Project Details
Location: Vancouver
Timeline: 2018–2022
Funding: BC Ministry of Children and Family Development
Project Contact: Natasha Boškić
Description
In 2018, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration in Autism (CIRCA) at the UBC Faculty of Education received a four-year funding grant from the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) to create equitable and efficient professional development opportunities on autism for interdisciplinary professionals and caregivers across the province.
Through internal expertise, input from autistic individuals and their families and partnerships with external experts in each of the service sectors, CIRCA developed and produced a series of free, self-paced online professional development modules for each service sector.
The strategic plan process prioritized four service sectors that would benefit from professional development resources on autism:
- Employment Professionals (Human Resource Professionals, Employers, Co-Workers; Employment Counsellors, etc.)
- Medical Professionals (Primary Care Providers including Physicians and Pediatricians)
- Dental Professionals (Dentists, Dental Hygienists, Certified Dental Assistants, etc.)
- Child Care Providers (Early Childhood Educators; Aboriginal Infant Development Program (AIDP) and IDP Consultants; Aboriginal Supported Child Development (ASCD) and SCD Consultants; Public and Private Child Care Providers, etc.)
CIRCA ensures that autistic voices are actively involved in the development and creation of each professional development program at every step in the process.
Participants
The number of participants who have taken the courses from their launch to summer 2024 is as follows:
- Autism and Neurodiversity in the Workplace, opened in March 2021: 6,747 participants
- Autism and Neurodiversity in Dentistry, opened in November 2022: 1,581 participants
- Autism and Neurodiversity in Early Childcare, opened in December 2022: 5,341 participants
Project Team
Partnerships
- UBC Continuing Professional Development in the Faculty of Medicine
- BC Dental Association
- BC Dental Hygienists’ Association
- UBC Dentistry
- Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of BC and Yukon
- BC Family Child Care Association
- First Nations Health Authority
- BC Aboriginal Child Care Society
- Aboriginal Head Start Association of BC
CIRCA
- Karen D. Bopp, PhD, Director of Provincial Outreach
- Pat Mirenda, PhD, Past CIRCA Director
Learning Design and Digital Innovation
- Sharon Hu, Instructional Designer, ETS (now Learning Design and Digital Innovation)
With special thanks to the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development who provided funding for this project.
