Questions about Organization for Research
and Learning (ORL)'s Intake Procedures
How often
does ORL accept new clients?
Who handles
the intake for ORL?
How
do I proceed with the intake process for ORL?
What should
I do if I do not have all of the information to send about
my child that ORL requests?
After I send
ORL the information and payment, what happens?
What happens
at the intake meeting?
What factors influence
whether ORL will accept a child as a client?
What
does the intake fee pay for?
Will Michael Fabrizio
write a report based on the intake meeting?
If I pay the
intake fee and Michael meets with me and my child, is this
a guarantee that my child will be accepted as a ORL client?
Does ORL maintain
a waiting list?
If ORL does
not accept my child as a client, what recommendations do
you have for how I should proceed?
How often does ORL accept new clients?
We accept new clients infrequently. During an average calendar
year, we will accept 1-2 new clients.
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Who handles the intake for ORL?
Michael Fabrizio handles all matters related
to intake for ORL.
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How do I proceed with the intake process for ORL?
If you are interested in pursuing intake with us, please
send the following:
o Your child's most recent psychoeducational, diagnostic,
and language assessments
o Your child's current IEP (if applicable)
o Your child's previous IEP along with all data related
to their progress on the IEP objectives (if applicable)
o A copy of all programs currently being run in your child's
in-home program along with performance data related to
your child's progress with those programs (if applicable)
o A cashier's check or money order made payable to Michael
A. Fabrizio, M.A., BCBA in the amount of $500.00 (U.S.
Dollars only, please, made payable to Michael A. Fabrizio-please
do not make the check payable to Organization for Research
and Learning or ORL)
You should send that information to:
Michael A. Fabrizio, M.A., BCBA
Organization for Research and Learning
1110 24th Avenue South
Seattle, Washington 98144-3037
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What should I do if I do not have all of the information
to send about my child that ORL requests?
We understand that for many reasons you may not have all
of the information that we request related to your child.
If this is the case, please do not worry yourself and simply
send what information you do have.
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After I send ORL the information and payment, what happens?
Once Michael receives the information and payment, he will
contact you within 5 business days to schedule an intake
meeting.
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What happens at the intake meeting?
At the intake meeting (which occurs in your home), Michael
will meet you, your child, and your spouse or domestic partner.
The purposes of this 2-hour meeting are:
o to allow Michael to get a better sense of your child's
particular needs so that he can match your child's needs
with the clinical strength areas of the ORL Consultants
and Program Managers
o to allow Michael to answer any questions you might have
o to allow Michael to gauge the degree to which you understand
all that is involved with intensive in-home behavioral
intervention
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What factors influence whether ORL will accept a child
as a client?
We base our decision as to whether or not to work with
a child on a range of factors that include:
o Child characteristics including temperament, susceptibility
to
reinforcement, and a history of progress with intervention
o Family characteristics including agreement between guardians
regarding the decision to proceed with behavior analytic
intervention, family resources and commitment to receiving
services within an intensive behavioral model, and family
understanding of the affect intensive behavioral intervention
may have on family life
o Staff variables such as availability of our consulting
staff and overlap between the needs of your child and
our staff members' clinical strength areas
Please know that we have never declined to work with
a child because of the child. We have declined to work
with children because of family issues (such as disagreement
between a child's caregivers about their decision to proceed
with behavioral intervention) and because of a mismatch
between the needs of a child and our available staff members'
clinical strength areas.
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What does the intake fee pay for?
The $500.00 intake fee pays for the time Michael invests
in speaking with you on the phone, reviewing your child's
file, traveling to your home, and meeting with you and your
child.
The intake assessment fee must be paid before Michael will
schedule an intake meeting with you.
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Will Michael Fabrizio write a report based on the intake
meeting?
No, Michael will not write a report based on the intake
meeting.
The purpose of the meeting is to evaluate whether or not
the needs of your child match well with the strengths of
ORL's staff members and to determine whether your goals
as your child's parent are a good match with the way in
which ORL delivers services
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If I pay the intake fee and
Michael meets with me and my child, is this a guarantee
that my child will be accepted as a ORL client?
No.
Payment of the intake fee and Michael meeting with you
do not guarantee that your child will be accepted as a client
of ORL.
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Does ORL maintain a waiting list?
No, we do not maintain a waiting list for new clients.
We only accept new clients when our staff has available
time to adequately serve potential new clients at the very
high quality levels we expect. We will not accept any new
clients unless our staff have the time resources they need
to do the job right.
Also, we do not maintain a waiting list because we will
only admit clients whose needs closely align with the clinical
strengths of our staff members who have available time in
their consulting or program managing schedules.
We will not accept payment from you of the $500.00 intake
assessment fee if we are not admitting new clients at the
time you apply.
If you would like to know whether we are accepting clients
at this time, we invite you to visit our intake
status page.
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If ORL does not accept my
child as a client, what recommendations do you have for
how I should proceed?
If we do not accept your child as a client of ORL, we do
have several suggestions for you:
o We recommend that you seek and hire behavior analysts
to supervise your child's intervention program who are
certified by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board™.
- o Certification by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board™ is the best way for parents to ensure that the person
they are hiring to provide behavioral services has had
the breadth and depth of training and supervised experience
needed to practice as a behavior analyst. You may visit
the Behavior
Analyst Certification Board™ website (www.bacb.com)
and access their Certificant Registry for a list of certified
behavior analysts within the US, Canada, and the U.K.
who are currently certified by the Behavior Analyst Certification
Board™.
o In addition to being certified by the Behavior Analyst
Certification Board™, we recommend that you seek
out and hire behavior analysts who have clinical experience
with children with autism outlined in the Revised
Guidelines for Consumers of Applied Behavior Analysis
Services to Individuals with Autism, which
were written by the Autism Special Interest Group of the
Association for Behavior Analysis.
o We recommend that you purchase and read the book Behavioral
Intervention for Young Children with Autism: A Manual
for Parents and Professionals, which is edited by
Catherine Maurice, Gina Green, and Stephen Luce. You may
wish to pay particular attention to the following chapters
from this book:
-
Are other treatments effective? (chapter 4)
-
Identifying qualified professionals in behavior
analysis (chapter 8)
-
Answers to commonly asked questions (chapter 17)
o We also recommend that you download and read this list of recommended readings put together by Catherine Maurice, a parent of two children with autism who received ABA intervention
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Again, thank you for your interest in Organization for
Research and Learning. We hope that you have found this
information helpful in answering some of your questions.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Fabrizio, M.A., BCBA
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (certification #1-00-0044)
