The ACT-NOW Project

Initially, the ACT-NOW project was funded from July 2004 – June 2007. The strategy impacted on parents, early years service providers and the community. The development of nine Regional Autism Coordination Teams (ReACTs) to facilitate cross-programme partnership successfully harnessed the good will and interest of a range of views focusing on a common goal.

Lisa Neville (Minister for Children) allocated non-recurrent funds to continue with the ACT-NOW strategy from July 2007 - December 2008. The new allocation of funds is an opportunity to consolidate what has already been achieved. Stage two also provides an opportunity to respond to the needs identified by the ReACTs. In particular, this includes providing support, supervision, mentoring and consultation for professionals working with young children with autism and their families.

The ACT-NOW Team

The ACT-NOW team is based at the Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology at Monash University. The members of the team have experience and expertise in specialist service provision, community and professional education, service development, support and consultation, and family advocacy. The team is internationally recognised for its research in the field of Pervasive Developmental Disorders.

Directors

Prof. Bruce Tonge  Child Psychiatrist

Dr Avril Brereton  Special Educator, Early Childhood

Manager

Ms Kerry Bull  Special Educator, Early Childhood

Web Support

Mr Paul Bower  Research Assistant

Other

Specialist staff from within the Centre for Developmental Psychiatry & Psychology (including: Psychologists, Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Paediatricians) are employed on a sessional basis as required.

Reference Group

Ongoing evaluation and review of the ACT-NOW program is conducted through a reference group made up of professional, consumer and parent representatives. This group is convened and chaired by the Department of Human Services (DHS) to offer support and advice to the ACT-NOW team.

Click here for the list of reference group members. (pdf 50kb)

ReACTs - Regional Autism Co-ordination Teams

The aims of the program are being achieved partly through the development of a Regional Autism Co-ordination Team (ReACT) in each DHS region in Victoria. Members of the ReACTs are people working within a specific sector with young children with autism and their families. For example, one Preschool Field Officer may represent preschool staff in the region. There is also parent representation on each ReACT.

Click here for the ReAct the membership lists.

Each ReACT meets regularly with the ACT-NOW team to identify and respond to autism specific training and consultation needs. Sub-groups work on specific issues (eg. transition to school) and have begun to develop regional training materials. ReACTs have also developed regional action plans that look at a range of broader issues such as developing service directories, links with paediatricians and information for GPs.

Training

In partnership with the ReACT, and harnessing the advice, knowledge and expertise of regional service providers, the ACT-NOW team provides a range of training opportunities tailored to meet the needs of each region. Regional calendars outline all training related to young children with an autism spectrum disorder and their families provided by both ACT-NOW and local service providers.

Click here for regional training calendars.

Anyone who is running training in Victoria that would be relevant for professionals working with young children with autism and their families can send the details to Paul Bower for submission.

Information Provision

• Quarterly newsletters from the ACT-NOW team are made available on the ACT-NOW website.
  Click here  for newsletters.
  
  
• Regular factsheets are also posted on the website.
  Click here  for factsheets. 

Secondary Consultation

Initially, the ACT-NOW program also entails three levels of secondary consultation:

This was undertaken in response to referrals from ReActs to ACT-NOW.

ACT-NOW Strategy - Stage 2

Stage Two of the strategy (July 2007 - December 2008) focuses on providing secondary consultation through professional supervision, mentoring and support. The following outlines the focus of stage two of the ACT-NOW strategy:

1. The Psycho - Educational Profile – Third Edition (PEP-3)

There has been great interest from the early childhood intervention sector in developing their skills in assessment for young children with autism.  Autistic children have often been regarded as un-testable in the past, but this was primarily due to problems with types of assessments that were used.  The Psycho -Educational Profile – Third Edition (Schopler et al, 2005) assesses the developmental level of young children with autism, who may be non-verbal, have limited attention skills and poor concentration, and who are not used to a formal testing situation.  The PEP-3 (2004) was developed from the PEP-R (1990) and PEP (1979).  Consistent with earlier versions, the PEP-3 is a standardised observational assessment based on a developmental approach. The profile resulting for the PEP-3 graphically charts uneven and idiosyncratic learning development, emerging skills and autistic behavioural characteristics. The PEP-3 was primarily designed for planning an educational programme based on a child’s identified developmental profile and behaviour.

