2017 Washington Autism Advisory Council (WAAC) Meeting

“Improving access to evidence based treatment and medical services for persons with Autism throughout the state.”

November 3, 2017 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Presentations

Critical Issues Impacting Autistic Adults– Zack Siddeek, MSW-C

Creating Autism Friendly Environments: http://www.depression-guide.com/autism/autism-friendly-environment.htm
(Autistic Adult, Ollibean Writer) Amy Sequenzia: https://ollibean.com/tag/amy-sequenzia/
National Longitudinal Transition Study: https://nlts2.sri.com/

Overview of medical and health issues for persons with ASD/DD (Autism Speaks Health Report)- Alan Gill, MD

Primary Care of Adults with Developmental Disabilities: Canadian Consensus Guidelines
AAP – Assessment and Treatment of Anxiety in Youth with ASD
Youth with Autism: Roundtable Views of Services Needed During the Transition into Adulthood. GAO-17-109
2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan for ASD
Autism Speaks. (2017). Autism and Health: A Special Report By Autism Speaks, Advances in Understanding and Treating the Health Conditions that Frequently Accompany Autism.

State of the science report on autism research, science, and genetics– Raphael Bernier, PhD

2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan for ASD
Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education — AASPIRE Toolkit – https://aaspire.org/
Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) and the Simons Simplex Collection

Restrictive Avoidant Eating– Barb Buchanan, RD and Danielle Dolezal, PhD., BCBA-D

HCA Updates w/10 minutes Q&A- Becky Peters

School Based Health Services and Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)

Arzu Forough, Washington Autism Alliance and Advocacy

Provide an overview of School Based Health Services, what is currently included and how these services are funded
What is early intensive behavioral intervention or EIBI? http://blog.stageslearning.com/blog/early-intensive-behavioral-intervention-eibi

Nancy Rosenberg, Ph.D., BCBA-D (slides)

Why & how is ABA vital in accessing education
Teacher training, UW BCBA program (capacity or # of students per cohort), school districts that have hired or employ present or former UW students

Vanessa Tucker, Ph.D., BCBA-D (slides)

From Pacific Lutheran University. How ABA is integrated into various school districts. Conditions where children are able to access ABA

Lionel Enns, Ph.D., BCBA-D (slides)

Co-occurring mental health conditions that impact access to education, what other behavior therapies, the role of mental health providers for students with mental health issues and the need for someone who can treat or refer appropriately.

Arzu Forough, WAAA

How is ABA currently funded: Safety net’s threshold & funding criteria
SBHS’s classification of ABA, process through which this may change.
HCA- Medicaid webinar School-based Health Services Overview
Process to remove ABA as a non-covered, realities about funding from legislature, grassroots advocacy, ABA Ad Hoc Committee

March 4, 2016 WAAC Meeting

Location: SeaTac International Airport Conference Center

1. To better understand the needs of adolescents and adults with autism.
2. Share information regarding state resources for adults and adolescent transition
3. Share information regarding model programs for higher education support, residential living, and vocational training and support
4. Share information on appropriate healthcare provision and healthcare access challenges

Agenda with Meeting Minutes

Attendees

October 9, 2015 WAAC Meeting

Location: SeaTac International Airport Conference Center

Presentations

Meeting Goals:

To better understand the needs of adolescents and adults with autism.
To share news and updates about autism specific events, programs, and activities.
Consider improvements made in autism insurance coverage and areas for improvement.
Develop a plan for sustainability of WAAC.

Meeting Minutes Attendees

Topic	Lead
Welcome and Introductions	Amy Huntley, Washington Autism Alliance and Advocacy (WAAA)
Professional Development: Identifying and Addressing the Needs of Adolescents and Adults with Autism Dr Stobbe Presentation Dr. Davis Presentation Ms. Vafaeezadeh Presentation	Panel of Representatives: Dr. Gary Stobbe, Seattle Children’s Autism Center & UW Dr. Beth Ellen Davis, UW LEND Therese Vafaeezadeh, Seattle Children’s Autism Center & Tavon Center
Presentation from International Meeting for Autism Research	Dr. Charles Cowan, Seattle Children’s Autism Center
Update on Community First Choice and new Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) rulesHandouts: Community First Choice Service Option Flyer Skills Acquisition Training Federal Regulatory Requirements for Home and Community-Based Settings	Ann Whitehall, DSHS
Share about 4,000 new Individual and Family Service openingsHandout: IFS and SSP in lieu of IFS: A Side by Side Comparison	Sheila Collins, DSHS
Presentation/Discussion on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force draft report on early screening	Dr. Wendy Stone, UW READI Lab
Working lunch opportunity to network	Membership
Update and Activities – Information about organizational activities and other statewide events of interest to the autism community SSAP Contact Info flyer	Membership
Updates from the Health Care Authority (HCA) on autism coverage, waitlist numbers, and service locations; and efforts of the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) collaborative	Lin Payton, HCA
Updates on insurance coverage and challenges that still exist for children and adults accessing care	Arzu Forough, WAAA
Discussion of future coordination and sustainability of WAAC, revisit goals and mission of WAAC	Maria Nardella, DOH

History of the Washington State Autism Advisory Council

The Council began as the Combatting Autism Advisory Council (CAAC) in 2009 to guide the work of two competitive federal grants awarded by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services under the Combating Autism Act of 2006. The two federal grants were awarded to:

The WA State Department of Health Children with Special Health Care Needs Program and
The University of Washington’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program at the Center on Human Development and Disability.

