Autism Promise 2006: Liberals Kept Their Word and New Brunswick Became a Leader in Educating Children with Autism

If you are the parent, family member, or family friend of a child with autism who is being educated  or assisted at a neighborhood school by an autism trained Teacher Assistant and autism trained Resource Teacher, as I am, please remember that these services resulted from an extraordinary promise made ... and kept .... by  Liberal leader Shawn Graham who kept that commitment as Premier once his Liberal party formed the government. My son Conor, and many other autistic school children in New Brunswick,  received the benefits of that promise and the UNB-CEL autism trained Teacher Assistant instruction and individual instruction program put together with the help of autism trained Resource Teachers. 

Tomorrow as you cast your ballots please remember the following autism commitment  made to then Autism Society NB President Lila Barry on behalf of autistic children and their families. The commitment was made,  and honored, by  Shawn Graham and his Liberal government. The fulfillment of that commitment has helped many autistic children in New Brunswick, including my son Conor.  The fulfillment of that autism commitment has made New Brunswick a leader in educating children with autism :

From: Graham, Shawn (LEG)
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 2:37 PM
To: lila barry
Subject: Liberal Platform

Dear Ms. Barry:

Thank you for your letter and for sharing your concerns with me. In our Liberal election platform that will be released this week, we are committing to the implementation of the recommendations of the Interdepartmental Committee on Autism released in November 2001. Although we realize this document is now nearly five years old, it does provide a basis on which to develop, in partnership with the stakeholders, a strategy that will assist children with autism from early childhood and into adulthood.

As well, we will take two concrete steps to address the immediate needs of children with autism in two areas: a case management process and UNB-CEL autism training.

A new Liberal government will:

1. Integrate services for young children and their families by enhancing and expanding the Early Childhood Initiatives Program to ensure a smooth transition into public school for children identified as at risk or those with special needs, such as autism.


2. Provide UNB-CEL autism training for 100 additional teaching assistants and Methods and Resource teachers each year for four years.

I commend you and the members of the Autism Society of New Brunswick on your tireless advocacy on behalf of children with autism. You are truly making a difference in many lives. Please feel free to contact me at any time.

Yours truly,

Shawn Graham

CBC Autism Overview and New Brunswick

(CBC Image)

CBC has provided a good general overview of Autism Disorders in Canada in Autism Making sense of a confusing world. The overview includes a description of autism disorders, some autism history (Kanner and Asperger) and treatment. There is a good review of the funding and age restrictions for ABA services for autism in each province in Canada.

There is one important omission and that is with respect to New Brunswick. Here we have a 5 year age cut-off as stated. But New Brunswick has begun to provide ABA intervention in our schools. This has been done by training Teacher Aides and Resource Teachers at the University of New Brunswick - College of Extended Learning Autism Intervention Training Program in Fredericton. A couple of classes of the UNB-CEL AIT have graduated, another is about to, and the government of Premier Shawn Graham and Education Minister Kelly Lamrock have committed to provide another 3 years of training for TA's and Resource Teachers through UNB-CEL.

The UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program is a key part of this approach. The program was developed through the University of New Brunswick with input from the Autism Society New Brunswick. This program is critical to ensuring the quality and integrity of the ABA and other autism services provided in the schools. By training TA's and Resource Teachers the education system's existing human resource system is used to the maximum extent possible. Some Autism Support Workers and Clinical Supervisors have been recruited by the Education Department itself. These people have been trained through a parallel program offered by UNB-CEL so the transition into the Education system is relatively smooth.

There is with any such development resistance. Some senior Education Department careerists have preferred to struggle against the UNB-CEL training in favor of "in-house" training combined with a commercial internet training program but, to date, they have not prevailed. The CUPE local representing Teacher Aides have also filed grievances on behalf of its members since not all current TA's meet the UNB qualifications for admission to the Autism Intervention Training Program. As a labour lawyer I understand the role of the Union in protecting ALL of its members interests but the long term interests of the greatest number of their members is best protected by providing the autism training to those members who qualify for admission. And I would expect that any labour arbitrator hearing these grievances would give the greatest weight to the best interests of the child principle in arbitrating these grievances - in these cases the best interests of children with autism disorders.

Apart from the omission of autism services in New Brunswick's education system the CBC review is a balanced, comprehenseive and informative overview of autism disorders and autism services in Canada.

autism

Autism and Education - the New Brunswick Model

Autism presents issues across the lifespan of an autistic person and those who care for, or about, that person. Early intervention has been demonstrated to be critically important in helping the development of an autistic child. But development and education do not end at age 5 or 6 or whenever the child enters the school system.

















