[FEAT BC Admin]

In this topic area, discussion is on all issues relating to setting up and running a home-based intervention program. Please feel free to bring up any problems or suggestions. Parents can help each other greatly by sharing information and giving suggestions.

In addition to parents helping parents, A.B.A. professionals on in the Discussion Group can also help provide insight and guidance.

Topic

[Ursula Lee]

I feel fortunate that I am on the "right track" with my son( who is about to begin his home based ABA therapy next week) with the help of some other seasoned warriors. I don't know how other parents can become better informed – the Autism Soc of BC website lists "qualified" providers which have been approved by them, and these include CBI, Gateway, LEAP and Laurel. I feel sorry for parents who are trying to do the best for their child and are misled by this list.
Ursula

[Stephen Paperman]

People who have heard me warning about the government-sponsored autism industry have asked me how they can separate the real article from the imposters on the government's service providers list. It frankly makes me a little nervous to be treated like an expert on this subject, since mostly I have read and researched the same as anyone, and these are my opinions only – you owe it to your child to do your own due diligence and never accept what anyone says without corroboration. Still, I don't want to hide behind that valid statement as a way of dodging the question, so here are my opinions, gathered over the years (unfortunately yes, years) in my own need to separate the fool's gold from the real article.

There seem to be two ways to obtain decent training to become a bona fide consultant in Lovaas ABA. The first is the obvious one – training at UCLA itself, or at a Lovaas replication site, or having trained under a Lovaas protocol expert who gained his or her own credentials under Lovaas or a replication site. The second is to have taken a university psychology department program in ABA and then to have trained extensively with children with autism. For example, Rutgers University has a program which is very Lovaas in nature, and there are a few others elsewhere in the U.S. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no university program in Canada that graduates people qualified to be Lovaas protocol ABA consultants. For example, a degree from the Special Education department at UBC under noted BC government "friends" is useless. You should understand that "special ed" departments, as a general rule, do not give anyone expertise in treatment programs. The one exception I know to this is the Masters program at Columbia University in behavioral disorders and ABA. But even those graduates still need experience in home-based Lovaas treatment programs to gain their necessary expertise.

To use the medical analogy, it is not enough to have gotten your M.D. from a decent medical school. You must intern at a respected hospital and toil under the supervision of recognized experts before you can obtain valid credentials as an expert in a medical specialty. Fortunately for those who need a heart valve replacement, the doctors are careful about the training of their cardiologists. Unfortunately for those with autism, the government will put any of their "friends" on the providers list, regardless of their true abilities.

I warn people off against the Laurel Group, Gateway, CBI, Giant Steps, and LEAP for the simple reason that ALL of them were discredited in court as being nothing more than babysitting services not worthy of the term "treatment." Read the Auton decision yourself – you can download it from the BC courts web sites. The problem now, however, is that in the interim since Auton was decided, many of these inept groups have changed their names to escape public notice. LEAP transmogrified into the Delta EIBI program. People who worked at one or more of the discredited groups hung out their own shingles as "experts" and promptly jumped on the list. Many on the government list aren't even ABA practitioners at all – they are speech pathologists or occupational therapists who fit the government's loosy goosy "all friends welcome" definition, so on they went.

The so-called EIBI programs are perfect examples of the government continuing to let their friends get fat on taxpayers' money while our children suffer. If you want to take your own independent funding and hire a legitimate Lovaas ABA consultant, and IF your child is under six years old, then the government will condescend to partially follow the Auton ruling and will begrudgingly provide you with $20,000 per year for your child, about one-third of the amount necessary for a proper 40-hour per week program and a flagrant violation of the Auton and Anderson court orders. On the other hand, the government "friends" at the EIBI program get handed $60,000 per year per child for TWENTY hours per week of "therapy," none of which is legitimate Lovaas autism treatment. I'll save you the math – the government gives their discredited, unacceptable "buddies" SIX times the amount of funding per child as they will give to legitimate therapy (three times the funds for one half the therapy time). If they at least spent that money on true, scientifically proven treatment, it wouldn't be so bad. But their friends have no expertise in scientifically proven treatment, so it will be a very cold day in Victoria when that happens.

Let's talk a little about BCBA certification – or "board certified behavior analyst." You should understand that ABA is a huge field, and only a small part of it has to do with autism. Having a BCBA does not make you qualified to do Lovaas, unless you also have experience in proper home-based treatment programs. Many of the most talented and experienced Lovaas consultants have not yet gotten this certification, because they're too busy helping our children to take the time to go back to studying and sitting exams. So a BCBA is nice, but it's not the only requirement, and a non-certified but experienced and well trained Lovaas consultant is better than a BCBA whose credentials are based on animal studies.

Any bonafide behavior consultant should be THRILLED to hand you their C.V. and resume, as well as providing you with a couple of families to call for references. If they won't, or give you some nonsense about confidentiality, run to the nearest exit. Of course they can't simply hand you names and phone numbers, but they can ask their families for permission to let you call. And their C.V. is never "confidential," unless they have something to hide – like a lack of experience.

