District ABA Advisory

Minutes – April 8/08
District ABA Advisory
Attendance 13

 

Meeting called to order at 7:05

 

Minutes approved from last meeting

· Motioned by Debra Antifeav, seconded by Elaine Raynault

· Motioned to send minutes out and not refer people to the website to read them

· Meeting announcement prior to next meeting. D Poole, seconded N Walton added note to send out a map for the next meeting

 

 

Old business

§ Response to proposal sent to District – verbal approval received. Once a formal approval is received the website will be updated with the response

§ We will remind the District that we want to have space in the next Edcom paper (May)

§ D Antifeav – asked if school’s were willing to advise all parents of children with Autism – ie would they be made aware of the existence of the group

§ Response from NR – we asked for it to go through PACS to ensure that we reach more parents even those who are not running ABA programs

§ Being linked to the Surrey School district website should alleviate most concerns

§ We asked for DPAC recognition – DPAC requested a presentation from us about what we do – they determined that they are going to send someone to our meetings – they made information requests and were sent numerous studies demonstrating that ABA is state of the art scientifically validated and documented treatment – we are awaiting their feedback

 

§ Clarification on Support Worker Requests for Next Year

§ The district was asked about their previous request for parents to send in notification that they wanted to continue having an ABA SW and have their consultant send in a letter

§ As of April 8th – if you have an ABA SW then you will be considered to want that type of support person – however if you do not have an ABA SW currently then you will need to reapply annually to ensure that you are still running a program and that you still request an ABA Support Worker
§ If you require a letter ,it needs to include the nature of the request – I want X child at Y school to have an ABA SW for the school year 2008/2009 – My Consultant is Z. Your Conultant must submit a resume and a brief outline of the childs ABA program and both must accompany your request for an ABA Support Worker. Requests should be made by April 2008 for the 2008/2009 school year. (Please refer to District ABA Home/School Collaboration Letter Nov 07 under quick links on our website. See the bottom of page 1 – Parent/Guardian request for ABA Support Worker criteria)
§ We need to verify with the district that they are telling new parents that they need to specifically request ABA SW’s if they are running a home program. How do they know new kindergarten parents are getting the information, we have parents at our meeting that have not received this information.

§ The letter that was sent on November 6th to parents currently running programs from Rick Ryan will be posted on our Website

§ We will contact The Child Development Centre and ensure that they know the process for getting ABA SW’s

§ If there is no consultant then you are not assured of keeping an ABA SW for you child

 

Posting Process

NR asked the District what the posting process currently is. The district reported that they did not post monthly unless parents continually ask and follow through with their request for specifically an ABA SW. The assumption seems to be that if you are not making requests then you are happy with your current support.

 

New Business

IEP reviews and evaluations

– there are discussion points on either side as to whether or not these reviews are necessary

– Some feel that you need to validate success

– Others feel that the time is not well spent and the money spent on the Consultant is wasted

Some people have been told they do not get an IEP review – some parents have never had reviews while others review regularly

– The Executive needs to review with the district what the IEP policy is – if they are not reviewed what is the point

– In general Parents were and are more interested in their child’s specific behaviour plan and programs are followed in class

 

Sub List Requests

– Some parents have been informed that we can we request – a specific person from the spare board

– Principals and ABA SW’s have been told this is not possible

– Some ABA SW’s have been successful in getting specific replacements for themselves by using ID numbers

– We need to ask the district what the process is to make this happen as children with ASD who have consistent treatment are most successful

 

We discussed Pro D Day requests:

A request was made to determine if a contingency plan could exist whereby ABA SW’s from other schools on Pro D could be on spare board for a day, that could increase the numbers of ABA SW’s available on the spare board. However the next point likely supercedes the Pro D day request and makes the most sense for getting the child specific work and reporting completed

ABA SW’s need time for prep

– Could Pro D days be used as home training, prep time for the child or ABA specific training

– When the child is home sick the ABA SW could be doing necessary ABA prep work for the child

– Motion by David Poole that a letter be written to ask district for recognition on above two points

– Questions about Bell to bell coverage – who pays

– Work with Principals to encourage ABA SW’s to come to team meetings

 

On a specific issue we need to talk to the District about giving something to one parent and then telling others it will never happen again, this is divisive and does not recognize the needs of the individual child.

 

 

Integration Teachers

§ We have talked about before, the district thinking about creative ways to have the Consultants compensated

§ Consultants could be given the template and they could fill in the IEP at the District’s expense

§ Consultants tend to write the IEP goals and then they are transcribed into the district format – this is a waste of district resources and students funding money that pays Consultants from the Home Program

§ Integration teachers in some instances do not add value and seem to have an anti ABA bias, (too many anecdotes to list in this text)

§ However it is noted that several parents have positive input from their integration teachers and complete support in using ABA Consultant advice and counsel in the School

§ Consultants could come under the Psych category

§ Previously asked to have only several integration teachers in the district that would be responsible for all children with Home ABA programs

§ In many instances principals or vice principals could manage the cases

§ Could be used as a cost cutting measure

§ Motion by Elaine Raynault to write a letter to request that the District look into ways to compensate consultants for the time spent recognizing the shortage of integration teachers this may be a cost saving measure seconded by Deb Antifeav carried

 

Question – do your ABA SW’s attend team meetings?

– Some parents reported that they did not

– This does not seem to work into a collaborative model

– It was noted that Principal’s can approve time for outside of school hour meetings

– EM noted that she holds her team meetings at school and the teachers, integration teacher, ABA SW’s and home team members all attend

 

SET BC

The group received an issue from a parent who has been denied help through SET BC. This denial was not from SET BC, it was from their integration teacher. This has lead to the question that we need to understand what the qualification guidelines and how parents get access to Augmentative Communication and Laptops or other devices through SET BC. Different schools in the district seem to have different approaches and children who need these services according to their ABA Consultants and or Psychologists are not receiving them. Whereas there is anecdotal evidence that parents who have not requested this support have had it offered to them. A Motion to request this information was made by E MacDonald and seconded by D Antifeav.

 

Sign language

The child should be using the assisted communication option (PECS, Sign, ACC Device) in the classroom that the child uses at home based on the advice of the ABA Consultant. As per Hewko the school team needs to work with the home team to assure the child’s prescribed communication method is delivered. This will be brought up as a discussion point with the district in the Executive Committee’s next meeting, to determine if a specific request needs to be made for a more formalized recognition in the district.

 

 

We had a report from E Mendoza who met with Trustees as a representative of the Latin Parents group – what is good and what is bad about school system and what you would like to improve. Her answer children without full time hours. Space for children who need to be removed for a tantrum or other behaviour. They made notes and said they would get back to her. She also noted to them that there are not enough Speech Paths working for the district to supply adequate time for children with ASD who need their support.

 

There was a request from R Black

Can we write a letter to ask what can be done to match children to ABA SW’s earlier to alleviate parental stress. There were questions about what can be done to match parents and ABA SW requests. Motion by R Black and seconded by N Walton. A request will be written to ask for the earliest possible assignment for ABA SW’s and notification of parents.

 

 

Information

Insight Media Centre located in Surrey has some ABA materials available for sale to parents. (insight@telus.net)

 

 

Adjourned at 9:20