we develop aba
One voice in West Virginia dedicated to providing accurate and up-to-date information, empowering parents, supporting best practices, and making lasting changes in our state to enable West Virginians with autism to achieve their highest potential.
WE DEVELOP ABA
After a decade of improving insurance support for West Virginia children, MAP is now turning our attention to developing ABA services across multiple settings and growing a well-trained ABA workforce to tackle some of the Mountain State’s most pressing problems.
The MAP group is led by representatives of Augusta Levy Learning Center in Wheeling, Bright Futures Learning Services in Teays Valley, and WVU Children’s Hospital Neurodevelopmental Center in Morgantown. With administration oversight by Augusta Levy Learning Center, “We Develop ABA” has been awarded $50,000 by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to measure current ABA workforce and access to ABA service, and to develop a statewide strategic plan to increase ABA workforce.
In addition to funds from the ARC, the Workforce and Development for Applied Behavior Analysis (WE Develop ABA) received $68,000 in private matching funds from the Augusta Levy Learning Center, Bright Futures Learning Services, Community Autism Resources and Education Systems, the Disabilities Opportunity Fund, and the Larch Foundation. Policy makers Sen. Shelley Moore-Capito and Rep. Carol Miller, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, West Virginia Birth to Three, the West Virginia Autism Training Center, Marshall University, Concord University and WVU Medicine Children’s also offered letters of support for the project.
“We Develop ABA” Projects underway:
Four different stakeholder groups have been selected to provide feedback on the current state of ABA in West Virginia. We are asking ABA Treatment Centers, Board Certified Behavior Analysis (BCBA’s), family members, and non-BCBA human service professionals to tell us about the “state of the state” in behavioral intervention services. The results of these surveys will be used to inform our strategic plan for increasing access to behavioral services and workforce development to benefit all West Virginians.
This March, a kickoff “WE Develop ABA” planning meeting will bring together the primary stakeholders from treatment centers and higher education across the state, as well as regional and national experts in the field, in this effort to discuss the current environment, opportunities, and challenges for creating an ABA ecosystem in West Virginia.
Following these two projects, we will provide Town Hall meetings and additional stakeholders meetings throughout the spring and summer, with the goal of having a strategic plan for the implementation of “We Develop ABA” to submit to the ARC for possible funding.
How can you help?
West Virginia caregivers and families, please complete the survey below
“We Develop ABA”
Contact Us
We'd love to hear from you. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out!
Email: Mapwvautism@gmail.com
