Ontario Autism Program – Caregiver-Mediated Early Years Programs
How do I register?
The Province of Ontario will invite families directly via written letter to participate in the Caregiver-Mediated Early Years programs. Once an invitation has been received, please click here to submit a referral.
Note: At this time, Durham Ontario Autism Program (OAP) Caregiver Mediated Early Years programs are booking into April 2025. Wait times vary across provincial providers. Please click here to identify other provincial providers if you wish to pursue other options.
Caregiver-mediated early years programs help parents and caregivers find new ways for their young children with Autism (12 to 48 months) to learn skills and achieve goals in social communication.
Programs in the Durham Region
The Ontario Autism Program, Durham (OAP-D) partnership provides caregiver-mediated programs through Grandview Kids, Lake Ridge Community Support Services, and The Regional Municipality of Durham. There are three programs to choose from. Children may only participate in one of these programs per fiscal year (April to March).
Watch this highlight video showcasing the details about Caregiver-Mediated Programs in the Durham Region.
Get an in-depth overview of each Caregiver-Mediated Programs in the Durham Region directly from program facilitators.
Program descriptions
This table provides a comparison of the Social ABCs, Project Impact and the PLAY Project. Please click on the image to enlarge it.
Social ABCs
Social ABCs is a Naturalistic Developmental Behavioural Intervention that focuses on supporting a child’s ability to coordinate their attention with their voice to produce intentional messages (i.e., to direct their communication to another person), and helps them to share positive emotions with others. It involves training caregivers with a combination of teaching and live coaching using a positive, collaborative framework to help them learn the strategies. Opportunities for teaching and learning come from the child’s natural interests during playtime and day-to-day caregiving routines. The program can be delivered in person or virtually in the family’s home. The child can be in daycare full-time and/or the participating caregiver can work out of the home full-time, but it is recommended that families have sufficient time to practice and use the techniques with their child on a regular basis.
Provider: Grandview Kids
Age range: 12 to 42 months at the start of the program
Type of program: Group adult workshop sessions and individual coaching sessions
Location: Adult-only workshops will be virtual. Coaching sessions can be virtual or in-person at the Grandview Kids Oshawa or Ajax sites.
Duration: 7 weeks (baseline week followed by 6-week intervention program)
Visits: 6 weekly adult-only group sessions (90 minutes each); 9 individual parent-child coaching sessions (90 minutes each)
Whom does Social ABCs benefit?
Children may already be able to make sounds or use words or phrases, but that is not required. Children should be able to move (walk, crawl, reach) towards preferred items or activities and to hear others speaking.
What are the learning objectives and targeted skills?
Learning Objective: To enhance the caregiver’s ability to create an environment that supports their child’s social communication development by using natural opportunities throughout their regular daily routines.
Targeted Skills: Intentional, functional vocal communication directed to others and sharing meaningful, positive emotions with others.
What are the strategies used in Social ABCs?
The Social ABCs is based on Pivotal Response Treatment principles and strategies integrated with parent/caregiver responsiveness training. Social ABCs focuses on specific activities and skills that are most relevant to children during daily play and caregiving routines, taking into account the developmental and behavioural features of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Caregivers and coaches work collaboratively through a positive coaching model.
What is the role and time commitment of caregivers?
The caregiver will be encouraged to embed strategies into everyday play activities and caregiving routines between sessions. The caregiver may be required to complete some assessments, surveys, diaries, or other supplemental documents as part of the intervention and/or program evaluation.
What happens during a Social ABCs session?
Social ABCs coaching sessions involve a parent or caregiver, their child, and a trained coach. In the individual model, sessions involve instructive teaching from a trained coach, supported by a parent manual and individual discussions, and hands-on practice with live, direct coaching while the caregiver and child engage in natural play-based activities and daily routines.
More information: visit the Social ABCs early intervention program website.
Project ImPACT
Project ImPACT (Improving Parents As Communication Teachers) uses a Naturalistic Developmental-Behavioural Intervention (NDBI) which combines Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), and the communication and developmental fields. Applied Behaviour Analysis is a proven technique for teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). By combining the techniques in a naturalistic way, within the families’ day-to-day activities, children are better able to generalize newly acquired social-communication skills and continue to use them after the program is complete.
Parents and caregivers find it more conducive to their schedule when they utilize all that is learned throughout their daily routines over the traditional Applied Behaviour Analysis may require a stricter schedule to implement. Caregivers will learn strategies to support them in focusing on their child, adjusting their communication, creating opportunities, teaching new skills and shaping interactions with their child.
Provider: Lake Ridge Community Support Services
Age range: 12 to 48 months
Type of program: Individual and group coaching
Location: Virtual or in-person in the home or clinic
Duration: 12 weeks
Visits: Each visit is 60 to 90-minutes in length, between 1 and 2 visits per week.
Whom does Project ImPACT benefit?
Project ImPACT is for young children with autism and related social communication delays. Project ImPACT targets nonverbal communication skills, joint attention and engagement, gesture use, imitation, and functional and symbolic play.
What are the learning objectives and targeted skills?
