As explained on the government site:

“The Registry of Autism Service Providers (RASP) is a list of professionals who have the experience and education to offer programs for children with autism. If your child is under six and you want to use autism funding to pay for services, you need to choose service providers from the RASP.”

The professionals that fall under the RASP umbrella here in BC are Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Pathologist, Board Certified Behavior Consultants and Physical Therapists. You will notice, Behavior Interventionists AKA, BI’s, are not on this list.

The government wants to ensure the quality of the funds offered and for the above-mentioned RASP providers, they are held to a standard through their collage. Furthermore, by having a RASP list, maintained by MCFD, means complaints can be addressed in a world where parental choice can be swayed by lower quality providers.

While Ausome Match LOVES our BCBA’s and celebrates parental power of choice in therapy models, our wish is that RASP would open up to more behavior therapy types. Currently having a BCBA means the primary and only encouraged behavior therapy from the government is ABA. Since BCBA’s are ABA specialists. Understanding that this is largely due to the huge backing in scientific evidence of ABA. While other therapy choices, such as Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) awaits the time that they can be deemed “evidence based”.

We love power of choice and for some families, ABA is not an option for their children. This is why Ausome Match expanding from being BI’s only to adding in services that are all-inclusive. We want to be the place families come to learn what is best for their child and match with the therapist of choice. Not isolated to the one and only. I know we may appear rebels in our thoughts, but we see you parents craving change and we stand beside you. Our BCBA’s love our RDI consultants and vice versa. Our team has one objective, which is the child’s HAPPY and healthy development. Whichever behavior therapy fits their mold.

Our ABA specialists are like no other, our BCBAs, OT and SLP are on the RASP list. Which means we have the credentials covered. For those wanting to talk about all the various therapy choices, gain guidance on how to set up your child’s custom team and more, we are here for a no-pressure discovery call. Navigation is our JAM and we love to help.

Fun fact: A story I once heard when I first started in this industry. Up north, where there was a huge lack of Autism providers, there were BI’s with little to no education, creating plans and providing the intervention for over $100 an hour. Parents knowing no different, mixed with supply and demand, allowed this to happen. For this reason, early intervention (<6 years old) is more closely monitored.