Heather Woltman, Renée Nossal, Nathalie Gougeon, & Dr. Lise

Bisnaire7th Annual CANS Conference

Baltimore, MarylandMay 15-17 2011

Evaluation of the Connections for Students Service of Eastern

Ontario

Presentation Overview

Service Overview Evaluation Purpose Methods Discussion of ResultsKnowledge Exchange

Service Overview

Service goal: to provide coordinated and seamless transitions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who are discharging from Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) services and transitioning to an Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) instructional classroom setting through the publically funded school system.

0 MONTHS

6 MONTHS

12 MONTHS

Clinical decision for discharge from IBI

Transition team established

Child leaves IBI and begins/continues ABA in school

End of transition plan

Ongoing support (principal, teacher & parent(s)/caregiver(s)

(Ontario, MCYS/MEDU, 2010)

Connections for Students

Classroom Teacher

Resource Teacher

Principal

School Designate

Consultant

Parents/ Caregivers

Therapist

Transition Teams

Personalized

Service

What are personalized services?

Child and his/her family

Individualized service

planning

Tailored to needs and strengths

Families as integral

partners Heart of all decision-makingChild-

centred at all system levels

Benefits of personalized services?

Child and his/her family

Enhanced child

outcomes

Improved quality of

care

Partnerships and

CollaborationCommon language

Service integration

(Supported by MCYS and MEDU)

Total Clinical Outcomes Management (TCOM)

Child and family needs and strengths are at the heart of service provision, and are considered in all transition activities

Child and family characteristics are monitored in order to better manage transition outcomes

Ongoing quality assurance is embedded in service planning

Competing stakeholder perspectives and objectives are aligned in order to best serve the child and his/her family

Standard child and family focused assessments drive decisions at multiple service levels (e.g., family, service, program, agency)

CANS-Autism Spectrum Profile (CANS-ASP)

Child and adolescent needsLife domain functioningCognitive functioningSensory/motor functioningCommunicationCo-morbiditiesMaladaptive behaviours

Parent/caregiver needs and strengths Child/adolescent strengths

Child/adolescent strengthsEnvironmental strengths

Evaluation Purpose

Does the Connections for Students transition process

deliver personalized services to a child and his/her family?

Evaluation Goal

Objectives1. What are stakeholder perspectives on how

personalized the services are in Connections for Students?

2. What factors support or impede the ability of the transition team to deliver personalized services to children in Connections for Students?

3. How does the use of a process-and outcomes-based assessment tool (CANS-ASP) assist the transition team in planning and carrying out a personalized transition process?

4. What factors support or impede the ability of the transition team to use the CANS-ASP to deliver personalized services to the children of Connections for Students?

Methods

Approach

Participants

• Parent(s)/ caregiver(s) (n=50)

• Service providers (n=23)• 5

psychologists• 9 therapists• 9 consultants

Information sources

• File review• Service

process adherence to needs and strengths (SPANS)

• Semi-structured interviews

• Surveys

Analysis

• Qualitative (Nvivo, thematic content analysis)

• Quantitative (SPSS, descriptive statistics)

Tools

CANS-ASP SPANS

File Reviews

Ministry Questionnair

e

Stakeholder Surveys

Interview Guides

Analysis of Approach

File Reviews

Large sampleQuantity of data

School board perspectivesBird’s eye view

Time consumingInter-rater reliability

Lack of opportunity to correct errors/ misperceptions

Discussion of Findings

Different Perspectives

File reviews

Parents/

Caregivers

1.Program implementation

2.Transition teams (formation, members, process, meeting content)

3.Documentation4.CANS-ASD

language in transitions

5.Discussion of child needs, strengths

6.Implementation of measurable transition goals

Comments

“Parent involvement is frequent and solicited throughout the Connections process.”

• School Boards, Ministry-mandated Connections for Students Implementation Reporting Questionnaire

“Transition goals […] will be a standing item on the agenda at all Connections meetings.”

“Parents are also invited to have the community professionals involved with their child attend the Connections team meetings […].”

Limitations

New survey & interview guide

Indirect recruitment strategy

Relatively new tool (SPANS)

Participant rate?

Next steps

Complete file reviewsContinue participation recruitmentComplete surveys and interviewsAnalyze dataKnowledge exchange

Knowledge Exchange

Evaluation StakeholdersConnections for Students

program staff

Program funders

Other regional

programs

School boards

Praed Foundation

Autism Intervention

Program

Parents/Caregivers

Provincial advisory

team

Children in program

Knowledge Translation Plan

Engage stakeholders throughout evaluation and encourage requests for dissemination of results.

Dissemination methods: Technical report 1 page summary document Poster presentation at the 7th Annual CANS

Conference Presentation at the Autism Intervention

Program of Eastern Ontario

Summary

Service Overview Evaluation Purpose Methods Discussion of ResultsKnowledge Exchange

Any Questions?