Project ImPACT targets four core sets of social communication skills: social engagement, communication, imitation, and play. Project ImPACT makes learning fun for your child by using preferred activities such as bath time, mealtime and playtime to learn new skills. This program puts an emphasis on empowering the caregiver to learn strategies to support their child at home, giving the child many more hours of learning and practice. Project ImPACT also includes an optional unit on managing challenging behaviour.
What are the strategies used in Project ImPACT?
Project ImPACT uses an easy-to-follow acronym, F.A.C.T.S., to explain the strategies being taught. These strategies build on one another.
F = Focus on your child, follow their lead and imitate them
A = Adjust your communication, use animation, model and expand
C = Create opportunities, playful obstruction, balanced turns, communicative temptations
T = Teach new skills, use prompts and rewards, prompts for using communication, projects for understanding communication, prompts for imitation, prompts for expanding play
S = Shape the interaction-whether at home or in the community, caregivers can use the different parts of the program that best fit.
What is the role and time commitment of caregivers?
Caregivers will be involved in developing goals for their child in collaboration with the Project ImPACT coach. Caregiver participation includes attending weekly individual or group sessions (with the child attending part of the session). The number of sessions per week will vary depending on which service delivery option the family chooses.
Caregivers will be asked to read assigned chapters and/or complete exercises in the caregiver manual prior to each session (approximately 15 to 30 minutes per week). In addition, caregivers will be asked to dedicate 15 to 20 minutes per day to practice F.A.C.T.S. strategies with their child. Lastly, the caregivers will actively participate in the service by talking to their coach about their needs, concerns and/or any questions they may have.
What happens during a Project ImPACT session?
Individual Sessions:
One intervention technique will be introduced each session through:
- Written information
- Brief description of technique
- Demonstration of technique with child
- Opportunity for caregiver practice technique
Feedback Group Sessions format:
- Check in and set the session agenda (5% of the session)
- Review the Practice Plans (10% of the session)
- Introduce the new techniques, show video examples, and facilitate discussion (70% of the session)
Plan for practice and coaching (15% of the session)
More information: visit the Project ImPACT website.
The PLAY Project
The PLAY Project takes a Developmental and Relationship based approach to intervention, focusing on meeting each child at their individual developmental level and building skills through engagement and relationship building. The PLAY Project is play-based and caregiver-implemented. Play-based means that the intervention occurs through natural interactions with the child, using their preferred play materials, in a space and pace that is comfortable to them. It is caregiver implemented because parents are their child’s first teacher. Caregivers are coached to be their child’s play partner. They naturally understand their child’s communication and preferences. In addition, the child’s caregiver is able to continue using the strategies they’ve learned in the absence of the PLAY consultant/coach, maximizing the opportunities to practice those strategies
Provider: The Regional Municipality of Durham: Children’s Developmental and Behavioural Supports and Infant and Child Development
Age range: 12 to 48 months
Type of program: Individual
Location: Virtual or in-person in the home or community (Note: In-home visits are offered to caregivers with a Durham Region postal code, only).
Duration: 6 months
Visits: Each visit is 60 to 90 minutes in length, with approximately two appointments per month.
Whom does the PLAY Project benefit?
PLAY Project benefits all children with a diagnosis of Autism from 12 months to 48 months of age, regardless of social communication and play skills. PLAY project supports children who are communicating at a variety of levels, from no words up to and including sentences.
What are the learning objectives and targeted skills?
PLAY Project focuses on increasing social communication through playful interactions between the caregiver and the child. Caregivers are coached on how to build social communication, shared attention and play through daily activities and natural opportunities for interaction. Coaches assess the child’s developmental profile and, within each coaching appointment, build on the child’s skills at their pace and based on their interest in that moment.
What are the strategies used in PLAY Project?
Caregivers and PLAY coaches engage in child-directed play, using activities specifically designed to suit the child’s developmental level. The PLAY coach will model using different strategies to expand play and social interaction. However, most of the sessions will involve the caregivers playing and interacting with their child using the strategies they have learned from the PLAY coach. Video recordings can be used to provide modelling, coaching, and feedback. The PLAY Coach creates a Play Plan which sets out the goals for the child for the coming month and also plots the child’s progress.
PLAY project
- Meets the child where they are developmentally and within the moment
- Focuses on sensory preferences to build skills
- Delivers coaching in the child’s familiar and preferred spaces
What is the role and time commitment of caregivers?
The advantage of the PLAY Project is that caregivers do not need any specific materials, just what they have already in the home. At least one parent/caregiver will need to be present during the home/centre visit and available to participate during each PLAY session. In between appointments, caregivers are encouraged to play with their child using the recommended strategies for up to 2 hours per day, in small doses (e.g., 15 min), during daily routines and play. Caregivers are encouraged to ask questions and share successes and challenges with their PLAY consultant/coach throughout the intervention, during appointments and in-between appointments.
What happens during a PLAY Project session?
A typical PLAY Project session involves the PLAY coach, the parent or caregiver and the child. The PLAY coach will often start by checking in with the parent or caregiver to see how the intervention has been going and answer any questions the parents may have. Then PLAY begins, with the coach modelling strategies or the caregiver playing while the coach provides encouragement and feedback to ensure that play is appropriate to the child’s developmental level. After the session, the PLAY coach will provide the caregiver with a list of strategies and additional activities to try.
For more information: visit The PLAY Project website.
