Erik
Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us tonight. Welcome to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services’ Province- wide telephone TownHall on the Ontario Autism Program. Tonight, we are live with the Minister of Children and Youth Services, Michael Coteau, and he is joined by Sarah Hardy, the Director of the Ontario Autism Program Project Team. Together, they will answer any questions you may have. My name is Erik and I'll be the moderator of the TownHall this evening. You can ask Minister Coteau and Sarah Hardy a question at any time by pressing 3 on your phone's keypad. Tonight, we want to hear your thoughts and your family's questions about the Ontario Autism Program. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services chose this format tonight as this is the most interactive way to conduct the TownHall via conference call and to hear all of your questions and experiences.
Erik
Also, so you are all aware, tonight's TownHall is being recorded and the recording will be available to the public on the Ministry's website at ontario.ca/autism. A transcript of the Telephone TownHall will also be made available on the website. To respect your privacy, we will only be using first names during the TownHall and will not be discussing individual cases. Tonight, we encourage you to get involved and to ask questions. I will ask that you try and keep your questions as brief as possible, so we can hear from as many people as possible this evening. You can ask Minister Coteau and Sarah Hardy a question at any time by pressing 3 on your phone's keypad. This will allow you to enter the question queue, basically a virtual lineup, so you're able to ask your questions.
Erik
Now for everyone joining us, hello once again and welcome to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services province-wide telephone TownHall meeting on the Ontario Autism Program. Tonight, you are live with the Minister of Children and Youth Services, Michael Coteau and Sarah Hardy, the Director of the Ontario Autism Program. My name is Erik and I'll be the moderator this evening. Tonight, we want to hear your thoughts, your experiences, and your family's questions about the Ontario Autism Program. Throughout tonight's TownHall, I want to remind you that that any time you can ask a question by pressing 3 on your phone's keypad. That will allow you to enter the question queue, basically a virtual lineup, so you're able to ask the Minister your question. If your question doesn't get asked this evening, we invite you to join us at the next telephone TownHall on January 17th. If you would like more information at any time, we encourage you to visit our website ontario.ca/autism where you can find more information on the Ontario Autism Program including the new program changes that will be effective as of January 15th. To get the TownHall started, it's my pleasure to introduce Minister Michael Coteau. Minister, welcome.
Minister Coteau
Hey. Thank you so much Erik. And I wanted to say hello to everyone who's joined us on the call. I've been told that we had almost 600 people register for this and several hundred people on the line currently. So thank you for taking time tonight to call into our province-wide Tele TownHall on the Ontario Autism Program. My name is Michael Coteau and I'm the Minister of Children and Youth Services here in the province. And I'm here tonight to talk about the Ontario Autism Program, otherwise known as the OAP, and the new changes that are being introduced this month. And also, I'd like to hear from you and answer some of the questions that you may have. With me tonight, to help answer some of those questions is Sarah Hardy and she is the Director of the Ontario Autism Program Project Team at the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. I want to make sure that you have all the information you need to access the OAP services as smoothly as possible.
Minister Coteau
I'd like to start by giving you a quick outline of the program and the changes that we are introducing. Our focus has been to offer services that are flexible, individualized, and based on the needs and strengths of children and youth, regardless of age. We've also placed great emphasis on enabling families to be actively engaged in the child's care. Last June, we introduced the new OAP and families began entering the program through a single access point in their area. This past December, we announced that we are providing families of children and youth with autism with choice, consistency, and confidence by introducing a direct-funding option for evidence- based behavioral services, and making program enhancements that will deliver effective services. Starting January 15th, families who are in the program will have the choice of receiving services from one of Ontario's regional providers or receiving direct funding to purchase evidence-based behavioral services from a private provider.
Minister Coteau
Other changes that we're making this month include increasing the maximum hourly rate for evidence-based behavioral services purchased through the OAP from $39 per hour to a maximum of up to $55 per hour for families who choose the direct-funding options. Communicating new qualification requirements for clinical supervisors so that families feel confident that they're receiving consistent, high-quality behavioral services. And implementing an independent clinical review process to give families in the OAP the opportunity to request a review of key components of their child's OAP behavioral plan, if they disagree with the plan.
Minister Coteau
We have more information on all of these program changes announced in December on the Ministry's website at ontario.ca/autism. We'll also have updates with more information and resources available after January 15th, so please check back. This program has been shaped by the voices of parents and caregivers. We have a strong program that will allow young people with autism to succeed here in Ontario. So I want to take a moment just to say thank you for your advocacy, your dedication, and your commitment. I don't want to take up too much time because I want to hear from you. But before we officially open up the lines for questions, I just want to turn it over to Sarah and she has a few words to say, and then we'll turn it right back to Erik and start the questions. Sarah?
Sarah Hardy
Thank you so much Minister and thanks again to everyone who's called into tonight's TownHall. It's truly an honour to be here with the Minister to help answer some of your questions. I do just want to take a moment to acknowledge the progress that we have achieved since the Minister and I had the opportunity to speak with families last summer. As the Minister mentioned, the new Ontario Autism Program was implemented this past June and it's a program that we are very proud of. We've made significant changes in Ontario in the way that autism services are delivered by streamlining access for families, offering individualized and flexible services, and also introducing a collaborative and family-centered approach to service delivery.