As described in the PEP-3 Examiner’s Manual (Schopler et al, 2005) examiners should have some formal training in assessment which includes knowledge of general procedures governing test administration, scoring and interpretation; testing statistics and specific information about evaluation of PDDs. The manual also recommends that examiners practicing administering the PEP-3 three times under direct supervision of an experienced user.

In line with these recommendations, ACT-NOW has developed full-day training in the use of the PEP-3.

Click here  for ACT-NOW fact sheet on the PEP-3.

Click here  for regional training calendars

Click here to download flyer for Training Session (29 Feb 2008)

2. Case Studies

Case study instruction is an excellent strategy to train ECI professionals and also to bridge the gap between theory and practice.  Cases are stories with a message. They are not simply narratives for entertainment. They are stories to educate.

The cases we use will be deidentified but will be real children and families. The settings in which intervention services are provided will be varied. The format will be short stories rather than academic readings and will focus on the individual needs of the child and family.

Click here to read more.

3. Journal Club

Journal clubs offer the opportunity for professionals to develop their critical appraisal skills. In a journal club discussion, articles are evaluated as to their quality and also whether and how the findings can be applied to practice. Being a member of a journal club encourages the professional to set time aside to read articles, keep abreast of current research and issues and gain evidence for best practice.

Click here to read more.

4. Preschoolers with Autism: An education and skills training programme for parents

‘Preschoolers with Autism’ ( Brereton & Tonge, 2005) is an effective, manualised parent education programme. It is a 20 week programme with 10 group sessions (90 minutes) and 10 individual sessions (60 minutes) for parents of preschoolers recently diagnosed with autism.

ACT-NOW provided training in this programme to 52 professionals on a ‘see-one-do-one’ basis in six regions; Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western, Gippsland and Grampians. Intensive two-day training was provided to 19 professionals in three remote areas; Mildura (Loddon-Mallee), Benalla (Hume) and Colac (Barwon South-West).

In stage two of the project, ACT-NOW  provides ongoing support and supervision to those trained clinicians and others’ who wish to receive training in the programme.

Click here  for further details

5. Teaching Materials

ACT NOW has developed teaching materials for a series of three 2-hour workshops titled ‘Autism in the Preschool Years: A Series of Three Workshops’ (Brereton, Bull & Tonge, 2006).  The manual includes speaker’s notes, a CD-Rom of the Power point presentations, including imported DVD footage, handouts and suggestions for further reading.  The workshops cover the core features & early signs of autism, communication and social interaction skills and understanding and managing difficult behaviour.

The manual for these workshops was developed to provide Early Childhood Intervention Services (ECIS) with teaching material that could be used to provide ongoing autism training (primarily to the broader early childhood sector). ACT-NOW has supplied the ReACT in each DHS Region with two copies of the manual. The manuals are held by the ReACT members who are responsible for its distribution to early childhood intervention services that are using it to provide training within their region.

ACT-NOW has provided one-day ‘train-the-presenter’ session for two ECIS clinicians in each region who wanted to develop their presentation skills and familiarise themselves with the workshop materials (slides and discussion notes). This one-day session was developed in response to requests from ECIS staff for further support in providing training. The training was provided to two ECIS clinicians who were selected by a ReACT subgroup after receiving written applications. The subgroups then informed ACT-NOW of the two successful applicants.

In stage two of the project ACT-NOW provides these clinicians with ongoing support to enable them to present the training sessions to small groups of parents and professionals within their region.

In order to maintain the high quality of presenter skills and knowledge of the training materials, all other clinicians who wish to become presenters must access training and support both regionally and from the ACT-NOW staff who wrote the training material (Kerry Bull or Avril Brereton).

Click here for presenter guidelines. (pdf 111kb)

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