Thirteen year old Kelly has severe autism and an intellectual disability. He had been going to a specialized classroom with one-on-one educational assistance. However, he was trying to injure himself over a hundred times a day and attacking others as well - especially his mother. His father worked long hours six days a week, and his mother was having an increasingly hard time managing Kelly's behavior.

The Special Needs Team worked closely with parents, the school and the community service team to develop a safety/behavioral management plan for Kelly. Funding was secured to hire specialized in-home workers to give his mother a much-needed break and to put a clinical program into action.

However, Kelly still needed a residential treatment program to best address his out of control behavior. While residences for youth with Kelly's diagnosis are hard to come by, we found a Toronto based agency able to offer a six-month stay.

Kelly has shown great progress. The residence's staff are teaching Kelly's parents new management skills. And staff are carefully planning how Kelly might eventually return home to his parents with ongoing support.