Sarah Hardy
And while we know it's still early days and families are continuing to transition into the program, I feel like we've made very good progress. And the changes that the Minister I just talked about and were announced in December, really build on this strong foundation by introducing a new direct funding option as well as the program enhancements that he spoke about. The most recent changes, which will take effect on Monday, are the result of extensive consultation and discussion with our OAP advisory committee, our clinical expert committee, our service providers, our stakeholders, and most importantly our families. And the advice and the input that we received have really shaped where we are today. So I do also echo the Minister's comments in saying thank you for all of that. So I think I won't talk anymore. I think Erik, we're ready for the Minister and I start taking some questions.
Erik
Well we do have some live questions coming up. Minister Coteau and Sarah Hardy, thank you for opening up the TownHall. Quickly, I want to remind everyone joining us that if you have a live question, we want to hear from you. At any time, you can press 3 on your phone's keypad. You'll have a chance to ask a live question. Of course, this is the Ministry of Children and Youth Services province- wide telephone TownHall on the Ontario Autism Program. Press 3 at any time to ask a live question. We're going to go to Michelle who's asking our first live question. Michelle, welcome. You're joining us live. Please go ahead.
Michelle
Hi. I have a question. How many kids are going to be expected to get service this year? I think in the last year, there's approximately 3,500 kids getting intensive service, not the day-to-day ABA on evidence- based service. So I'm just trying to understand how many kids this year? There must be a projected number in terms of what funds are being distributed to the regional providers. How many kids are expected to be on services this year for evidence-based service? And just also, I was just curious why the Ministry didn't decide to let the parents get the money instead of going to the regionals because I think it's just sort of been more cost-effective that way?
Minister Coteau
So hi. Thank you so much Michelle for the question. I'll start with the second point. Well the direct funding is giving the parents the money. The point of having the regionals adMinister is because we need some type of mechanism to distribute the money. So in instance, I think you need to look at the regionals as the distributor of those resources rather than the money being given to them and then given to the parents. The simple fact is that the Ministry, we don't have the infrastructure to flow that money as quickly as we want to and the regionals were the best option. It was a tough decision to try to get to who would be the best to deliver those services. But with the existing footprints on Ontario and the ability to move the money as quickly as possible, we believe that the regionals were the best choice for us.
Minister Coteau
In regards to the first question, in regards to the flow of young people going through the program in the first year, we've always said from the very beginning that it will be very difficult for us to know exactly to project an accurate number on how many young people would access the program. It really depends on where young people are. It depends on the waitlist in that specific region. But our objective is to maximize our full capacity to get that money out if they choose direct funding or get young people into the regional programs. The fact is that there are more resources now going to the regionals. So they will have the ability to expand capacity to deliver on that level. And with the direct funding, it will open up the ability to have more people go out there and access the programs they want. So it's hard to give a number. But we do know that our objective this year is to cut that waitlist and the wait time. So I don't know Sarah, if you want to add anything else to that.
Sarah Hardy
Yeah. I completely agree. And I think one of the biggest changes we made in June was actually removing or changing the program parameters that we had on our previous program and really introducing what I mentioned around the individual and flexible services that were based on children's needs. So it wasn't like our former ABA program where it was very defined and children received services in blocks. And that was very defined two to four hours. Those types of services are much easier to project than individualized services that are based on needs. So we are very much in early days in understanding what services are being delivered and what children are receiving in the program. And it's going to take some time to really monitor the impact of those changes. But as the Minister said, we are continuing to invest quite significantly year over year to expand our service system so that more children are receiving those services.
Minister Coteau
Thanks Michelle.
Sarah Hardy
And Erik, I think we're ready for the next question.
Erik
We do have another live question ready to go quickly. For everyone joining us, again, if you'd like to ask a live question, press 3 at any time on your phone's keypad. We're going to go now to Phil for our next live question. Phil, welcome. You're joining us live on the line. Please go ahead.
Phil
Thanks Erik and good evening Michael and Sarah. Thanks for taking my question.
Minister Coteau
Good evening.
Phil
My question is regarding direct funding. So this is probably the typical question of many parents. I'll give you a specific example though. So the parents of this child were proactive and identified issues with their son early at the age of two. And then through the next eight months, they got their son assessed and he was officially added to the Ontario waiting list for service back in July of 2017. So the child is now three and a half, still waiting for service funding in this case now. And what I wanted to understand is when the parents can realistically expect to be contacted to start the process to get direct funding, and what are the steps in that process, and how long does that process take? And what kind of service level do you have on when the parents can expect their first funding check under the new program?
