The CED’s iASD Clinic is Moving

In recent years, the prevalence of autism has continued rising increasing the need for a skilled workforce of therapists trained in best practices for young children with autism. Since 2009, the WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities (CED) has housed the intensive Autism Services Delivery (iASD) Clinic providing the infrastructure for the clinic to build its capacity to one day self-sustain and grow to provide more services.

In collaboration with the WVU School of Medicine’s Klingberg Center, the iASD Clinic has served as a practicum site for WVU students to receive supervised training on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) required to become certified therapists. Through the iASD Clinic the WVU CED, in partnership with the WVU Department of Pediatrics, has provided more than 21,487 hours of intensive behavioral intervention to WV children with Autism Spectrum Disorder since 2009. More than 30,630 hours of hands-on ABA training and supervision not easily available in West Virginia, has been provided to WVU students since 2009.

In late summer, the iASD Clinic will move into the newly announced WVU Medicine Children’s Neurodevelopmental Center (NDC). The NDC will evaluate and treat children with a wide variety of neurodevelopmental disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, developmental delay, cerebral palsy, neuromuscular disorders, and Tourette Syndrome.

“The CED’s goal was always to have the iASD Clinic grow and stand on its own. Now, families will get much needed therapies at the NDC and the CED can begin working to build capacity in other areas related to autism,” said Dr. Lesley Cottrell, Director of the WVU CED.

The WVU CED has begun forming workgroups to map out resources in West Virginia for individuals with autism and their families. The workgroups, made up of partners from across the state, are identifying unmet needs and helping the CED form its scope of services in the area of autism. This spring, the CED launched new Autism Services programming currently offering social skills groups for children eight to eleven years old and individualized parent training. For more information, visit autism.cedwvu.org.