The work of the Council built on the recommendations of the Caring for Washington Individuals with Autism Task Force (created in 2005 by Senate Bill 5321) in its December 2006 Final Report to the Governor and State Legislature.

The Council has collaborated on many activities including:

Annual summits for Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Center Teams and Communities
Community Asset Mapping to improve collaborative identification and services for children with autism and related disabilities and their families
Autism screening and assessment training for community service providers
Identification and promotion of materials for families who have children and youth on the autism spectrum
Promoting universal developmental screening

The original three-year grants ended in the summer of 2011, but the Washington Autism Advisory Council and many of its activities continue. The original “backbone” organizational support for the WAAC was provided by DOH and UW LEND. LEND provided support into 2012, followed by the Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC) from 2012 through Spring 2015. The most recent meeting October 9, 2015 was coordinated by Washington Autism Alliance and Advocacy (WAAA), with space provided by the DDC. Several organizations including WAAA (Redmond), the Northwest Autism Center (Spokane), and the Lynchpin Foundation (Yakima) have taken the lead in organizing the next meeting in March, 2016.

11dec9:00 am10:00 amUnderstanding Racism's Impact on Child Development: Working Toward Fairness of Place in the United States Event Organized By: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University Event Type:WebinarIn-person or Online:Online

Event Details

Join the Center on the Developing Child for a discussion on Monday, December 11 (9 AM PT) that will dive into the impact of racism on child development and lifelong health. Our panel of experts across various fields will bring their latest research, exploring how racism gets “under the skin” to impact children’s development as well as contributes to unequal access to opportunity in the places where children live, grow, play, and learn. Together, we’ll strategize on solutions that promote healthy child development and work to dismantle systemic barriers.

Moderator: Stephanie M. Curenton, PhD
Dr. Curenton is a professor in the Education Leadership and Policy Studies Department at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and the director of the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED).

Panelists:

Nathaniel Harnett, PhD
Dr. Harnett is Director of the Neurobiology of Affective and Traumatic Experiences Laboratory at McLean Hospital and an Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Harnett’s research is focused on understanding the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate susceptibility to trauma and stress related disorders.

Mavis Sanders, PhD, MA
Dr. Sanders, senior research scholar of Black children and families at Child Trends, leads an applied research agenda that advances racial equity and social justice. Before joining Child Trends in 2021, Dr. Sanders served as a professor of education and affiliate professor in the doctoral program in language, literacy, and culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

Natalie Slopen, ScD
Dr. Slopen is an Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. As a social epidemiologist, her research focuses on social and contextual factors that shape childhood development and inequities in health.

Time

(Monday) 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Organizer

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard UniversityThe mission of the Center on the Developing Child is to drive science-based innovation that achieves breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity. We believe that advances in science provide a powerful source of new ideas focused on the early years of life. Founded in 2006, the Center catalyzes local, national, and international innovation in policy and practice focused on children and families. We design, test, and implement these ideas in collaboration with a broad network of research, practice, policy, community, and philanthropic leaders. Together, we seek transformational impacts on lifelong learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health.

Calendar GoogleCal

11dec9:00 am10:15 amPromoting Infant Mental Health in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) (free) Event Organized By: Parent-Child Relationships Programs at the Barnard Center Event Type:WebinarIn-person or Online:Online

Event Details

The environment and caregiving relationships in the early postnatal period are critical to an infant’s development, with implications for physical, social-emotional, and neurocognitive development. Premature and medically vulnerable infants hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are biologically and neurologically more vulnerable and go through many stressors including some degree of separation from their parents, an intrusive and unnatural environment, and painful and distressing procedures. their parents, in turn, experience higher rates of psychological distress and can face challenges in establishing an optimal relationship with their babies in this setting. In this talk, Dr. Givrad will point out some of the ways we can think about promoting premature and medically vulnerable infants’ wellbeing.

Soudabeh Givrad, MD is a perinatal and infant psychiatrist and an Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is the director of the Maternal-Infant Psychiatry Program at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry Fellowship. She has expertise in treating psychiatric disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period and works with families of infants and young children in parent-infant psychotherapy when families face issues with attachment, bonding, medical traumas, or other regulatory disorders of infancy and early childhood.

Academically, she has been working on bringing increased attention to psychiatric disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period, and to increase awareness of the critical importance of supporting families of young infants to optimize their development and bringing a continuum of care from pre-conception to age 3 for families. She has also been working on increasing training opportunities in perinatal and infant mental health for mental health clinicians.