Minister Coteau
So Phil, I'll just take just two seconds to address that then I'll turn it over to Sarah. The simple fact that parents are waiting this long
to get the services that they need, to me, it's unacceptable to this Ministry, we know it needs to be improved and that's why we've invested into this program to cut those wait times down. So to those families that have gone through that experience - because that story you just told me is a story I've heard many times across the province - I just want to say that we're doing this and moving into this new model to try to prevent that wait time from happening. And in regard to the process of what happens next for a family in that type of scenario, I'll turn it over to Sarah.
Sarah Hardy
Thanks Minister. So families will be able to receive the choice of direct funding or direct service when their spot for behavioral services becomes available. And so what would happen in that situation is the regional provider who is managing that waitlist, will be contacting those families and working very closely with them. We have introduced on new positions through our regional providers called family support workers and those family support workers are really there to help families in understanding what their service options are, understanding what the OAP is, and what choices they have for their children. The other thing that a child in the situation that you talked about could access are a number of foundational supports; parent training, information and workshops, some consultation services. So, what I would recommend in that situation is for you or the family that you spoke about to contact that single point of access, the regional provider, for more information about what is available to the family while they continue to wait for their spot to become available in the OAP. So Erik, I think unless the Minister wanted to add anything, I think we're ready for another question.
Erik
Perfect. Phil, thank you very much for that question. We have another live question ready to go. This one is coming up from Dana from Toronto who has a live question. Dana, welcome, you're joining us live.
Dana
Hey guys. So I talked to my regional provider regarding when I could start DFO. They still don't have any information. The Ministry gave families permission to defer spots. I turned down non evidence- based service for the old ABA program to wait for DFO in the new OAP, with the assumption that when DFO became available, my child would be getting service. Now my regional provider is saying that we may not get DFO right away due to the waitlist amalgamation. Was there some type of priority waitlist? When the regionals have no info, what date can we expect information and for deferral families, where do we stand on the waitlist?
Minister Coteau
Yeah. So as you know, right across the province Dana, there's different regions and in different regions, there's different waitlists that exist. But starting the 15th of January, the intake will begin and families can start accessing that new program, the direct funding program. But if you're a family that is, for example, let's just say there's 300 people on a list in a region and you're closer to the 300 versus the beginning numbers, then it's going to take longer than those at the very beginning. So they will work through that list based on the date of entry. I don't know, Sarah, if you want to add more to that.
Sarah Hardy
Just want to add is around the deferral of the spot. So if that was a choice that you did make to defer your spot and to wait for the DFO, your original date of referral is maintained and honoured, so that doesn't change your place on the waitlist. And you will be offered direct funding when your spot for behavioral services becomes available. I just wanted to reiterate what the process with respect to the deferral, that your original date of referral is honoured. So, that if you have deferred and you've been waiting, you may be closer to the top than the bottom. I'm not sure because I don't have the specific information. But important for families to know that that date of referral is honoured. Thanks.
Minister Coteau
Thanks Erik. Thanks Dana.
Erik
Dana, thank you for that question. We're going to go directly to another question. This one is from Salwa from Oakville. Salwa, you're joining us live. Please go ahead.
Salwa
Hi there. My first question is in regards to the waitlist itself. There's differences between regions. Some are able to give you an actual number. The region that I'm a part of, which is run through Erinoak will not provide numbers. So I just wanted to know why there is inconsistency in regards to that. We keep being told a time frame, but no other information.
Minister Coteau
Thank you so much— it's Salwa? I believe Salwa. Thank you so much. My expectation is that we've given directives as a Ministry that the provider should be sharing the information on where a family sits on that waitlist. I know that there are some that have been quite good at doing that and there have been some where we've heard concern about. But my expectation is that the regional offices are going to have to be in a place where they can share that information so parents can better plan for their child's future. Sarah, do you want to add anything to that?
Sarah Hardy
Yeah. I think the Minister is absolutely right. We have given direction in terms of how regional providers should be talking to families about what it means around their spot on the waitlist. And I think sometimes— it's very important to note that sometimes if you're number 300 on a list, that doesn't necessarily imply or tell you what your wait time for service may be. Those wait times will influenced by a number of factors and some of those factors will be very specific to those communities. So a family who's number 300 in Hamilton, it may not mean the same thing as a family who's 300 in North Bay. So we do very much have to look at it from the local context and those are the conversations that we're expecting regional providers to have with families in helping them understand what does it mean if you're 300 on the list, and what can you expect, and what kinds of things would influence the flow and the time that a family might be waiting? Thanks so much for your question, appreciate it.
Erik
Well we have another question coming up and it's going to be from Nanal from Ottawa. Nanal, you're joining us live on the line. Please go ahead.
Nanal
Hi. Hi. Good evening guys. So my question is about the new OAP program. I know that I'm still under the old model where I get the funding and I give it to private therapists and what have you. My main question is, right now we're doing services that are center- based and we also have— it's extended to home-based twice a week. My son has three hours a night, twice a week, and it's overseen by the main center that he sees during the day. So they oversee all these BCBAs from the center. He is the private therapist that comes over, by video and stuff, and they're the ones that are drawing up the program.
