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Authors Posts by Cathy Barrick

Cathy Barrick

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) waivers are required to be renewed with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) every five years. The Consolidated, Community Living, and Person/Family-Directed Support (P/FDS) Waivers, collectively known as the ID/A waivers, are scheduled for renewal effective July 1, 2027.

ODP invites you to participate in an upcoming listening session as part of the renewal process. Please join Deputy Secretary Kristin Ahrens and Director of Policy Julie Mochon for a general overview of the ID/A waivers and the renewal process during one of the two sessions listed below.

Attendees will have the opportunity to share valuable feedback and insights to help strengthen the Waivers and enhance the services provided through them. Stakeholder input gathered during these sessions will play an important role in informing the ID/A waiver renewal process.

Registration is required for each session. Due to limited space, ODP asks that you only register for one session. Register below:

Interested in providing feedback?

When registering for a session, you will be asked if you would like to provide verbal comments. Registrants can participate without providing comments.

If you register to provide comments, on the day of the session a moderator will share additional instructions about using the virtual meeting features.

When your name is called, you will have 3 minutes to provide your input.

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Topic — Best Practices in Behavioral Assessment and Treatment
Updates are in Red

Regardless of our role, we should all continuously strive to implement best practices when supporting someone who may have behaviors that are challenging or not yet understood. This training will focus on ways that, within your role, you can ensure that the behavioral support you are providing is sound, appropriate, and implemented with fidelity and integrity. ODP will offer two tracks held across different days and times that focus on the role you play in this process.

Please choose 1 date for the appropriate track that best represents your role. There is no cost to attend the training, but pre-registration is required.

Note: Both tracks will provide best practice information grounded in peer-reviewed and evidence-based research and will not address ODP program-specific service definitions, procedures, or guidelines.

Track 1 is for any Behavioral Specialist (and their supervisors) who completes behavioral assessments, develops behavioral plans, and trains others on the implementation of the plan. This session will discuss best practices to conduct better assessments and develop better behavioral support plans while acknowledging barriers and pitfalls to these processes.

Virtual Session on Microsoft Teams. Please attend only 1 session. All sessions will cover the same material.

  • April 9, 2026, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
  • April 12, 2026, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
  • April 16, 2026, 9:00 am – 11:00 am
  • April 20, 2026, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Track 2 is for any professional (and their supervisors), including Supports Coordinators (SC), who implements behavioral plans and who work directly with individuals. This session will present an introduction to the essential components of effective behavioral assessment and treatment with an emphasis on best practices to support the implementation of a Behavioral Support Plan.

Virtual Session on Microsoft Teams. Please attend only 1 session. All sessions will cover the same material.

  • April 10, 2026 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
  • April 15, 2026 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • April 17, 2026 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • April 23, 2026 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presented By:
The ODP Clinical Team
Register Here
Please be sure to log into your MyODP account. If you do not already have an account, please register for a new account before registering for the ASD seminar.

Continuing Education Units (CEU):
This training satisfies the basic autism training requirement for Residential Performance-Based Contracting measures CN-DD/Bx.01.1S and CN-DD/Bx.01.1CE for all Direct Support Professionals (DSP), Frontline Supervisors (FLS), and program managers.

This training also fulfills §6100.143 ongoing training requirements.

Please contact the Bureau of Supports for Autism and Special Populations (BSASP) Training Inbox with questions.

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Topic — Best Practices in Behavioral Assessment and Treatment

Regardless of our role, we should all continuously strive to implement best practices when supporting someone who may have behaviors that are challenging or not yet understood. This training will focus on ways that, within your role, you can ensure that the behavioral support you are providing is sound, appropriate, and implemented with fidelity and integrity. ODP will offer two tracks held across different days and times that focus on the role you play in this process.

Please choose 1 date for the appropriate track that best represents your role. There is no cost to attend the training, but pre-registration is required.

Note: Both tracks will provide best practice information grounded in peer-reviewed and evidence-based research and will not address ODP program-specific service definitions, procedures, or guidelines.

Track 1 is for any Behavioral Specialist (and their supervisors) who completes behavioral assessments, develops behavioral plans, and trains others on the implementation of the plan. This session will discuss best practices to conduct better assessments and develop better behavioral support plans while acknowledging barriers and pitfalls to these processes.

Virtual Session on Microsoft Teams. Please attend only 1 session. All sessions will cover the same material.

  • April 9, 2026, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
  • April 12, 2026, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
  • April 16, 2026, 9:00 am – 11:00 am
  • April 20, 2026, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Track 2 is for any professional (and their supervisors), including Supports Coordinators (SC), who implements behavioral plans and who work directly with individuals. This session will present an introduction to the essential components of effective behavioral assessment and treatment with an emphasis on best practices to support the implementation of a Behavioral Support Plan.

