Our History
ACT began in May 2003 as a community response to the great need throughout British Columbia for a wide-range of training opportunities on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Since our inception, we have been responding to this need by providing workshops and offering training opportunities to parents, para-professionals and professionals.
In our first twenty months, ACT provided nearly 15,000 hours of workshop training to parents and professionals. Participants have come from across Canada and the US to attend workshops which imparted a wide range of information on best practices in autism treatment; demonstrated skills for assisting children achieve their best outcomes and provided support for parents in the post-diagnostic period.
ACT is a registered not-for-profit society. ACT initially started as a self-supporting organization, whereby workshop fees were re-invested into the society to facilitate ongoing training opportunities. In November 2004, we were successful in winning a provincial contract from the Ministry for Children and Family Development (MCFD) to provide information, training and vital support services to parents across British Columbia who have children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
We gratefully acknowledge the Consortium for the Advancement of Child Health - Simon Fraser University for co-sponsoring our more academic programs and providing meeting spaces. The web site for the SFU Psychology Department is www.psyc.sfu.ca
Our Services
We are a province-wide information and referral service created to support families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. We offer families (and professionals) a wide range of positive and practical information on everything from sleep problems and diet, to core issues such as diagnosis and aspects of intervention, including information on setting up programs for their children.
Our services include:
- Three information officers, based in our Burnaby office, who provide telephone and email support to families and professionals across the province on a wide-range of topics relevant to autism services in BC including: diagnosis, best practices in autism treatment, MCFD’s autism funding program and educational strategies. While we are funded only to provide children’s services, we are collecting information on adult services, when possible.
- The administration of the Registry of Autism Service Providers; a listing of Behaviour Consultants, SLPs, OTs and PTs, who meet MCFD’s requirements for autism funding purposes for children with autism under the age of six. See the Registry of Autism Service Providers List for Children Under Six section for additional information.
Consolidation of information and resources available in B.C. communities relevant to children and adults with autism and their families. Our goal is to enable families to make informed decisions regarding the services and service providers available in their region.
