Frequently Asked Questions about the
Logistics of In-Home Programming with Organization for Research
and Learning (ORL)
Who
are the staff people who will work with my child's program?
What
is the Clinical Services Supervisor's role?
What
is the Consultant's role?
What
is the Program Manager's role?
What
is the Lead Therapist's role?
What
is the Therapists' role?
Who
hires the staff who work in my child's program?
Will
ORL help me find Therapists to work with my child?
Will
ORL advise me about how much to pay my Therapists?
Who
decides which of ORL's staff members will serve as my child's
Consultant and Program Manager?
How
often are the Consultant and Program Manager with my child
and my child's Therapists?
When
do the Consultant and the Program Manager meet with my child
and his or her Therapists?
How
long does Phase 1 of intervention last?
How
long does Phase 2 of intervention last?
How
long does Phase 3 of intervention last?
What
type of technology does a family need to have to work with
ORL?
Who are the staff people who will work
with my child's program?
Each program that we supervise is staffed with five kinds
of people:
o 1 Clinical Services Supervisor
o 1 Consultant
o 1 Program Manager
o 1 Lead Therapist
o 1-2 Therapists
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What is the Clinical Services Supervisor's
role?
The Clinical Services Supervisor for your child's program
administratively oversees your child's behavior analytic
care. The Clinical Services Supervisor is a ORL staff member
who will meet with your child's intervention team at least
every three months, or more often if needed. Either Michael
Fabrizio or Kelly Ferris will serve as your child's Clinical
Services Supervisor.
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What is the Consultant's role?
The Consultant for your child's program is one of ORL's
staff members who designs and develops all of the teaching
programs used with your child. The Consultant also sets
priorities for your child's intervention program based on
what your child needs to learn to advance in his or her
development. The Consultant serves as the lead clinician
for your child and it is the Consultant's responsibility
to ensure that your child makes significant developmental
progress.
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What is the Program Manager's role?
The Program Manager for your child's program is one of
ORL's staff members who serves as the primary contact person
for your family and the professionals working with your
child. The Program Manager is responsible for ensuring that
the people working in your child's program (the Therapists)
are very well trained and that they implement your child's
program as the Consultant prescribes. The Program Manager
also reviews faxed copies of graphs that show your child's
progress. The Program Manager reviews these faxed graphs
every week between team meetings. Between the team meetings
and the faxed data reviews, no more than four days ever
go by before the Program Manager sees exactly how your child
is progressing.
Beyond attending team meetings, training your child's Therapists,
and reviewing your child's progress by fax, the Program
Manager also implements your child's intervention program
with your child at least once each month.
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What is the Lead Therapist's role?
The Lead Therapist is someone you hire who not only
works directly with your child several times each week,
but who also is fully trained by ORL. Your child's Lead
Therapist will be responsible for ensuring that your child's
Program Manager has all the information she needs to manage
your child's program effectively, and the Lead Therapist
assumes some organizational responsibilities in your child's
program such as copying needed forms, preparing needed materials,
and ensuring that the program has adequate office supplies.
A note about terminology...the Puget Sound community calls
the people who work directly with children with autism in
behavior analytic programs therapists. Therapists are paraprofessionals
who implement the programs that children's behavior analysts
design.
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What is the Therapists' role?
The Therapists are people you hire to work directly
with your child. They implement all the instructional programs
that the Consultant designs in ways that are consistent
with how the Program Manager trained them.
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Who hires the staff who work in my child's
program?
ORL will provide your child's team with a Clinical Services
Supervisor, a Consultant, and a Program Manager. You will
be responsible for hiring your child's Lead Therapist and
Therapist(s).
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Will ORL help me find Therapists to work
with my child?
While you are responsible for finding and hiring Therapists
to work with your child, your child's Program Manager can
assist you with this process if you would like. The Program
Manager can contact Therapists whom she supervises in other
children's programs and inquire whether any Therapists from
these other programs may be interested in working in your
child's program. The Program Manager can also give you suggestions
as to how you might go about finding potential Therapists,
and can assist you in interviewing them.
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Will ORL advise me about how much to pay
my Therapists?
Yes, your child's Program Manager and Consultant will advise
you about how much to pay your Therapists and Lead Therapist.
Your child's Consultant will also advise you when you should
consider giving your child's Therapists and Lead Therapist
raises in pay.
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Who decides which of ORL's staff members
will serve as my child's Consultant and Program Manager?
