NORTH DAKOTA AUTISM CENTER INC
647 13th Ave E Ste A, West Fargo, ND 58078 www.ndautismcenter.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Provide care, instruction and therapy for children of all abilities and provide training and support for families.

Help families and children affected by autism spectrum disorders to reach their full potential through excellence in care, therapy, instruction and support.

The Behavior Services program provides individual behavioral therapy based on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) for children diagnosed on the autism spectrum disorder or other behavior related disabilities. In addition, this program also provides Community Support services focused on helping children achieve success across a variety of community settings (i.e. home, school, grocery store, car rides, bus rides, doctor office dentist office, etc.). All Behavior Services programs are supervised by a licensed behavior analyst (LABA). The Behavior Services program provided 32,455 hours of service which is a 7% increase over last year. The team provided service to 69 clients through either individual treatment at the NDAC or through contract services with two local school districts in the area. This growth was partially due to adding one LABA in June and one in September and the continued shift of private insurance companies adding ABA as a covered benefit. The number of clients the team can serve is directly tied to the number of LABA's are on staff. There is still a shortage of LABA's in ND. The team started the year with three LABA's and ended with five. The NDAC provides the required supervision to employees seeking to become LABA's to grow the team. Forty seven percent of the hours of service provided was covered by private insurance; 31% was covered by ND Medicaid and 22% was covered by school districts. Providing service for clients covered by ND Medicaid is a financial challenge because the reimbursement rate is only 71% of the private insurance rate. However, the NDAC takes great pride in providing service to children and families regardless of the funding source. The licensure of behavior analysts in North Dakota was moved to a new state licensing board during 2019 and one of the NDAC's behavior analysts was appointed by the ND Governor's Office to service on the board. The NDAC's Executive Director was invited to serve on a BCBS ND Behavioral Health Taskforce chartered with improving access to behavioral healthcare services across the state and to improve BCBS ND's working relationship with providers. The NDAC's LABA's have also worked with the BCBS ND Behavioral Health Manager to streamline the authorization of services process.

The AuSome Kids Day Program is a center-based childcare program for preschool and school age children that focuses on the unique needs of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), other related disabilities and/or challenging behaviors. This program serves children who are not successful in other programs and have been asked to leave those programs. This program offers a 1 staff to 3 client ratio which is crucial in maintaining a successful environment. The NDAC completed some remodeling in May 2019 to reconfigure the space this program uses to ensure there was enough space for each classroom to allow staff the space they needed to ensure high quality programming for clients served. This program is a North Dakota licensed childcare and must go through a rigorous process to renew its license every year and was successful in doing that. The AuSome Kids Day Program provided 39,462 hours of service for 30 different children and their families in 2019. Since we offer such a low client to staff ratio this program operates at a loss each year and in 2019 it required us to raise $121,000 to break even. The NDAC was successful in raising this money through private donations, grants and fundraising events each year to ensure this program is funded.

The In-Home Support Program (IHS) is a service that provides support to individuals on the Developmental Disabilities Waiver of ND. The IHS program provides benefits the primary caregiver by assisting the individual in activities of daily living. If no other natural support is available/ the program may also include assisting the individual with maintaining health and personal safety while the primary caregiver is home and attending to other household tasks or children. IHS can be provided to the individual while the primary caretaker is home or away from home but is unavailable to care for the individual. This program is also required to renew its state licensure every year and was awarded a new license on October 1, 2019. IHS provided 34,035 hours of service for 69 consumers in 2019. This is an 18% increase in hours provided and a 23% increase in the number of consumers served compared to 2018. The program secured 2 interns who each completed a one semester internship. The team developed and implemented a Basic Assurance Plan required by Council on Quality and Leadership which is accreditation body North Dakota uses to ensure providers are providing high quality services. The team holds quarterly meeting of the Quality Enhancement Team which consists of NDAC staff, a Direct Support Professional (DSP's), a parent of consumer and a member the NDAC Board of Directors. This team reviews policies, procedures and performs desk audits to enhance the quality of service the NDAC provides. IHS held a small fundraiser this year to be able to provide small basic need items for low income families in the program. The team also sought out donations of new or gently used toys/books to create a toy check out program for DSP's to check out and use with consumers while they are on shift.

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