MiBAP Newsletter, January 2023

From the President

Happy New Year to all of our members! This quarterly newsletter provides a recap of 2022, as well as updates on current activities for the association, to include each of our committees. It’s been a busy year!

MiBAP’s priorities for 2023 include reducing barriers to ABA for Michiganders affected by autism, protecting reimbursement rates so providers have the resources they need to continue to provide the highest quality services, establishing quality guidelines to demonstrate and quantify the strength of our providers, offering additional professional development opportunities and other resources to members, and, through these efforts, continuing to advocate for the best interests of Michiganders with autism and their families.

Candice Lake
MiBAP President

Access Committee Update

During our December 2nd meeting, we officially transitioned the role of Access Chair from Rachel Enright to Kristin Wier. As a committee, we agreed that we need to evaluate the goals and the mission of this group. There are several barriers to accessing services in Michigan. Currently, the majority of those barriers revolve around staffing shortages. We would like to hear from MiBAP members to learn what their barriers to access may be in our state. Members who attended on 12/2/22 support any advocacy that could enhance wages across all direct care level RBT/Technician level staff and/or enhance the quality of staff in our field. Our team is willing to support any tasks that can help to reduce barriers to services in Michigan.

Advocacy Committee Update

The fourth quarter of 2022 produced significant change in Lansing. This is the first time in over 40 years that the Executive and Legislative branches will be led by Democratic leaders. On both sides of the aisle, in the Senate and House of Representatives, there are a significant number of new members. We have begun to meet with them and introduce our association and for many, new information on the needs of the community of ABA Providers. As we look ahead to 2023, we will focus on building relationships and preparing for our Advocacy Day scheduled for March 3, 2023. The Advocacy Committee will meet January 19, 2023 to prepare the talking points for Advocacy Day. Please join us! If interested, send a note to jeffbrown@centriahealthcare.com.

Education Committee Update

The Education committee has been busy planning webinars for the new year. The next webinar, “Applied Behavior Analysis Accreditation with the Autism Commission on Quality”, will be held January 25th at 12pm. It will be presented by Erick Dubuque, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA. You can learn more and register below. We are looking for a chair for the committee to schedule and lead the meetings. If you are interested-please email membership@mibap.org.

Quality Committee Update

The Quality Committee members have been continuing their dialogue with Dr. Bryant Silbaugh, co-author of “Exploring Quality in the Applied Behavior Analysis Service Delivery Industry” (Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2021). The article discusses the definition of “quality” in the industry as well as some suggestions for identifying key performance indicators of Autism Service Delivery Quality (ASDQ). More recently, Dr. Silbaugh has published a follow-up article in BAP, “Discussion and Conceptual Analysis of Four Group Contingencies for Behavioral Process Improvement in an ABA Service Delivery Quality Framework,” which addresses organizational and performer level contingencies to promote the maintenance of ASDQ-oriented activities. Dr. Silbaugh has agreed to continue consulting with the Quality Committee and may present his material for a MiBAP webinar in the new year.

Upcoming Events:

Applied Behavior Analysis Accreditation with the Autism Commission on Quality (ACQ)
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
12:00pm – 1:00pm (EST)
Location: Online
Presented by: Erick Dubuque, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA

Virtual Advocacy Day 2023
March 1st and 3rd
Location: Online

Congratulations to the 2023-2024 elected MiBAP Board of Directors!

Candice Lake, Director of the Autism Center for Child Development at Wedgewood Christian Services

Jeana Koerber, Ex. Director for Autism Services at Residential Opportunities, Inc./Great Lakes Center for Autism Treatment and Research

James Adam Bennet, Director of Operations at WMU Kalamazoo Autism Center

Taylor Barker, Clinical Director/Owner at EBB & Flow ABA Therapy

See the list of the full board HERE.