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Monthly
Board Report
- March 2001
New
Autism Program in the Tri-County
By Marsha Houlahan,
Coordinator, Preschool Speech
Language
"An Early
Start" - the Southeast
Regional Autism Program, is an
intensive early intervention
program for children with Autism
Spectrum Disorder, ages 2 to 5
years. "An Early Start"
is funded through the Ministry of
Community & Social Services
until March 31, 2002, and will be
serving the counties of Leeds,
Grenville, Lanark, Kingston,
Frontenac, Lennox, Addington,
Hastings and Prince Edward. The
Lead Agency for Leeds, Grenville
and Lanark is Lanark Community
Programs. The Early Start Program
will use a variety of behavioural
analysis treatment techniques to
help a child develop
social-communicative skills.
Referrals to "An
Early Start" can be made
directly by families, physicians,
or community agencies - with
parental consent, to (613)
257-7121, ext. 239. A first round
of applications to this program
occurred in October, 2000. There
were 46 applications made, with 24
children being accepted into the
program, including - 7 children
from Leeds, Grenville and Lanark
region.
A Clinical Director
(Psychologist) will oversee
"An Early Start". A
staff of Senior and Instructor
Therapists will provide anywhere
from 15 - 40 hours of intensive
behavioral treatment to children
in their home, day care or school
locations. Individual service
plans will include input from
speech-language pathologists,
occupational therapists,
developmental paediatricians, and
psychologists with a specialty in
Autism Spectrum Disorders.
A permanent Clinical
Director has not been recruited as
yet, rather the position has been
split into contracts, in order to
serve this larger regional
program. The consulting
psychologist for Lanark, Leeds
& Grenville is Dr. Jeff
Sherman, from Ottawa. |
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Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit -
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