Rather, we have found that parents and caregivers typically look at a provider’s credentials as well as the amount of one-on-one direct treatment hours a child receives. However, as we stated before, the heart of any treatment program is how your child is progressing. So, we believe that the toughest conversations a child receives in treatment are those provided by his or her provider. How a child’s provider handles these discussions with your child and with you gives you the best idea of a child’s quality of treatment.
While there are numerous organizations that are providing a wide array of different intervention, and individualized support to children with autism spectrum disorders, there are also many differences among organizations offering Autism care. The stark contrasts among the many Autism service providers can often cause families to become entangled within a system of Autism care that is not at all effective for their child.
Evidence-based Practice Beyond the Buzzword
All providers list out the different evidence-based interventions they use to treat individuals with autism. The problem is that many only list out the interventions and don’t explain out how they use each of the interventions on a daily basis with the children and families that they serve.
Although ABA is the intervention most supported by evidence for individuals with autism, there are a number of different interventions offered. High quality intervention providers are trained in a number of different approaches, and they are able to select the most appropriate approach for a child’s needs and learning style, as well as the family’s situation and circumstances. In other words, they are not merely following a program of predetermined interventions that are then delivered to each child in the same way.
Assessment Reveals Everything
All individuals on the autism spectrum are unique and every individual on the autism spectrum needs an assessment of how they understand their environment. This assessment will reveal everything that you and your child need to know about your child’s development and will provide your child’s autism care provider with the information that is needed to develop an individualized treatment plan for your child. A quality autism care provider will administer a series of standardized tools to measure various aspects of a child’s development, but a quality autism care provider will also conduct an observational assessment of your child to gain insight into your child’s unique strengths, challenges, learning style, and needs.
When you’re going through the assessment process with your child’s provider, you’ll get a sense of their style of communication and how they will be able to work with you and your child. You can assess how clearly your child’s provider will be able to explain their findings to you and then translate their clinical observations into practical strategies that your child and your family can use outside of the sessions in which your child is receiving autism treatment.
Staff Training and Supervision Standards
As already mentioned above, the qualifications of direct service providers are very important, however, in most cases they are not inquired by families.
As we said before, we put a lot of time and money into to training our staff. The fact that they have spent time learning about ABA and how to implement it in a way that is best for the child is crucial to a child’s progress. Look for programs that have a good ratio of supervisors to therapists. These supervisors need to observe the therapists in action from time to time and give them feedback.
How a provider trains their direct service staff and supervises their work are key things to look for. Many organizations do not invest sufficient time and money in ongoing staff training to help their therapists provide the best interventions and support for children with autism and their families. Thus, many staff are not able to work with children and adolescents with autism effectively, regardless of their degree of experience or level of expertise. An organization that is providing effective autism interventions and support to children and their families is one that has a strong training program for its new staff as well as ongoing supervision of its experienced staff. This would mean that there is a low ratio of supervisors to therapists, and the supervisor actually observes the therapist providing interventions to the child and family in order to provide the most effective feedback. A strong organization also has a clear policy regarding staff turnover. Due to the complex nature of the population being served by autism providers, it is not uncommon for there to be high rates of staff turnover. Some organizations deal with this in healthy ways, and some do not. A healthy way to handle high rates of staff turnover is to have a strong training program, conduct regular supervision, and to hold staff accountable for providing the highest quality of care to every child and their family.
Family-centered Care in Practice
Autism care providers say that they are using “family-centered care” for their clients with autism but there is a huge variation of how they put this into practice. Some of the providers look at families as experts and work with families to develop goals and to implement interventions for their child with autism. The family is seen as an essential part of the child’s treatment and the treatment is seen as being implemented in
There are a few autism care providers that involve their families in the treatment of autism but primarily want the family to agree with the goals that the autism care provider sets. The family is expected to be passive observers of the treatment and not play a major role in the development of the interventions that the child will use to help himself or herself. The family is expected to agree with the treatment recommendations provided by the autism care provider. On the other hand, families are viewed as essential partners in the treatment of autism by quality autism care providers. They and the autism care provider work as a team. Treatment goals are set by both the family and the autism care provider. Interventions are planned by both as well. The autism care provider schedules regular meetings with the family to review the child’s progress. The family provides the autism care provider with information regarding the child’s concerns as well as any other information that the family believes to be relevant to the child’s treatment.
There is no guarantee that any intervention will work for any child 100% of the time. But there are people who really care and want to work with you to make the best changes for your child. They will work with you to develop new strategies and techniques to meet your child’s individual needs.
Cultural Responsiveness
Cultural Responsiveness. Children with Autism and their families come from a variety of cultural, linguistic and socio-economic backgrounds. High quality providers of Autism care acknowledge the impact that culture has on Autism and intervene in ways that respect and take into account the cultural backgrounds of the children and their families. This is not meant to imply that there are “good” or “bad” ways to intervene with a child with Autism; rather that all effective interventions take into account the cultural context in which they take place. A provider at Bierman Autism Centers recognizes that cultural background can have an impact on Autism and intervenes with Autism in a way that respects the cultural background of children with Autism and their families.
Bierman Autism Centers are a group of centers that hire a very diverse group of professionals who are all committed to ongoing staff training in order to provide the most culturally responsive autism services to children and their families from a variety of different backgrounds and from a variety of different cultural backgrounds. They realize that providing services to children and their families from diverse backgrounds requires more than just translation of existing interventions or superficial accommodations for children and their families from diverse backgrounds.
Progress Monitoring and Transparency
Even with the best of providers, children with autism will have good days and bad days. It is how your child’s provider handles those days that matters. Your child’s provider should be able to measure your child’s progress in a variety of ways. He or she should be able to share that information with your family. Your child’s provider should help your family understand what progress looks like for your child. There are many different domains in which a child with autism can make progress. There are also many different measures that can be used to monitor a child’s progress.
There is only one way to find out if your child’s provider is using the quality data to measure your child’s progress. Ask to see it. Objectively measure data (i.e., frequency, duration, etc.) as well as qualitative data (i.e., your child’s engagement, his or her increased independence, his or her socialization, etc.). Then ask the provider to explain the data to you and how your child will progress over time. Remember every child with autism is unique and will progress at their own pace.
The best provider will critique their methods and alter their treatment when appropriate. They will not attribute the child’s lack of progress to the child or family and will not rely on ineffective methods to meet their child’s needs.
You need a provider who can support your child and your family in gaining the knowledge, skills and confidence to advocate for your child wherever you are in your Autism journey!