In schools across North America from Ontario, where the government, after dragging its feet has now decreed that all districts will have ABA trained people by next fall, whatever that promise means, to Virginia to California, educators are struggling to come to grips with the increasing numbers of students with autism disorders.







http://tinyurl.com/38f3xt





http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=77982

Many autistic children require a dedicated aide to work with him or her, whether it is in a mainstream classroom, or whether it is in a quieter location more suitable for many environmentally sensitive autistic children. If the autistic child's experience is going to be a real learning experience and not just an exercise in frustration for all involved it is absolutely necessary that the aide receive proper autism intervention training to allow the aide to properly assist the child to learn. The program should be written by a resource teacher or mentor with the necessary training in evidence based interventions for autism. The mentor should also monitor the delivery of the intervention assistance by the aide.

That is essentially the model that is being developed in New Brunswick Canada albeit not without resistance from some vested interests. Here the University of New Brunswick College of Extended Learning has developed an Autism Training Program, a program of quality and integrity, which has trained preschool autism support workers for several years. Some of those ASW's have drifted into the school system to fill an overwhelming demand for their services to work with autistic school children. One year of teachers' aides and resource teachers have completed training and another year is scheduled to commence in October 2007. After that, New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham has promised to train another three classes of aides and resource teachers in succession.

The UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program was developed from the outset with input from the Autism Society of New Brunswick and its parent members. That is an important element in the trust that parents place in the UNB-CEL program and in the quality and integrity that the training assures. The instructors are knowledgeable educators. The standards for admission and graduation must be met; criteria which have caused some dissent by senior Education Department decision makers and by union representatives who prefer automatic entry and no testing requirements for all current Teachers Aides. But the UNB-CEL has maintained its commitment to the quality and integrity of its Autism Intervention Training program and New Brunswick's autistic students will be the beneficiaries of hat commitment.

As jurisdictions across North America scramble to find an education model that can be delivered to all autistic students and not just to the children of wealthier families the New Brunswick model is one worth considering and the UNB-CEL commitment to quality and integrity is worth emulating. Hopefully the forces of resistance and regression, the vested interests who fear displacement or loss of personal opportunity will not derail the New Brunswick model at home where it began.

UNB CEL Autism Intervention Training Program (K - 12) 2007-08

For those of us who have been advocating for, fighting for is a more accurate description, effective evidence based interventions for autistic children in New Brunswick one of the great successes has been to see the development of the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training Program. The UNB-CEL AIT has achieved national recognition. When Conor was diagnosed, originally with PDD-NOS, subsequently with Autism Disorder, there were almost no properly trained interventionists in the province to help. Now agencies exist in all major centers in New Brunswick to provide pre-school intervention, staffed by people who have received quality training from UNB-CEL.

First steps have also been taken to train Teacher Aides and Resource Teachers to work in our schools as Autism Support Workers and Clinical Supervisors. The UNB-CEL provides the assurances of quality and integrity in the training and testing of candidates that are not otherwise available in Atlantic Canada and that are infinitely superior to some of the shoddy, internet training "alternative solutions" proposed by those with vested, proprietary, interests in promoting cheap, quick fix "solutions" to New Brunswick's autism education crisis.

The UNB-CEL AIT is a solid step forward in helping our autistic children. This K-12 program will help those, like my son Conor, for whom the pre-school programs did not exist. Parents fought hard to establish this program and to ensure that penny wise pound foolish public decision makers understood the importance and value of this program. Ultimately two persons deserve full credit for this program. Ann Higgins of UNB-CEL who has the business and organizational savvy to put this program together year after year. And above all Professor Emeritus (Psychology)and Child Clinical Psychologist Paul McDonnell whose ideas led to the creation of the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program and the individual who has educated so many parents, professionals and public servants in New Brunswick about autism and effective evidence based interventions for autism.

Autism Intervention Training Program (K - 12) 2007-08

This program is intended for those in the K-12 public school system.

The deadline for applications to CEL is June 12, 2007
Download the Application Package here (PDF format)

Program Delivery
The program is delivered through face to face teaching integrated with video conferencing, web-based training, and hands-on practicum. The guiding design principle of this blended model is to provide an instructionally sound, flexible, user-friendly teaching and learning solution.

For applicants to be considered for the program, they must be available to attend all components of the program including theory (October and November), workshops, and practicum sessions. As this is a distance program, participants must have access to a computer, the Internet, and a printer.

There will be three (3) practicum locations this year: Moncton and Fredericton for English, French site yet to be determined. Participants will be assigned to the location they request on the application where possible. Travel may be required, as seating is limited.

Resource Teachers are required to complete/attend:

* All sessions of the core theory,
* Three (3) weeks of core practicum,
* Advanced theory readings and on-line discussions,
* Two (2) weeks of advanced practicum, and
* Two (2) professional development workshops.

