This program is fully funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and is designed for physicians, physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) practicing in Ontario. Our aim is to build province-wide community capacity and ability to screen, diagnose, and care for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Ontario.
ECHO Ontario Autism is a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
ECHO Ontario Autism for Physicians and NPs runs one cycle each year beginning in September. There are 20 sessions every second Tuesday from 11:30 am-1:30 pm. A combination of didactic presentations and participant generated case discussions provide ongoing opportunities for learning and support along with the development of a community of practice.
ECHO Ontario Autism is a virtual program and participation is free.
Click here to download the schedule (PDF)
Click here to proceed to the registration
ECHO Autism Mini Medication Series
Each year the ECHO Autism program runs a Mini Medication Series in November. This series focuses on some of the medications used for co-occurring conditions in Autism. It takes place over one day and includes 3 ECHO sessions focused on medication use in autism for anxiety, ADHD, and agitation. Contact Salina Eldon at seldon@hollandbloorview.ca for registration.
ECHO Autism Diagnostic Boot Camp
The ECHO Autism Program hosts an annual 2-day, in-person Boot Camp focused on autism diagnosis. Boot Camp is offered to those who are registered in the ECHO Autism Program for MDs, PAs and NPs. The boot camp provides clinicians with hands on practice of the skills being taught in ECHO Autism sessions, including play activities with children, and practice in history taking and giving feedback. The boot camp is fully funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health.
The ECHO Autism Psychology program is fully funded by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. We run one 10 session cycle each year with the goal of increasing participant skills and confidence in diagnosing ASD.
ECHO Autism Psychology is an online education program that uses a combination of didactic and case-based learning. Cases are presented by participants, and recommendations and support is provided by a multidisciplinary expert Hub Team as well as community participants.
The program is open to psychologists in school boards across Ontario, as well as those in private practice. We also welcome Psychological Associates, Psychometrists, Psycho-educational Consultants, and other allied health professions involved in the diagnosis of ASD.
The next cycle of ECHO Autism Psychology will run from October 2024-February 2025.
Registration will open in August 2024.
If you wish to be notified when registration is open, please email Salina Eldon at seldon@hollandbloorview.ca
About the Summer Pop-Up Series
Each summer, we offer a series of special interest pop-up sessions. These sessions do not involve case presentations.Each session includes a didactic on the day’s topic, followed by discussion and questions.The series is open to physicians, NPs, nurses, allied health professionals and educators.
Registration for ECHO Ontario Autism Summer Pop-Up Series 2024 will be posted in the Spring of 2024.
What is the ECHO model?
The Extension of Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) model™ was developed at the University of New Mexico led by Dr. Sanjeev Arora as a platform for both delivery of services and outcomes research. The ECHO approach aims to erase barriers between specialty and primary care. More specifically, it aims to bring specialty care to rural and underserved communities using video-conferencing technology. It links expert specialist multidisciplinary teams at academic ‘hubs’ with primary care clinicians in local communities – the ‘spokes’ of the model. Together, they participate in sessions which combine didactics containing information on relevant topics with mentoring through de-identified, participant generated case discussions.
The ECHO model allows community clinicians to join from virtually anywhere providing they have internet and a phone/tablet/laptop or desktop computer. During ECHO sessions, primary care clinicians "spokes" or "participants" present de-identified patient cases to the specialist multidisciplinary teams and to each other, and discuss diagnoses and other presenting challenges. The hub team specialists serve as mentors and colleagues, sharing their medical knowledge and expertise with primary care clinicians.
Essentially, ECHO® creates ongoing learning communities where community-based clinicians receive support and develop the skills they need to diagnose and care for those with complex needs such as autistic individuals. As a result, they can provide comprehensive, best-practice care to patients in their own communities.