Virtual Session on Microsoft Teams. Please attend only 1 session. All sessions will cover the same material.

  • April 10, 2026 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
  • April 15, 2026 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • April 17, 2026 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • April 23, 2026 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presented By:
The ODP Clinical Team
Register Here

Continuing Education Units (CEU):
This training satisfies the basic autism training requirement for Residential Performance-Based Contracting measures CN-DD/Bx.01.1S and CN-DD/Bx.01.1CE for all Direct Support Professionals (DSP), Frontline Supervisors (FLS), and program managers.

This training also fulfills 6100 ongoing training requirements.

Please contact the Bureau of Supports for Autism and Special Populations (BSASP) Training Inbox with questions.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) and the Bureau of Supports for Autism and Special Populations (BSASP), in collaboration with Autism Services, Education, Resources, and Training (ASERT), has announced the upcoming release of a new SPeCTRUM training course. This updated course will replace the existing SPeCTRUM 2.0 currently available on MyODP. The revised SPeCTRUM training will include enhanced webinar capabilities, updated content, and a variety of interactive learning features designed to support an improved and more engaging learning experience for participants.

For applicable providers of the Consolidated Waiver, in the interim of this new course becoming available, the recording of the Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Overview and Practical Application is now available as an alternative to SPeCTRUM 2.0 for the purposes of satisfying the basic autism training requirement for Residential Performance-Based Contracting measures CN-DD/Bx.01.1S and CN-DD/Bx.01.1CE for all Direct Support Professionals (DSP), Frontline Supervisors (FLS), and program managers. This training also fulfills §6100.143 ongoing training requirements. Users will be required to view 4 hours’ worth of training content and pass a 10 question quiz before the course displays on MyTranscript.

Staff providing services under the Adult Autism Waiver (AAW) and Adult Community Autism Program (ACAP) are required to take SPeCTRUM 2.0 or the upcoming updated SPeCTRUM course once it becomes available. Additional communication is forthcoming.

MyODP users who are currently working toward completion of the SPeCTRUM 2.0 course must complete all required modules by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The course will be retired effective April 1, 2026, and will no longer be accessible on MyODP. Any incomplete progress toward module completion that has not been finalized by the deadline will not be retained.

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Expanding Our World: Technology and an Everyday Life
March 19, 2026
10:00 am – 2:30 pm
Register Here

The Department of Human Services’ Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) and the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) have announced the Dual Diagnosis Professional Conference Series, which offers presentations focused on supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism (ID/A) and mental health needs.

This session will discuss how innovation meets impact by introducing assistive technology in the lives of people supported in the dual diagnosis community. The speakers come from varied backgrounds, all with the shared goal of improving the quality of life for the people they support. They will demonstrate how to expand independence at the person and provider level, explore how to use technology to create new opportunities that might not have been available without it, and share personal accounts of people and providers who used this technology to demonstrate how lives and operations have changed by adding this measure.

Please view the flyer for additional details.

The session will be offered virtually via the Zoom© platform. The Zoom link for joining the session will be sent to the email you used to register. This link will be unique to your registration. Please do not share this link.

For questions on registration, please send them electronically.

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NOTE TO INSPECTOR: The word "iridium" on the pen's nib is not a brand: it's the name of the metal of which the nib is made. Thanks. Inky old fountain pen on a $100 bill.

The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 26-031. The purpose of this announcement is to inform stakeholders that rates effective July 1, 2026, for Supports Coordination funded through the Consolidated, Community Living, and Person/Family Directed Support (P/FDS) Waivers and TSM have been published as final in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, Volume 56, Number 10, published on Saturday, March 7, 2026.

To align payment with outcomes, beginning July 1, 2026, all SCOs will receive:

  • Monthly case rates for Consolidated and Community Living Waiver participants;
  • Monthly case rates for P/FDS Waiver participants and individuals who receive Intensive TSM;
  • A standard case rate for individuals receiving Standard TSM paid upon completion of an annual Individual Support Plan and upon completion of required mid-year monitoring; and
  • One flat fee-for-service rate that covers each individual’s initial person-centered planning and initial Individual Support Plan development.

Please view the announcement for more details.

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The Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) has shared ODPANN 26-030. The purpose of this communication is to introduce the guide Sensory Friendly Preparedness Guide for Large-Scale Events and the accompanying social story. The guide is designed to support providers in assessing and preparing for planned large-scale public events. This resource aims to help ensure that individuals receiving services remain safe and continue to access the support they need throughout such events.

Please view the announcement for more details.

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