Teacher Assistants are required to complete:

* All sessions of the core theory,
* Three (3) weeks of core practicum, and
* One (1) professional development workshop.

Applicants will be required to provide a letter of support from their supervisor and a reference letter from a person familiar with their work with children. Applicants will also be required to provide CEL with current criminal record information.

Resource Teachers

This course consists of theory, a core practicum, an advanced practicum, advanced readings and on-line discussions, and specialized professional development workshops. Several topics covered during the training include: How to Supervise and Consult, Professionalism, Program Writing, and Assessment Tools and Rating Scales.

Applicants must have:

* A Master's degree in a Education or in health care profession such as psychology or speech and language pathology; and
* A minimum of two years experience working with children or youth with developmental delays.

Teacher Assistants

This course, which consists of a series of lectures, a core practicum and specialized professional development workshops, covers topics such as: Teaching Social Skills, Prompting and Shaping, Self Help Skills, Communication, Data Collection, Reinforcement, and Function of Behaviours.

Successful completion of this course will lead to more effective practices while working with children diagnosed with autism, increased job satisfaction and further employment opportunities in the field of autism.

Applicants should have:

* A post-secondary diploma related to early childhood education (ECE), two years of post-secondary studies in a related field or equivalent; and
* A minimum of one year of working with children or youth with developmental delays.

The Autism Intervention Training Program will be offered in October 2007 through to May 2008. A detailed schedule will be provided upon acceptance to the program, in June 2007.

Download the Application Package here (PDF format)

Contact Information
For additional information about this program, please contact:

College of Extended Learning UNB
P.O. Box 4400 Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 5A3
Telephone: 506 458-7920
Toll Free: 1 866 599-4646
Fax: 506 453-3572
Web Site: cel.unb.ca

New Brunswick Budget Supports Students with Autism

Students with autism in New Brunswick are being backed by the Shawn Graham Liberal government which has put money in the budget to provide autism specific training to teacher assistants and resource teachers. There was some confusion generated by an earlier newspaper story on the subject but Education Minister Lamrock subsequently confirmed the Graham government's election campaign promise to provide autism specific training to 100 teacher assistants and resource teachers each year for the next 4 years at the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program. And now the money to start that process has been set aside in Premier Graham's first budget as announced by Finance Minister Boudreau.

"A total of $1.2 million will go to provide training to teaching assistants and methods-and-resource teachers in applied behavioural analysis in support of students with autism, said Boudreau."

http://www.canadaeast.com/ce2/docroot/article.php?articleID=113390

New Brunswick is a small province and not the richest in Canada. Today though, Premier Shawn Graham and his government have put New Brunswick in the forefront in Canada as a leader in educating autistic students; they have shown they are serious about providing New Brunswick's students with autism with a real education.

Now THAT is inclusion.

What Does Throne Speech Autism Commitment Mean?

Yesterday I commented that the Graham government's throne speech contained good news for students with autism because the speech contained a commitment to autism specific training for TA's. Opposition leader Shawn Graham had committed during the campaign to training 100 TA's and Resource teachers per year for the next 4 years via the UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training program. This morning's Telegraph Journal APPEARED to indicate a major watering down of that commitment though indicating in a story carried on page A3 , that Education Minister Lamrock was committing to 100 TA's over the course of his government's mandate. The Minister also appeared to be wavering over whether the training would be done by the UNB-CEL folks, widely respected by the NB Autism Community and across Canada or on the cheap by Department of Education civil servants. The difference is substantial.


- Telegraph Journal, February 7, 2007, Joshua Errett Minister promises 100 autism support workers in schools


There are literally hundreds of students with autism in New Brunswick schools. Many are effectively excluded from receiving a real education because they do not have the autism trained personnel working with them to assist their learning by specialized methodologies such as Applied Behavior Analysis. They have been betrayed by New Brunswick politicians before. In the past an interdepartmental (Education, Family Services, Health) committee (the IDC) was established to examine autism services in New Brunswick. The IDC took almost two years to conclude that autism specific services were virtually non-existent. It issued a report and recommendations which sat unread by the lead Minister on the IDC, for almost a full year and most of its recommendations were never fulfilled and are now seriously outdated. Autistic children do not need any more political betrayals. Hopefully, the new Liberal government is not about to water down its commitment to a fraction of what Mr. Graham promised.

On May 4, 2004 a Fredericton Liberal MLA stood in front of the Centennial Building with protesting parents of autistic school children and said ""We can do better. We know the options,... "We know that ABA treatment works. Premier Bernard Lord says he has to make tough choices? I say he made bad choices and cut taxes. If you can get up every day and deal with this, you deserve the Liberals' support."

- Daily Gleaner, May 4, 2004, Joel Kane, Parents march to protest tight funding for autism

I hope that Education Minister Lamrock remembers his words from May 4, 2004, remembers Mr. Grahams campaign commitment and honors that commitment fully.