Nanal
So my main question is, can I continue - if it's necessary for my son, which I know it is - to continue on this type of treatment plan. Can he continue receiving these types of services, center-based, as well as home-based twice a week as we're doing now? Overseen of course by BCBA. That was my main concern. I know we lost speech therapy. Fine. But we did not want to lose the home-based because it really— it creates a lot of— it's really helpful for him. He enjoys it and he's gaining a lot from it and I really don't want to see him lose it because the services are very essential and he's showing a lot of progress. So we hate to see, with the new model, him losing this. And that's my main concern from the time I received the letter. Thank you.
Minister Coteau
Yes. So thank you so much. I've spoken to so many parents across the province in regards to the services that they're receiving. And with a new program, there always is concern around change. But the program that we've put in place and specifically around the direct funding program, the money goes into the hands of the caregiver and the caregiver will then decide how that money is used when it comes to getting the ABA services that they need for their child or the young person that they're responsible for. So if that is delivered - and correct me if I'm wrong Sarah - but if it's delivered in a classroom-type setting or in an organization-based or at home, that doesn't matter. Correct?
Sarah Hardy
Correct. Yep.
Minister Coteau
Okay. So as long as the qualification— the person has to be qualified and it has to fit as behavioral services, the ABA services. As long as those criteria are there, it's really at the discretion of the caregiver to make that decision on behalf of the child or youth to receive those services. And if it's in a home, that's completely fine.
Sarah Hardy
So I think the only thing I'd add is one of our main principles for the OAP is accessibility for families. And we want to ensure— and you'll see language referenced in our guidelines, which is very important in terms of services being offered in a variety of settings where possible. What we really want is we want those settings to make sense for the family. And that's the work that you'll do with your clinical supervisor and your clinical team in determining what are priorities for your family and what makes the most sense for your family. And that's really the collaboration that we'd like to see in working with your family and the services that'll be delivered for your child. Thanks so much for the question. Erik?
Erik
Nanal, thank you again for that question. We have our next live question ready to go. This one is coming up from Naveen. Naveen from Brampton, welcome to the TownHall. You're joining us live.
Naveen
Hello Mike. Hello Sarah.
Minister Coteau
Hello.
Sarah Hardy
Hello.
Naveen
Thank you for taking my question. I have a two-year-old kid who has been diagnosed with autism a month ago and I've been in touch with ErinoakKids and they don't have any information about waitlist. That's my main concern. So I don't want my kid to wait for like a year or year and a half and then we lose the most valuable time when intervention is really, really needed. And then all they will give me any wait times. And to be really honest, I called them like yesterday and they don't even know which number or which person to transfer me to give me the right information. So I called the number on your website though and they're not even sure the person picking up the phone, the intake person doesn't have any information for waitlists and she doesn't know where to transfer me. I just have to say, that type of— that kind of call and try later again. So, that's my first main concern.
Naveen
And the other one is so I understood that the DFO can be only use toward ABA services and nothing like occupational and speech therapy. If that is right, if my understanding is right, why is it being [districted?] only for that, when this DFO option was supposed to be need-based and based on what the family needs and the kid really, really needs? Because my kid really, really needs speech therapy and occupational therapy. These are my two main questions.
Minister Coteau
So Naveen, your child has gone through the assessment process already?
Naveen
Yes, he has been assessed, he has been diagnosed, and he has been registered on November 1st Michael. So it's been 10 weeks, we have been waiting. I understand the wait is so long, but I really don't want to end up waiting for a year and lose all of the valuable time. I would rather do it on my home and get therapy for my kid.
Minister Coteau
Right. No, I completely understand. So first of all, when you call any of the service providers, you should be getting— you should be able to speak to someone who understands the options that may be available, so I don't know why that didn't happen. If you wait until the— somewhere in the next five minutes on the call, I'll provide you with a number you can call to connect with someone who, maybe in the region, that can assist you. So I'll make sure that happens. In addition to that, when it comes to the DFO, the direct funding, I've always been very clear from the very beginning that the half a billion dollar investment that we're making into autism services is for ABA and I've been absolutely clear about that from the beginning. Now I have spoken to parents about other services that are required to help young people, services such as speech and language therapy. There's been rehabilitation services with kids. What I'm talking about, just kids in general, like I've talked to parents about the services Direct Funding could cover for children.
Minister Coteau
Even outside of autism, there's been issues around recreational programs for young people and how direct funding should be open for that. But I've just been clear that I've been asked to reform this program based on the ABA services and that's what I'm doing. And the money that has been allocated - and it's a large, substantial amount of money - it's necessary that it goes back to ABA. So those waitlists, to me it's unacceptable that we have over 20,000 young people on a waitlist. And that money, I'm hoping, will help drastically reduce, if not eliminate that waitlist over time. So, that's the purpose of the money, that's what I want to do, but I've always been open to looking at ways to enhance services, not only for children who have autism, but complex special needs, special needs in general, any type of challenges that young people go through. It's my job to make sure that they have an advocate to fight on their behalf. But Naveen, if you stay on the line and you listen, just maybe during the next call, I'll get you a number you can call to contact someone directly in your region, in Brampton. Thanks. Erik?
