ONTABA Conference 2007
By: Taline Sagharian
November 28, 2007
The Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA) www.ontaba.org held their annual conference on November 15 and 16, 2007. The two-day conference provided an exciting opportunity for attendees to learn some of the most up-to-date and innovative methods of incorporating Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) techniques in various significant issues including autism.
During the Awards Ceremony segment, retired MPP Shelley Martel was presented with an honourary lifetime ONTABA membership award in recognition of her outstanding dedication and commitment to families and individuals with autism and in supporting ABA in Ontario. Ms. Martel said that she is thrilled to continue her involvement with the autism community and feels that there is great merit in developing an accreditation process for professionals working in the field of autism and ABA. “This is necessary to assure parents that high quality treatment services are being delivered to their children and that the money being invested in recruitment, training and retention, is being well-spent,” said Ms. Martel. “Models of regulation have been developed in other jurisdictions and we should examine those models to determine what would work in Ontario.” When asked why it would be paramount for the government to recognize and work with ONTABA in this development process, she said; “Since ONTABA has the expertise in behaviour analysis, it only makes sense for the Ontario government to work with ONTABA in developing any such criteria."
Malcolm
Stanley, executive member of the Ontario Autism Coalition
(OAC) www.ontarioautismcoalition.com
made a presentation on day two of the conference for which
he received a standing ovation. The presentation pointed
out that the ONTABA brand is based in the quality of ABA
service and that there are dangers in the organization not
being involved in ABA implementation strategies in Ontario.
"Appropriation of the ABA concept by politicians and
unqualified service providers weakens not only ONTABA but
threatens the overall quality ABA service provided to all
Ontario children (with autism)", said Mr. Stanley.
“The OAC strongly urges ONTABA to aggressively 'police'
the use of ABA-based word marks and concepts in the Ontario
marketplace”, he said. The OAC is also pushing for
ABA to be implemented under the guidance of ONTABA member
professionals and offered a number of possible solutions
such as the development of a professional college. "A
key step in this process is the achievement of an agreement
with the Provincial government to put in place a college
for ABA professionals and ensure proper credentialing of
ABA service providers," he said. "This strategic
goal must be achieved by ONTABA before school programs are
set up which ignore or disallow the presence of ONTABA and
its members."
There was an abundant flow of energy throughout the two
days. Indeed, it has been a remarkable year for autism in
Ontario. There is no question that the newly formed relationship
between autism advocates and ONTABA provides the critical
backbone in the fight for the implementation of authentic
ABA in our province. The first step in achieving this goal
is for Ontario to embrace the existing international standards
of board certification for those practicing ABA. However,
qualifications specific to both autism and ABA expertise
requires that the individuals overseeing the implementation
of ABA for autism not only meet the international board
certification standards, but that they also carry autism
experience as outlined in the Autism SIG Guidelines for
ABA Consumers http://www.behavior.org/autism/ABAAutismSIG_Gdlns_2007.pdf.