Mr. Graham's Autism Promise Revisited

During the election campaign then opposition leader Shawn Graham made a very specific promise as set out in an email to Autism Society New Brunswick President Lila Barry. It was a commitment to provide UNB-CEL training for an additional 100 Teachers' Assistants and Methods and Resource teachers each year for the next four years. The commitment was not to have Education Department personnel train current TA's in house. It was to provide UNB-CEL Autism Intervention Training.

The UNB-CEL course originated in meetings of the steering committee which had been struck to establish the proposed UNB Autism Centre. The input of autism society representatives, education and psychology professors at UNB ,as well as the business acumen of the College of Extended Learning all contributed to the initial concept for the program. Since then the UNB-CEL personnel have worked together with government to provide training to preschool Autism Support Workers and to Clinical Supervisors working with them in the autism agencies. Some of those personnel have migrated into the education system. But the number of autism trained TA's and teachers working with New Brunswick's autistic student population is nowhere near sufficient to enable those students to receive a quality education, hence the efforts over several years from the Autism Society New Brunswick which resulted in Mr. Graham's autism training campaign pledge. While the ASNB remains hopeful that the pledge will be honored there have also been mixed signals received which indicate that student services professionals, and others, in the Department of Education have not yet abandoned their intentions of providing much lower quality in house training for TA's.

The commitment to provide UNB-CEL Autism training has long met resistance from some education department officials. When ASNB officials met with new Education Minister Lamrock we were presented with a list of 7 training options. One of those 7 options was the commitment made by Mr. Graham. The other 6 were a variety of other watered down options based to one extent or another on the provision of autism training to TA's by department personnel. Since then Minister Lamrock has reiterated his commitment to Mr. Graham's promise, subject to budgetary requirements. But we have also received information that the Department's in house autism training plans are going ahead.

What is wrong with providing autism training in-house rather than through the UNB-CEL course? Assurance of quality of training is the most important consideration. A teacher in a regular classroom has an education degree from a university. The TA's who in fact work one to one with autistic students have high school and maybe 1 or 2 years of post secondary education. They too require some credible training to ensure that autistic students receive a real education. The ASNB has always compromised by seeking to have these TA's receive UNB based training not demanding full teaching credentials. Now the cost conscious Department of Education is pushing for its own in house training in place of UNB's which is provided by a variety of academics with autism expertise and who are not subject to direction or pressure from Department officials while providing the training. Department officials who provide training lack the same degree of expertise in all the necessary aspects of autism and autism interventions and are subject to direction from their superiors in the Department.

There will likely be a budget soon in New Brunswick. It is also likely that there will be some UNB-CEL autism training budgeted for as promised by Mr. Graham. But the 4 year commitment was necessary to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of properly trained personnel working with autistic students in New Brunswick schools. The department cost saving strategy appears to be based on training as many TA's as possible in house now and providing them with on the job training while the first year of training is provided for some. Then, the Department will probably take the position that the remaining 3 years of the UNB-CEL autism training commitment are unnecessary.

I appreciate that my comments are speculative, that I am reading tea leaves, and that a mild breeze can scatter tea leaves in all directions. I hope I am wrong. I hope the Department of Education finally takes seriously the education of autistic school children instead of simply reacting to public pressure or looking for a cheap way out. Autistic children do not need, and can not afford, any further dilution of their education. They, like other children, deserve some properly trained assistance in their learning experiences. I have no doubt about the sincerity and commitment of the new Minister of Education. But as for those who report to the Minister? The future will tell.

From: Graham, Shawn (LEG)
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 2:37 PM
To: lila barry
Subject: Liberal Platform

Dear Ms. Barry:

Thank you for your letter and for sharing your concerns with me. In our Liberal election platform that will be released this week, we are committing to the implementation of the recommendations of the Interdepartmental Committee on Autism released in November 2001. Although we realize this document is now nearly five years old, it does provide a basis on which to develop, in partnership with the stakeholders, a strategy that will assist children with autism from early childhood and into adulthood.

As well, we will take two concrete steps to address the immediate needs of children with autism in two areas: a case management process and UNB-CEL autism training.

A new Liberal government will:

1. Integrate services for young children and their families by enhancing and expanding the Early Childhood Initiatives Program to ensure a smooth transition into public school for children identified as at risk or those with special needs, such as autism.


2. Provide UNB-CEL autism training for 100 additional teaching assistants and Methods and Resource teachers each year for four years.

I commend you and the members of the Autism Society of New Brunswick on your tireless advocacy on behalf of children with autism. You are truly making a difference in many lives. Please feel free to contact me at any time.

Yours truly,

Shawn Graham

Leader of the Official Opposition