Erik
Naveen, thank you very much for that question. Now we're going to go to another question in just a moment. I want to let everyone know that we still have about 30 minutes of questions remaining on this evening's TownHall. This is of course the Ministry of Children and Youth Services province-wide telephone TownHall on the Ontario Autism Program. We're taking your questions at any time. Press 3 on your phone's keypad if you have a live question that you'd like to ask on the TownHall. We're now going to go to a live question. This is from Kay-ur from Ottawa. Kay-ur, you're joining us live. Please go ahead.
Kay-Ur
Hi Michael. Hi Sarah. Thank you for, first of all, providing these services and giving the family a little bit of opportunity to kind of help our kids. So really, thank you for all your help and work that you guys are doing for the families in need. Mike, I have twin boys, both are diagnosed with ASD and developmental delay. And right now, they are going to a private provider with the Direct Funding Option, but we have been told that March 31st is the deadline and after that, there won't be any funding. And to me, I ask them, "So, what are my options? Is services going to stop for my kids? What are they going to do?" I have no clear direction given to me saying, "Okay.
After this, this is all the options you have." And as a family, what do we do here from this point?
Minister Coteau
Thank you so much. So just to be clear, you're talking about the AK10K option that you're currently receiving?
Kay-Ur
That's right. Yeah, we're receiving 10K, yes now.
Minister Coteau
So let's make a commitment to you right now that— and this conversation is being recorded, so my words are my words, but you will not be removed from that program until you're in to the new program. So I wouldn't worry about that hard cut-off date. My objective is to get everyone into those programs prior to that date, but you're not going to be— resources will not be pulled away and you won't be left without any contribution from the prevention program. So I wouldn't worry about that. My job now is to get you into the new program as quickly as possible and to make sure that your children get the services that they deserve. Thank you. Erik?
Erik
Kay-ur, thank you very much for that question. We have another live question. This one will be from Natalie from Vaughn. Natalie, you're joining us live. Please go ahead.
Natalie
Hi there.
Minister Coteau
Hi.
Sarah Hardy
Hi Natalie.
Natalie
I got a question. You said that for— currently, I'm in the 8K10K option for my son who is non-verbal and now SOP and OT were covered in this program currently because they work together with his ABA provider to provide his current program. So going forward, when he gets put into the new autism program, his SOP and OT will not be covered? Because to me, all three work hand in hand to create his current program. Without SOP to a non-verbal child, who also has a communication device, he needs all the support to help him communicate.
Minister Coteau
Okay. Thank you so much. So the 8K10K, the original 8K, there was an eligibility for multiple, different services, I know some parents even used them for technology enhancements and transportation, I believe things like that. But the 10K program as it was delivered was always specifically around ABA and nothing else. So the program shift into the new program follows the exact same criteria, so nothing will be lost. There's maybe the occupational— I think the speech therapy, sorry, that your child may be receiving is funded through maybe another program. You may want to ask, but the current program, that is the 8K10K program, the 10K program is specifically for ABA services. The new autism program, it covers the exact same thing, so there will be no changes there. Sarah, do you want to add anything to that?
Sarah Hardy
Yeah, I will just add a couple of things. We do recognize that most of our kids in the OAP will also be receiving other services such as speech-language pathology, occupational therapy. There may be other types of services. I think what's important to know is we want to encourage collaboration between those professionals, we want to encourage that the goals that children are working on in the OAP are aligned and coordinated with the goals that a child may be working on through a speech-language program. Because as you mentioned in your question, communication delays and other things are very much part of what we're delivering— sorry, communication skills are very much what we're delivering as part of the OAP. So I think, what I would say around the speech-language pathology is we want to encourage those partnerships and those partnerships may look somewhat different for each child.
Sarah Hardy
So if you are currently working with a speech-language pathologist, that speech-language pathologist going forward could deliver behavioral services including ABA, under the supervision of a clinical supervisor. And that clinical supervisor obviously will need to meet a number of required qualifications. But SOPs can also partner with clinical supervisors as consultation to make sure, as I mentioned before, that those goals are really aligned in terms of what the child is working on. So I think, yeah, the Minister is very much right. What we're funding through the OAP is evidence-based behavioral services, including ABA, but we very much want to foster and encourage collaboration between professionals that are working with your child, recognizing that there will be multiple needs and multiple goals for those kids. So I hope that helps a little bit. Erik?
Erik
Natalie, thank you very much for that question. We have another live question ready to go. This one will be from Ruth from Peterborough. Ruth, you're joining us live, please go ahead with your question.
Ruth
Hi. Good evening and thank you both for being here, as well as the many hundreds of parents who hopefully are listening in. So I had my question ready, I have heard some responses to it just in the last couple of minutes, but I want to still present it. So the first piece of my question was, I was going to ask for a really clear understanding of what is being referred to by the phrase evidence-based behavioral services. And so I'm hearing Michael say, that means strictly ABA. But I'm hearing Sarah say, that means services including ABA. And so those are two different responses and I really do hope that we can clarify what we're talking about here.
