The Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) Issues Organizational Guidelines
More than 150 Nationally and Internationally Recognized Subject Matter Experts Contribute
Wakefield, MA – January 31, 2022. The Council of Autism Service Providers today announced the release of its Organizational Guidelines that articulate best practices for organizations providing evidence-based services to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although there are resources that define best practices for individual autism service providers, until now there has not been a set of comprehensive guidelines for organizations. Developed primarily for owners, administrators, and autism service providers, CASP believes these guidelines will benefit all stakeholders who share the goal of helping providers deliver high-quality and cost-effective services.
The CASP Organizational Guidelines provide recommendations for best practices regarding organizational policies, procedures, and infrastructure necessary for individual practitioners to consistently deliver high-quality applied behavior analysis (ABA) services. Chapters include topics in one of three content areas:
- Business Operations
- Clinical Operations
- Risk Management
“The steadily rising prevalence rate of ASD, the passage of health insurance laws recognizing ABA interventions as medically necessary for ASD in all 50 U.S. states, and the increased enforcement of state and federal mental health parity laws have created a greater demand for—and improved access to—ABA services.” said CASP Chief Executive Officer, Lorri Unumb. “This exponential growth has spurred increased regulation of those services. In view of these factors and the economic pressures of maintaining autism service provider organizations, we felt that developing these comprehensive organizational guidelines was essential.”
ABA services are delivered in a variety of settings and paid for via a variety of funding streams. Additionally, ABA interventions are used to address medical, educational, vocational, and other needs of an autistic client, and these interventions may be delivered by small local organizations or multi-organizational conglomerates across the globe. “This tremendous diversity makes it very challenging to create a single resource that is directly applicable to every autism service provider organization,” said Mike Wasmer, CASP Chief Operating Officer. “This inaugural release of the CASP Organizational Guidelines is meant to be a first step in filling a very large void.”
The CASP Organizational Guidelines will be released beginning January 31, 2022, at which time 11 of the planned 23 chapters will be available. The remainder of the chapters will be individually released throughout 2022. The CASP Organizational Guidelines are available to access from the CASP website. Access is free for employees of CASP Member organizations.
About the Council of Autism Service Providers
The Council of Autism Service Providers is a non-profit association of for-profit and not-for-profit agencies serving individuals with autism and other developmental disorders. CASP supports its members by cultivating, sharing, and advocating for provider best practices in autism services. CASP member agencies employ more than 70,000 professionals providing services to children and adults with autism across the United States. More information is available at www.casproviders.org.
