Students in Brock’s first PhD in Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) cohort have spent the past year helping dozens of families improve their quality of life.

The year-long practicum allowed six ABA students to connect research with practice by providing free services to children on the autism spectrum and their families. The unique collaborative experiential education opportunity was offered as part of a Brock-Bethesda partnership formalized via a Memorandum of Understanding in January.

After they reviewed existing literature, the students piloted two caregiver-mediated programs by teaching family members how to implement sleep and toileting strategies at home. The students also worked through intervention modules with families through the fall and winter.

Once the delivery was complete, students conducted a program evaluation of the sleep and toileting programs and presented the results to staff at Bethesda along with recommendations for updates to both programs.

Collaboration as part of the Brock-Bethesda partnership saw all six first-year Applied Behaviour Analysis PhD students present program findings to staff at Bethesda. From left are Associate Professor of Applied Disability Studies Julie Koudys, PhD student Madeline Asaro (MA ’20), Bethesda Manager of Children and Youth Services Melissa Sullivan, Bethesda Clinical Supervisor of Children and Youth Services Angela Kirton and PhD students Victoria Scott (MADS ’21, MA ’23), Thurka Thillainathan (MA ’23), Amanpreet Randhawa (MADS ’20, MA ’23), Taylor Manuge (MA ’24) and Katelyn Soucie-Vukmanich (BA ’17, MA ’21).

Associate Professor Julie Koudys in the Department of Applied Disability Studies says it was exciting to see students undertake projects related to “services that would help enhance family functioning and improve both child quality of life and family quality of life.”

“We’ve had so much overlap on so many projects between Bethesda and Brock, and many conversations about how to leverage these bright, committed students and their need for training in order to provide more services to the community,” says Koudys. “With this practicum, we were able to co-create a service Bethesda families wanted that wasn’t yet being offered, and 36 families were able to access those new services this year as a result.”

Bethesda Clinical Supervisor of Children and Youth Services Angela Kirton not only attended the students’ clinical rounds and provided on-site supervision, but also participated in weekly class sessions with Koudys at Brock to guide the students through the practicum.

“In addition to learning about the clients in class, we also looked at some skills that would be beneficial for students to learn in general, to support working with a variety of clients and families in different settings in any work that they might do in the future,” says Kirton. “We were able to identify some of those skills and do targeted teaching and role-playing in class, which was a great experience and probably something that’s different from a typical practicum.”

Madeline Asaro (MA ’20) is a clinician who came into the PhD program with previous experience implementing caregiver-mediated services. She says the structure of the practicum provided additional benefits that furthered her clinical skills.

“From the perspective of someone working in the field, being involved in the program evaluation piece and the revisions of the manual was a really exceptional part of this experience,” says Asaro. “In the future, if I’m in a clinical position where I am designing a new program to be implemented or advocating for its continued use, those are great skills that bridge the clinical and research sides of our field. The practicum pushed me to think about and practice those skills.”

Thurka Thillainathan (MA ’23) says that anytime students ran into obstacles, they could get feedback from Koudys and Kirton as well as fellow students, which made the whole process feel like a “collaborative journey.”

“I knew the four-year practicum experience for the PhD would help me grow as a scientist and practitioner. It’s extremely important, in our field, to bridge research and practice to improve outcomes for the people we work with,” says Thillainathan. “Collaboration between universities and agencies, such as through practicum partnerships, facilitates joint innovation through knowledge exchange to promote evidence-based practice.”

This summer, Koudys and Kirton will review all of the program evaluation data generated by the students as well as feedback from families and integrate the findings into future service models of the sleep and toileting supports.

Paul McGowan, Bethesda’s Chief Executive Officer, says the partnership is “a powerful example of collaboration making a real difference in the community.”

“Through this initiative, students gain hands-on, experiential learning that strengthens their clinical skills and prepares them to offer exceptional support throughout their careers. At the same time, families in our community are able to access high-quality services at no cost — leading to families accessing much-needed services sooner,” says McGowan. “This collaboration extends Bethesda’s impact, deepening our support for people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. It also exemplifies why Bethesda’s Foundation exists and fundraises: to ensure people have the support they need to live their best lives.”