Ruth
So the [inaudible] question would because there are many, many families out there and I'm sure we've got them on the line with us tonight who are choosing services along with or instead of ABA. There are developmental interventions that are often delivered by fully regulated professionals; psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, speech paths, etc. that are meeting the needs and exceeding, in many cases, what is available using strictly and only ABA for families changed by autism. I think it's really imperative that we hear that there is a greater need out here in Ontario than only for ABA. I guess my question is, I'd like to know how the needs of these families are going to be fit into the new OAP? They haven't been fit previously.
Sarah Hardy
So Ruth, thank you so much for your question and it's actually something that we've been working quite hard on in terms of defining, in a very clear way, what evidence-based behavioral services are. I don't know if you've had a chance to read our OAP guidelines. We worked very much with our clinical community and our advisory committee in trying to define what evidence-based behavioral services mean. And some of the material that we're going to be releasing on Monday also sort of further the definition from a very sort of plain language perspective around what that means. So I could see some of your confusion between what the Minister and I have been saying. I think what I'll say now, I really encourage you to read the literature that we've put out, is when we talk about behavioral services, we're really referring to services that teach children use of skills that they need to participate at home, at school, and in the community.
Sarah Hardy
And we can classify sort of a wide variety of those services that sort of have different names, different methods, and different approaches that's behavioral or behaviorally based. But I think what's really important here is that all of these services are based on the science of applied behavior analysis. So we're talking about what I would say a wider range than what people would necessarily think as ABA program. So I hope that answers some of your question, it is a very complicated question and one that we've really been working on to be very clear about in terms of our guidelines because that is what we are funding through the OAP. And really need to be clear for families about what that means, particularly in the context of direct funding, when families are approaching private providers to purchase services as part of the OAP. So hopefully, through the guidelines that are publicly available and will be updated on our website on Monday, as well as some of the supporting family materials that we'll be releasing on Monday, that will help clarify things for families. Thanks for your question. I'll turn it back to Erik.
Erik
Ruth, thank you again for that question. We have another live question ready to go. This one will be from Ellie who is from Richmond Hill. Ellie, you're joining us live, please go ahead with your question.
Ellie
Yes. Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I think that it's kind of been asked by a few people and it really did involve the choice of other therapies, like speech and occupational therapy. But my question is really involving the larger issue that so many autistic adults and young people have spoken their thoughts and impressions and basically the fact that they are not in favor of behavioral therapy. For a wide variety of reasons [inaudible] concerning [inaudible] not needing to be consulted [inaudible] this [inaudible] program. And now wondering what the consideration is forward. I'm always interested in alternative therapies. Our family [inaudible] ADHD experiences. So many autistic, who have spoken out, really not in favor of this therapy. And we would like [inaudible] to use the funding towards other therapies that support sensory needs and patient needs, which are really causes of behavior. So is there consideration towards involving autistic people on the future decision making [inaudible]?
Minister Coteau
Well thank you so much for the question. I've had the, I would say, unique opportunity and privilege to travel across the province to talk to hundreds of families and there was a consistent voice out there that they needed more resources when it comes to ABA services. So this program is specifically around ABA services for young people.
It's our autism program here in Ontario and it's not for adults. I know that you said some adults would prefer other services, but this is for young people. And the other thing is, one of the key pieces I think behind this program is that it's around choice. So if someone wants to work with a regional provider and they prefer that delivery model, then they can go that way. And I've heard some parents say that they prefer that method. And some parents say that they want the ability to receive some funding directly so that they can make the decisions themselves. So our goal here at the end of the day is to make sure that - and it is specifically around ABA - that young people get the services and resources they need as soon as possible.
Minister Coteau
Now having said that, I'll go back to one of my original comments at the beginning. Once we put in this program, I hope that I have the opportunity again to go and start a second conversation with parents and people with autism to find out what other things we could be doing as a society, as Ontarians, to better position young people for success. So if there's alternative approaches or if the evidence is suggesting that there's other methods— I've spoken to people about how research is done, after-school programs the municipalities offer, nutrition, all these types of things that keep coming up. I've always been open to looking for ways to better position young people. So I'd be very open to the idea of having that, a new series of questions and conversations, and just getting to talk to people to better understand what else we could be doing to better position families for success. So thank you so much for the question.
Minister Coteau
I just want to go back to Naveen, I promised you a number. Naveen, if you phone our central office at 1-877-832-2818, you should be able to speak to someone there in our regional office. This is the Ministry regional office. Again, it's 1-877-832-2818 and that's out in Brampton. If for some reason you do have any challenges, please contact the Ministry here and you can send an email directly to me and we'll look for the best possible contact or solution with you. So we can go on to the next question Erik.
Erik
Ellie, thank you very much for that question. Now just a quick update for everyone joining us, we still have about 15 minutes of questions remaining in the TownHall. We're going to go to our next live question, this one is going to be from Marcia. Marcia, welcome to the TownHall, you're joining us live. Please go ahead.
