister Blaine Higgs, who is also minister of human resources. "It is clear that New Brunswick has severe fiscal challenges and it is encouraging to see a willingness from both sides to work together to reach agreements that are fair to both employees and taxpayers."

The agreement provides two years of zero-per-cent wage increases, followed by general economic increases of two per cent in each of the following two years. As well, the contract increases the guaranteed hours of work for teachers' assistants to 30 hours per week by September 2012. Government and union representatives will officially sign the new collective agreement in the near future.

I recognize that my sources could be wrong.  The union members who voted to ratify, or accept the new collective agreement were apparently not even given a draft copy of the agreement before voting on it.  Basically they were given, at least in some locations, a summary on a screen. The collective agreement should ultimately be made public and available on line.  

The information is unlikely to be proven wrong though.  CUPE Local 2745 President Sandy Harding  has long advocated for seniority to be the only consideration in assigning teacher aides, now education assistants, to positions working with children with disabilities including  students with autism.  She has long put the interests of adults, the most senior members of CUPE Local 2745, over the interests of students with autism disorders.  

If this collective agreement grants Local 2745 President Harding her long held wish to promote seniority over the interests of students with autism then it would explain why  she  pushed a collective agreement with such little financial gain for her Local 2745 members. It  has no wage increase for two years and more importantly, an increase in the  maximum hours an education assistant can work to 30 hours a week, one hour short of the 31 weekly hours required to qualify for the full-time defined benefit pension plan.

I hope my sources are wrong.  I hope I am wrong. I would be very happy to issue a correction, and an apology, to Finance and Human Resources Minister Higgs and CUPE Local 2745 President Harding if I am wrong.  I hope that the new CUPE Local 2745 collective agreement with the Province of New Brunswick does not make seniority the only, or the dominant, consideration in determining who works with New Brunswick students with autism disorders and other challenging disabilities.  The UNB-CEL Autism Trained  Teacher Assistants have been vitally important to ensuring that autistic children, including my son, receive a real education and develop to the best of their abilities. To effectively eliminate their contributions in the name of seniority will hurt the development of many of New Brunswick's autistic students.

For now though it appears that Finance Minister Higgs and CUPE Local 2745 President Sandy Harding have sacrificed New Brunswick children with autism in order to meet their adult, organizational goals.  It appears that the first New Brunswickers thrown off  the life boats as our government negotiates stormy fiscal waters will be the vulnerable ... students with autism disorders and other serious disabilities. 

AutismPro Still Promoting But Where Oh Where Is The Evidence It Works?

I have commented on several occasions on this site about AutismPro, the Internet based autism "resource" usually after reading the latest PR release, about what an innovative product it is or what an excellent business opportunity it is. This past week the Daily Gleaner featured AutismPro, again, in its nbbusinessjournal section.

Virtual Experts Clinics, which developed the AutismPro product, has stated in the past that it uses several different autism "interventions" which range from interventions that are "somewhat" ABA based, a well researched effective evidence based autism intervention, to some interventions with no evidence basis of their effectiveness. Although respected autism expert Dr. Jeannette Holden, an advisor to VEC, had indicated two years ago that trial studies of the product were being run the results of those studies have not, that I have seen, been made public.

There is a need for autism support services in New Brunswick schools but those services should not be based on unproven Internet products. Premier Graham committed to funding training for 100 Teacher Aides a year for 4 years at the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program. The second of two classes of that 4 year commitment is currently proceeding and hopefully the full 4 year commitment will be honored. UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program provides the quality and integrity to ensure that autistic children in New Brunswick schools, including Conor, my 12 year old son with Autistic Disorder, assessed with profound developmental delays, receives a real education.

There is much pressure on Education Minister Lamrock to abandon Premier Graham's commitment. Some of that pressure comes from CUPE Local 2745 and its President Sandy Harding who insist that unqualified, untrained aides with greater seniority have the right to work with autistic students in place of the UNB-CEL Autism trained aides.

Some of that pressure also comes from VEC Inc which has worked with some senior education department officials to promote AutismPro as an internet based training tool which would have permitted the Department of Education to train teacher aides in house, with no entrance requirements for the autism training, work at your own pace training requirements and no completion exams. The in-house training would have been overseen on a project basis by an about to retire Director of Student Services who would have been able to , "double dip", to draw a pension while earning a salary as the project manager.

Hopefully Premier Shawn Graham will continue to honor his commitment to train 100 teacher aides per year for four years at the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program. The UNB-CEL AIT Program has been subjected to external review and received a very positive evaluation by Dr. Eric Larsson of the Lovaas Institute:


"The current AITP is a remarkable and thorough program that has been developed to an exceptional level of quality in the context of limited resources. The province-wide model is one that many other provinces should adopt, as it carries with it many cost-effective features. The curriculum content requires little modification".

Hopefully the results of studies assessing the effectiveness of AutismPro in educating autistic children will be publicly disclosed at some point. And hopefully those studies will have been conducted using ethical, objective and professional standards. We know that VEC Inc is effective at Promoting AutismPro but is AutismPro an effective tool for educating autistic children?

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