Time

(Monday) 9:00 am - 10:15 am

Location

Online

Organizer

Parent-Child Relationships Programs at the Barnard CenterParent-Child Relationship Programs has a long and rich history in the Infant Mental Health field. There are hundreds of studies validating the work of our founder, Dr. Kathryn Barnard. In 1971, Dr. Kathryn Barnard, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Family and Child Nursing at the University of Washington, initiated research that brought the ecology of early child development closer to the level of clinical practice by developing methods for assessing behaviors of children and parents. She identified environmental factors that are critical to a child’s well-being and demonstrated the importance of parent-child interaction as a predictor of later cognitive and language development. Dr. Barnard was incredibly foresightful. These assessment tools, widely known as the NCAST Feeding and Teaching Parent-Child Interaction scales, were initially taught in 1979 to over 600 nurses in a series of eight classes via satellite in the United States. After the satellite training experiment ended, NCAST (Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training), under the direction of Georgina Sumner, started offering a Certified Instructor Workshop in Seattle. These professionals gained reliability in the use of the Feeding and Teaching Scales and after obtaining certification as an NCAST Local Instructor went back to their communities to teach others in how to become astute observers of parent-child interaction using the scales.

Calendar GoogleCal

19dec12:00 pm1:00 pmVirtual EventHot Topics in Practice- Approaching Gender-Affirming Care: Lessons from a Rural Hospital Event Organized By: Northwest Center for Public Health Practice Event Type:WebinarIn-person or Online:Online

Event Details

It is vital that healthcare systems be able to provide equitable, gender-affirming care for all patients. This month’s Hot Topics in Practice will use the lens of a rural care network to explore strategies that can radically improve care for trans and gender nonconforming people.

In this hour-long seminar, Beau Ohlgren, MSc, Jefferson County Transgender Support Group leader, and Jackie Levin, MS, RN, Patient Advocate and Transgender Care Navigator, will focus on gender-affirming care strategies implemented at Jefferson Healthcare. This rural care network has been a leader in exploring unique approaches for providing successful, equitable care to trans and gender nonconforming patients. Beau and Jackie will articulate reasons for the value of gender-inclusive care, with a special emphasis placed on inclusive care training for all staff. They’ll identify barriers within facilities that can affect trans and gender nonconforming patients and will help describe a path forward to compassionate care for all.

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT HOT TOPICS

Speaker slides are posted on our website the morning of the webinar. Each session is recorded and made available by the next day. Audio is available through computer or by phone. Closed captioning will also be available during the webinar.

Hot Topics in Practice is a monthly webinar hosted by the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice. Guest speakers from local, state, tribal, and national organizations present on current issues affecting public health practice.

Up to 1 CPH recertification credit may be earned by viewing this webinar. Visit the National Board of Public Health Examiners to learn more.

Time

(Tuesday) 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Location

Online

Organizer

Northwest Center for Public Health Practice

Calendar GoogleCal

02feb8:30 am4:30 pmWA State Autism Center of Excellence (COE) Certification TrainingEvent Type:TrainingIn-person or Online:Online

Event Details

University of Washington experts provide the Autism Center of Excellence (COE) trainings through a contract with the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA).

The next scheduled training is Friday, February 2, 2024. Flier
Register: https://redcap.link/Feb2024COE

We anticipate the training after that to be Fall 2024. If you would like to be put on the list of people interested in learning when the next training date is decided, please email Kate Orville, Training Coordinator at orville@uw.edu .

Purpose of the COE Training

To increase the number of qualified clinicians (COEs) who can appropriately diagnose children and youth with autism who have Medicaid insurance in Washington State.
Help children and families access needed services as appropriate, including writing a Medicaid/Apple Health prescription for Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). COE required for Managed Care Organization (MCO) prescription approval.

Who is Eligible to Become a COE for Washington State

The HCA determines which primary care and other clinicians can become COEs. Currently the list includes medical physicians working in primary care, specialty physicians, clinical psychologists, ARNPs and pediatric naturopaths. Physician Assistants (PA-C) whose supervising clinician is a COE are eligible as of Jan 1, 2023. You must serve or plan to begin serving children and youth under 21 with Medicaid to become a COE.
As of Oct 17, 2019 , an autism diagnosis from a COE provider (except for naturopath physicians and PA-Cs) can also be used by a family for Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) eligibility.

What the Training Covers

Evaluation and diagnosis of children exhibiting signs and symptoms of autism spectrum disorder and determining which evidence –based treatments, including ABA, are likely to be helpful for individual children
Community and Washington state resources for children and youth with autism and their families
The lived experience of autism from autistics and family members- what they would like you as a health care professional to know
How to write an approved prescription for ABA treatment
Billing
Paperwork and process to complete to become a HCA recognized COE after the training

COE Training Logistics

SAMPLE Agenda

Time

(Friday) 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Location

Online

Calendar GoogleCal

Link to full-month event calendar.