Marcia
Hi. Thank you so much for answering my question. I was just wondering with this direct funding model, will you have a list of preferred providers for the ABA services?
Sarah Hardy
Hi Marcia, it's Sarah speaking. Thanks for your question. As of Monday, we won't have a specific provider list, but if you do need support, if you are considering the direct funding option, there are a number of ways that the Ministry can support you in locating a provider. And we will also have a number of online tools and family guides available to families in supporting them in choosing a qualified provider. Having said that, that will be what's available in January to support families. Having said that, we are working very much towards developing what would be an OAP provider list. And that list, providers could apply to that list and they would be vetted based on a set of criteria so that families would know that they are qualified providers to be providing OAP services. So it is definitely something that we are working towards over the next few months. But if it is something that you are looking into come January, there will be a number of supports that are available to you to help you make those decisions. Thanks so much for the question. Erik?
Erik
Marcia, thank you again for that question. We have our next live question ready to go. This one is coming from Sara, Sara from Richmond Hill. Sara, welcome, you're joining us live. Please go ahead.
Sarah
Thank you. Good evening Minister and Sarah. I actually have two questions please. My first question is, how are you going to be or how are we all going to be assessed for the number of hours available for each child under the new evidence-based program? And the second question is, I understand that behavior therapists are becoming a registered profession. I'm wondering what sort of criteria or process will be undertaken to identify who can call themselves a behavior therapist and be funded under this program.
Sarah Hardy
Thanks Sarah. It's Sarah. I'll answer your first one and then I think the Minister may take your second one. In terms of who decides what on your child will receive, in terms of the intensity, all children and youth will be assessed for their behavioral services by a clinical supervisor using the process and the approach that's outlined in our clinical framework as well as our OAP guidelines. Essentially, the role of the clinical supervisor will be to assess, develop, and recommend appropriate behavioral services for the child. Now a Clinical Supervisor, we find that that title can vary across the province. Sometimes it's Clinical Supervisor, sometimes it's Clinical Director, sometimes it's Clinician-in-Charge.
Sarah Hardy
And regardless of whether you choose to receive services through the direct service option, through a regional provider, or a direct funding provider, the process will be the same. The person who is assessing your child, the Clinical Director, will be making recommendations in the form of a behavior plan with respect to the intensity, duration, setting, approach for your actual service. And those decisions will be based on information that's gathered about your child and your family as well as an assessment process that's undertaken that will take into account your child's goals, their needs, as well as your family's situation. So, that is the process that will, come January, it will be the accountability and responsibility of the Clinical Supervisor to be making those recommendations for your child. And again, it doesn't matter if it's DSO or DFO, that is who is accountable.
Sarah Hardy
Just before the Minister responds to the question about regulation, I do want to just comment in terms of the qualifications. On Monday, when we do release— or things become effective, one of the things the guidelines will include are a required set of qualifications for a Clinical Supervisor. So the role that I just spoke about, there will be a set of qualifications that Clinical Supervisors will be required to meet. A compliance with those qualifications will be phased in over time, we don't want to disrupt service if families are working with a Clinical Supervisor who may not currently meet those qualifications. And those qualifications are going to include a mix of professional credentials as well as experience in delivering behavior services. So all of that information will be released on Monday, in terms of what those qualifications are, as well as a set of information and supporting families to know what it means to have a qualified Clinical Supervisor. So maybe I'll turn it to the Minister just to comment on the question about regulation.
Minister Coteau
Yeah. So just because we only have 10 minutes left, I'll answer it really quickly. We have started a process to explore regulation, I'm working with Minister Hoskins, it has to go through the Ministry of Health, they have a process there. Regulation is something that we've agreed to do to explore, there's a process involved. And we'd love to share more of that information at a later date, but it has been a process that we've started and a process that we're committed to pursuing. Thanks. Erik?
Erik
Sarah, thank you very much for that question. We have another live question ready to go, this one's from Crystal from Ajax. Crystal, you're joining us live, please go ahead.
Crystal
Hi. Thank you for letting me talk. I have two children on the spectrum. My five-year-old went through the program. He's currently in the DSO/IBI therapy classroom. And my three-year-old is just in the assessment phase of the new OAP program, I just got the call for that. I do have some issues in terms of the short term, like getting into the program, they offered me— even before he was assessed, they said we have an opening for two 45-minute ABA blocks for eight weeks. And I said, "Well, that's a drop in the bucket kind of thing in terms of services." And then they said, "We will assess him and then we'll make a determination of if he needs more," and that kind of thing. And we kind of spoke to these issues a little bit, but I just kind of wanted to share my experience so far with the program.
Crystal
My question is though in terms of a long term of broader issue that I have for just implementation of programming in general and that is having autism at this school. And I know that there is a pilot program that's going on in different regions. Durham was not one of them. I was hoping it was or maybe it just wasn't our specific school. And I'm just wondering in terms of if they are finding— is there anything for the new OAP program that we might be implementing from this pilot program that therapist can come to it [as in any area?] of the school? Because I really feel that for collaboration of these multiple services, that is integral to get as much at the school as possible.