If you ever hear the word "eclectic" come out of someone's mouth, forget any thought of hiring the person who spoke it. An "eclectic" is a good person to hire to paint your living room. You want proven science-based Lovaas ABA treatment for your child, not some artistic collage of unproven, discredited and often dangerous "alternative" treatments.

Last words – when in doubt, phone FEAT. Generally that's where the most up to date information can be found on consultants specifically and ABA in general.

[Super Dad]

Tamara asked me to post this because many parents had the same question:

Question: The FEAT Houston site talks about something called Sundberg/Partington ABA. Is this anything like Lovaas ABA?

Answer: Nope. Also known as Verbal Behaviour, it is very different. Some Lovaas ABA consultants use aspects of it for a non-verbal child as part of an ABA program.

[Ivy Mui]

I have talked to our social worker about this Invoice Payment Plan. She said the minute you switch it, you will loose all your unused funding from the past. If you have a lot of unused funding, it's not worth it.

Ivy

[Stephen Paperman]

I apologize in advance — this one is going to be a little long.

Jenny's points are well made and I agree with them except one — you should NEVER give up the responsibility of choosing your own consultant and arranging their services. The government has proved itself especially inept at lining up reputable service providers — the vast majority of them are amateurs and imposters who have ingratiated themselves with the bureaucrats and gained access thereby to your tax dollars. I have scanned the service provider list that A.S. of B.C. manages for them, and it's full of people I wouldn't hire to walk my collie, let alone handle my child's therapy program.

It should also be noted that the government's antipathy to our children and ourselves knows no bounds, and this new "offer" of direct payment to service providers is nothing less than a direct attack on the individual funding option. If these MCFD mandarins can talk enough people into going over to "direct payment," then they can justify canceling the individualized funding. From there it's a short hop skip and jump to removing legitimate consultants from the list — "Well, they're from the US, and we want to support our local experts, so we're going to send your child to POPARD."

We must be ever vigilant to the machinations of Victoria, until such time as they recognize our children's rights to equal access to the medical system, publicly and with hard firm policy to back it up. There are a couple of very simple ways the government can demonstrate their good intentions:

1. State publicly that they were wrong in Auton, that our children deserve completely equal access to the health insurance program, and then henceforth, medically necessary Lovaas-ABA treatment will be fully funded for all children who need it, as determined by their own medical practitioners.

2. Move autism from the welfare ministry to the health ministry where it has always belonged, and give Care Card billing privileges to all bona fide Lovaas ABA consultants, as they do to all other bona fide medical practitioners.

If I ever see a day when these simple steps are taken, I may believe someone in government has my child's interests at heart. Until that day, I will remain suspicious, vigilant, and diligent in recording every move they make. Like they used to say on TV, whatever they say or do can and will be held against them.

[Jenny Obando]

In regards to the changes in how the funding will be distributed you actually have a choice to have the ministry directly bill to your consultant(invoice Payment option) in which case you have no control and no responsability to do checks and so on, you don't have to hire your service provider or account for the money, however you still have the CHOICE to get the funding directly which means the ministry will send you montly checks or direct deposits, then you pay your therapist and consultant yourself. I personally like this option better because you manage the money the way you want under their guide lines, a bit more work but more control, which is worth it specially when dealing with government agencies money and your child.

If your social worker gives you trouble, ask him/her about the letter sent to parents in the summer regarding these changes, and if you get no where, don't hesitate to talk to her supervisor.

I hope this helps.
If you would like more info feel free to call me 604-460-9047

Jenny (Tristen's mom)

[ZZhang]

My 3 year old son has recently been diagnosed to be autistic. The goverment social worker came to visit us and mentioned that the government will change the funding process to families in October. The main change might be that the service providers will bill the government directly. Does anybody know about this? As we are new to this world and we are trying to get my son's therapeutic team organized. I found it is overwhelming even to get it started. Any advise will help us. Thanks.

[Ivy Mui]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your helpful suggestions. The feeling I have about this IEII funding is that I like to spend every single penny towards my sons treatment and not using any of it for paying EI, CPP or WCB coverage. I wish the government could make this simpler for us. Setting up a program for my son is really stressing me out but I don't feel alone anymore.

Ivy

[Stephen Paperman]

Deb, your logic is entirely sound as far as I am concerned. I do not buy any coverage from WCB and my home insurance covers any liability of mine on my property, including people who are DOING work in my home. I have always been under the impression that WCB is only for workers, not for the self-employed, but if they are selling some kind of extra liability insurance that does NOT affect the status of your relationship, that could be useful for people who don't have home insurance with sufficient liability coverage.

Perhaps I sound like a broken record, but I believe in speaking with professionals when I have these kinds of questions. For legal matters, I consult my lawyer. For medical questions, I go to my doctor. For autism questions I go to my ABA consultant. For insurance matters, I would talk to an insurance broker.

[Debra Antifaev]

Regarding WCB, I am not sure, but I would think that if you don't have to have it for Molly Maid, a plumber, an electrician, or your consultant…why would you have to make things different for your therapists?
I think we have to be very careful to follow the same rules with ALL independent contractors.
Can anyone else let me know what you think?

Thanks,

Deb

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