Michael Fabrizio and Kelly Ferris assign all ORL staff
members to our clients' cases. Michael and Kelly select
a Clinical Services Supervisor, Consultant, and a Program
Manager to work with your child based on the overlap between
your child's unique needs and the clinical strengths areas
of our staff.
We very carefully match each child with staff members who
specialize in what that particular child needs.
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How often are the Consultant and Program
Manager with my child and my child's Therapists?
Because all children are different and because ORL provides
services that are highly tailored to your child's individual
needs, how often your child and his or her Therapists will
see the Consultant and Program Manager varies slightly.
However, intervention programs under our supervision tend
to progress through three general phases. We can best describe
these phases as follows:
- Phase 1: Consultant and Program Manager are with your
child's team each week.
- Phase 2: The Consultant is with your child' team every
other week, and the Program Manager is with your child's
team each week.
- Phase 3: The Consultant is with your child's team each
month, and the Program Manager is with your child's team
each week.
You probably noticed that regardless of how long your child
is with ORL, we insist on being with your child and each
of his or her Therapists at least once each week. We supervise
each of our client's programs very closely so that we can
ensure that our clients are progressing as quickly as possible.
While other consulting companies may not see each client
as frequently as we do, we feel that weekly contact is essential
to ensure that your child receives the very best behavior
analysis services possible, and to ensure that your child's
program always meets his or her ever-changing needs.
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When do the Consultant and the Program
Manager meet with my child and his or her Therapists?
The Consultant and the Program Manager will meet with you,
your child, and your child's Therapists during weekly team
meetings that occur in your home. These team meetings generally
last for four hours and must occur every week. Each of your
child's Therapists must attend each team meeting. While
we do not require that you attend all of your child's team
meetings, we very much encourage you to attend as much as
you would like so that we can receive as much feedback from
you as possible. We value your input and view you as vital
members of your child's intervention team.
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How long does Phase 1 of intervention last?
Phase 1 of intervention usually lasts between three and
six months.
During this phase, we are very busy training each of your
child's Therapists to ensure that they are working with
your child exactly as we prescribe. During this phase of
intervention, your child's Consultant is also getting to
know your child so that he or she can develop intervention
programs that are perfectly tailored to your child's needs.
When the Consultant feels he or she has developed a perfectly
tailored program, and your child's Therapists are well on
their way to being fully trained, then the Consultant will
contact either Michael Fabrizio or Kelly Ferris and ask
that one of them come in to review your child's case.
After either Michael or Kelly review your child's case,
they will approve your Consultant to enter Phase 2-the phase
where the Consultant sees your child every other week (remember,
though, that your child's Program Manager continues meeting
with your child and his or her Therapists weekly during
the team meetings).
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How long does Phase 2 of intervention last?
Phase 2 of intervention usually lasts between three and
six months beyond Phase 1.
During this phase, we are finishing the training of your
child's Therapists and further refining your child's intervention
program. When the Consultant feels your child's program
is ready to move into Phase 3, he or she will again schedule
to have either Michael Fabrizio or Kelly Ferris come in
and review your child's program.
After either Michael or Kelly review your child's program,
they will approve your child's Consultant to enter Phase
3-the phase where the Consultant sees your child monthly,
while the Program Manager continues meeting with your child
and his or her Therapists weekly.
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How long does Phase 3 of intervention last?
Phase 3 of intervention lasts as long as your child continues
to be a client of ORL.
During this phase, the Program Manager continues to meet
with your child and his or her Therapists every week while
the Consultant meets with the team every month. Your child's
team meetings can also shorten from four hours to three
hours in length during Phase 3 because your child's Therapists
should be completely trained by that point.
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What type of technology does a family need
to have to work with ORL?
To work effectively with ORL, a family must have access
to (1) a working email account, (2) a decent fax machine,
and (3) a working video camera. You will often communicate
with your child's Program Manager and Consultant via email,
and ORL will send out your monthly bills via email.
You should also have a decent fax machine--one that will
allow someone to place up to 40 pages on it and fax those
without requiring the person to feed in each page one at
a time-so that your child's Program Manager can review your
child's graphed progress between weekly team meetings.
You will need the working video camera so that your child's
therapists can videotape themselves working with your child
weekly; the therapists will then evaluate their own performance
based on the video. Also, once each month we request that
your child's complete behavior analytic program be videotaped
by your child's lead therapist.
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