Minister Coteau
Well thank you so much for the question. It's interesting. Again, back to my conversations with parents, hundreds of people across the province, a couple of the big points that were brought up; the education, the integration of services into the school setting constantly came up. It was just something that people always talked about. I'm a former school board trustee and so I've been aware of some of the challenges that parents have gone through and they missed opportunity when they look at the education system to help better streamline some of those services and the connections back into any external services that are provided.
Minister Coteau
And also the transition point from a program into the school setting. I've talked to Minister Hunter, she's 100% committed. The Minister of Education, she's 100% committed to looking for ways to better enhance services for young people in the school setting and that's why the pilot projects have begun. I know that they've decided to move forward with those programs and in addition to that, exploring different ways to better utilize the school setting. It's something we're committed to working with the Ministry of Education on and we'll use every single piece of expertise we have here and the relationships that we've built with parents and advocates to best guide the Ministry of Education to get to that point. Thank you. Erik?
Erik
Crystal, thank you very much for that question. We now have another live question from Krysta from Brampton. Christa, you're joining us live. Please go ahead.
Krysta
Good evening everyone. Thank you for taking my call. The question was answered, I just wanted to clarify. When you discussed and said that there will be a clinical supervisor determining goals and allotting the time and hours, is that through the regional provider, or could that be from a private provider, or does it matter?
Sarah Hardy
Hi Krysta. It's Sarah speaking. It could be either. So previously in our programs, it was handled through our regional providers if you were receiving direct funding. That is one of the changes that we're making, so it really depends. If you're working with your regional provider and you've chosen direct service, that will be the clinical supervisor and the clinical team that you're working with. If you've chosen direct funding, you'll be working with a clinical supervisor in that private provider, in that clinical team. And those individuals, regardless if it's DFO, DFO will be doing the assessment for your child and developing their behavior plan. Thanks. Erik?
Erik
Christa, thank you very much for that question. Now just for everyone listening in, we have about five minutes of questions remaining in the event. We're going to go now to our next live question. Actually, sorry, this is going to be our last question for the TownHall this evening. We're going to go to Adrian from Toronto for a live question. Adrian, you're joining us live. Please go ahead with your question.
Adrian
Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. I'm part of a family who's in a situation that was mentioned prior and that we had deferred services because it was conflicting with something we were paying for. And I know a lot of families, in general, have clinical teams that I have been working with their families for years. And prior when the analysis of what was necessary was done, it was just a phone call with the parents. Now that it's moving to a clinical team, will there be opportunity for the providers, developmental pediatricians, or pediatricians that are working with our children now to have any input into that clinical evaluation?
Sarah Hardy
Thanks. It's Sarah speaking. Yes, absolutely. I think I mentioned earlier around really encouraging collaboration. And one of the things that we've introduced as part of the new program is the creation of family teams. And the creation of family teams are really at the prerogative of the family if that's something that they want. And families can actually choose who participates on their family team. So of course, it would likely be your clinical supervisor or others from a clinical team who are delivering behavioral services. But families may choose to include other professionals if they're working with speech-language pathologist, if they're working with people in the medical profession. And the purpose of bringing those professionals together are really to ensure that goals are aligned for children and that those professionals are talking together about how to support a child's behavioral service. So there definitely is that option. And I think what we would say at the Ministry is it's strongly encouraged, if not required through our OAP guidelines and the clinical framework. And family support workers can also support in facilitating the creation of a family team.
Minister Coteau
Yep. Well Erik, this is Michael speaking for a sec. And I just wanted to— I know we've got about a minute and a half left. I just wanted to take this opportunity to first thank Sarah and their team. Since they've been at this Ministry, they've been working constantly to look for ways to better position families and they've got the best interest of young people in mind. So I just want to recognize their team. There's a dozen of them here this evening who have prepared for this to make sure that it's done properly. So I want to thank them. But I most of all want to thank parents right across the province and the parents on the phone tonight and people who care about young people and the young people with autism for working with us to get to this point.
Minister Coteau
I think that if we continue to work at this pace, we could— there's no question in my mind we can drastically reduce the waitlist and get young people into the services that they need as soon as possible and to make sure that those services are at their expectation and the level that the parents deserve and parents want and our kids need. So I just want to say thank you for everyone who's been on the call tonight. We've had several hundred people join us. Next week, we are going to do another event. And anyone can go online to figure out exactly what that is about just by going to the website at ontario.ca/autism. So thank you very much. And everyone, have a great night.
Sarah Hardy
Thank you so much.
Erik
Thank you of course to the Minister and to Sarah for joining us all this evening's TownHall. If you still have any questions or any feedback that you would like to share with Minister Coteau and the Ministry, you can do so by going to ontario.ca/autism. Again, just a reminder, you can provide your feedback and get more information by going to ontario.ca/autism. Thank you again to everyone for joining us on this evening's TownHall and have a great night