Overview

In July 2021, Ontario committed to investing more than $62 million in a new action plan to build capacity across the province to support children and youth on the autism spectrum. The capacity action plan will help the province implement the needs-based Ontario Autism Program.

By implementing the capacity action plan, we aim to enable a stable, efficient, and skilled workforce so that all families have access to safe, high-quality core clinical services in the Ontario Autism Program.

Creating the capacity action plan

To develop the capacity action plan, we have sought and considered advice and findings from families, service providers and other experts, including:

Through these discussions and research findings, we have heard from families and service providers about the need to continue building capacity in the sector to deliver the needs-based Ontario Autism Program.

Building capacity is key for families in northern, rural and remote communities who are looking for support to access services in their community. They have also reported a need for more service providers with the skills and training to work with francophone and Indigenous families.

Informed by the feedback we’ve received and the research we’ve conducted, we have developed an action plan for Ontario.

Objectives

The capacity action plan has four primary objectives:

  1. stabilize the workforce to retain and build on existing talent to support a smooth transition to the needs-based Ontario Autism Program
  2. enhance skills and training to increase the supply of skilled clinicians to respond to each family's unique needs
  3. strengthen oversight to promote consistency, professionalism, and safe, high-quality service delivery across the province
  4. expand access particularly for rural, remote, Indigenous and francophone populations, through new service delivery and outreach strategies

Initiatives

To achieve the capacity action plan’s four objectives, the plan includes a mix of short-term measures that will have an immediate impact and support future growth and transformation.

We will consider additional initiatives in subsequent years as the workforce and service sector evolve.

Here’s an outline of the initiatives, organized by the objectives that they support.

Initiatives to stabilize the workforce

Workforce capacity fund: a grant program that supports projects led by public and private service providers and community organizations to improve access to clinical services in the OAP.

Transition funding for legacy agencies: provide transition funding to legacy Ontario Autism Program service providers to help them transition to the needs-based program.

Transition planning resources: funded Empowered Kids Ontario to develop tools and resources to build sector capacity, and supported transition planning for ministry funded children’s service providers.

Workforce planning data: working with AccessOAP to develop a plan to collect, monitor, analyze and disseminate data on workforce supply and demand.

Initiatives to enhance skills and training

Professional development: fund training activities that help to build, retain, grow the workforce, and enhance the knowledge and skills of existing clinicians. This will include:

  • Indigenous Cultural Competency Training for OAP service providers, including behaviour analysts, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, ASD diagnostic hub staff, and care coordinators.
  • Integrated mental health capacity-building and training for mental health and autism providers (developed and delivered by Children’s Mental Health Ontario).
  • Considering opportunities to better align higher education and training pathways with the future workforce needs of the OAP.

Initiatives to strengthen oversight

Regulation: with the Ministry of Health, continue to work towards the regulation of applied behaviour analysis as a separate profession under the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO). The legislation to enact this, Bill 283, Advancing Oversight and Planning in Ontario’s Health System Act, 2021, received Royal Assent on June 3, 2021. On July 20, 2023, the Lieutenant Governor in Council approved regulations for the profession made under the Psychology and Applied Behaviour Analysis Act, 2021. The regulations and act will come into force on July 1, 2024. For more information, visit CPO’s website.

OAP provider list: expanded the OAP provider list, a verified list of experienced and trained clinicians who deliver OAP services, to include speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists.

Initiatives to expand access

Northern capacity-building pilots: continue to fund three pilot projects led by agencies to stabilize and build service capacity in Northern Ontario.

We are considering additional initiatives to improve service access for Indigenous and francophone families.

Contact us

If you have questions about the Ontario Autism Program and the capacity action plan, you can contact us at: