My child has an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis....now what?

 Please note that this information relates to the process in the province of British Columbia, Canada.  

First of all, hugs to you.  Going through the assessment and diagnosis process is very overwhelming.  Whether the assessment was public or private, you are now in the same spot: holding a diagnosis report and probably wondering...now what?  There are a few things you need to get sorted out and submitted as soon as possible along with some recommended next steps.  These involve Funding, Home Therapy and School Support.  

Funding

If you received a private assessment, you have some paperwork to submit to get your Autism Funding set up.  Fill out the Application for Autism Funding form and send that, along with the diagnostic report and pictures of your child's birth certificate and BC Services Card (Care Card) either to your CYSN (Child and Youth with Support Needs) Social Worker or to your local intake email address.  If you paid privately for your assessment, you will need to include the NON-BCAAN form filled out by your assessor.  When your forms are received by the Autism Funding Unit (AFU), you will receive an email.  Please note that your funding will be back-dated to the month in which the forms are received, so you will want to send these in as soon as you can.  

After your forms are received, there is a waiting period of about two to four weeks before your eligibility will be confirmed.  You will receive a second email informing you of the outcome.  If your child is eligible for funding, you will receive two copies of your funding agreement.  You will need to fill both forms out and sign them before sending them back.  Before mailing them back, make note of the start date for your funding.  You can hire and have service providers start work as of the month when the funding starts, even if you won't have access to it yet.  Just confirm with your service providers that they are ok to wait a few months before getting paid as getting this set up typically takes 2-3 months.  

To access and manage your funding, you will need access to the MyFamilyServices portal.  If you haven't used this system before (it's the same system used by Affordable Child Care Benefit/Day Care Subsidy), CLICK HERE and register for a Basic BCeID.  Once your AFU funding is set up, you will be able to see the details, manage your service providers and funding through this portal.  

Once everything has been sent in, you will need to wait for access to your funding.  BUT you can start setting up therapies as long as services start the month when your funding was started, as stated on your funding agreement.  

One other thing to ask your assessor about is the Disability Tax Credit.  They can fill out a form for you to claim an additional credit.  Please note that eligibility is decided by the Canadian Government and is not based on a diagnosis alone.  If you have any questions, reach out to your assessor.  

Home Therapy

This is typically the most anticipated, but most overwhelming part of the ASD journey.  You can start building your therapy team!  First, it is often recommended to start with a Behaviour Consultant or a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst.  This is the person who will lead your therapy team.  They often have a Masters Degree and have passed a comprehensive examination to become Board Certified.  In short, they have a lot of education and experience in this type of work.  This person can help coordinate all of your service providers and can advocate for your child.  There are many different types of therapy, so it can be important to meet with a few to see where their experience lies and if their therapy goals align with those of your family.  Please note that if your child is under the age of 6, you will need a Service Provider who is on the RASP (Registry of Autism Service Providers) List.  You can find that list HERE.

After interviewing a few Behaviour Consultants, you can hire one for your team.  They will need your full diagnosis report along with any other information you have from other professionals or from your child's school.  Sometimes a child has been working with a Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP) or Occupational Therapist (OT) before going through the assessment process and those reports can be helpful for creating goals and programs for your child.  Also be clear with what your concerns and goals are.  A therapist should not be working on something that you don't feel is a concern so be honest and transparent with your teams.  

A Behaviour Consultant will typically start with a few assessment sessions.  These are not to replace the diagnostic assessment, but will help prioritize areas and goals for home therapy.  Some areas include Fine and Gross Motor, Receptive and Expressive Language, Cognition, Social Skills, Emotional Awareness and Regulation etc.  After the programs are written your consultant will work on hiring and training any Behavioural Interventionists  (BI) that will be working with your child.  For younger children you might have 1-2 BI's who each work with your child 1-2 times per week.  For older children, because your funding amount is lower, you might only have 1 BI or the consultant who works with your child 1-2 times per week.  The first few sessions will always begin as rapport building so that the service provider and your child can get to know each other and begin to establish a working relationship.  We want your child to enjoy being with the therapist, but also be able to follow directions and work on therapy goals cooperatively.  

School Support

Now that your child has an official diagnosis, they will receive a ministry designation and their school will receive additional funding.  For Autism Spectrum Disorder, they will receive a 'G' designation and the school district will receive about $20,000 in additional funding.  The first step is to send in your diagnosis report.  If you only have the teacher's contact information, include the principal or vice principal.  If you have contact information for a support teacher, include them as well.  If you've already hired a consultant, you can also include them.  This team will work together on school goals, sometimes in a formal document called an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).  This will introduce strategies and accommodations to help your child succeed in school.  Sometimes this means your child will have an Education Assistant (EA) working with them for part or all of the school day.  

Your consultant will often like to go into the school for an observation.  This is often 1-2 hours where the consultant watches the child for part of the day to see how the school day goes.  They will look for transitions, peer interactions, attending to the teacher, following directions, etc. and can offer suggestions to the school to help in any areas that present challenges.  Sometimes the consultant can also take an area that is difficult at school, and incorporate that into the home sessions so that your child has extra time to practice new or developing skills.  

If you have any other questions or areas that you need support, there are many Facebook groups, or your CYSN social worker can connect you with some service providers, but the above information is a good place to start.  

Good luck as you begin your ASD journey!

-Ashleigh