Salina Eldon's journey to becoming a key leader in autism care at Holland Bloorview is as inspiring as it is impactful. From her early days as an educator in her home country of The Bahamas to her current role as project manager for ECHO Ontario Autism, Salina has dedicated her career to improving the lives of children and youth diagnosed with autism and other neurodevelopmental differences. Her work is not just about clinical advancements; it's about fostering understanding, building capacity and ensuring that every child receives the compassionate, individualized care they deserve.
Salina's interest in autism and passion for working with neurodiverse individuals developed during her time as a psychometrist in a specialized school setting in Toronto. This early experience set her on a path that would eventually lead her to Holland Bloorview's Autism Research Centre (ARC), drawn by the opportunity to collaborate with leading scientists at the forefront of autism research.
What truly excites Salina about her role is seeing the impact the program has on clinicians. She speaks passionately about how clinicians are gaining knowledge and confidence in diagnosing and supporting autistic children and youth. A key part of the ECHO Autism program is its "Hub Team," made up of Holland Bloorview clinicians, family leaders, and importantly, autistic individuals themselves. She truly believes that this talented and knowledgeable team is making a real difference in the way they approach autism diagnosis and ongoing care.
“Our neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based approach to care is growing thanks in large part to the input of our autistic Hub Team members and family leaders”, she shares. “I am constantly learning and growing even with more than 30 years of experience in the field.”
Read on to learn more about Salina:
Can you tell us about your role and what it entails?
I am the project manager for ECHO Autism, which means, I am responsible for its administration and implementation, and for ensuring the ongoing development of the program based on the needs of the clinicians in the community.
ECHO Ontario Autism is a virtual interactive educational and mentoring program for physicians, psychologists and other clinicians involved in diagnosing and providing ongoing care for children and youth. Holland Bloorview’s ECHO Ontario Autism Program is led by an expert Hub Team (clinicians and individuals with lived experience) whose members all contribute to the learning opportunities of participants. Open to clinicians across Ontario, Sessions include didactics along with case discussions. I am fortunate to work with an amazing ECHO operations team and together we have run a total of 22 cycles of various ECHO Autism programs. To date, we have had 238 physicians and nursing practitioners (NPs) and 366 psychologists, psychological associates and psychometrists attend our programs.
What are some of the key initiatives that you and your team are currently working on?
ECHO Ontario Autism is currently involved in a five-year project, ECHO AuDIO (Autism Diagnosis and Integrated Care Opportunities) to scale and spread ECHO Autism across Canada. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR) Transforming Health with Integrated Care (THINC) through its Implementation Science Team Grants, this project involves six ECHO Autism sites across Canada: Ontario, Halifax, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The focus of this project is to improve and sustain two key elements of autism care: diagnosis and ongoing integrated care.
Why is this work so important to clients and families?
Waitlists at the five autism diagnostic hubs across Ontario are long, therefore there is a pressing need to increase diagnostic capacity in the community so that children can be diagnosed earlier and closer to home. Pre- and post-surveys of ECHO Autism participants consistently indicate statistically significant increases in clinician confidence in diagnosing and caring for autistic children. Reporting over the past few years also indicates that many clinicians began or increased numbers of autism diagnostic assessments following their participation in ECHO Autism. This means that more children are able receive an earlier diagnosis in their communities, enabling earlier access to support and services.
What drives you to do the work that you do at Holland Bloorview?
I am highly motivated to see change happen in the system of care and services, not just for autistic individuals but for all neurodiverse children and youth. I am lucky to still be involved with ARC through the evaluation of our ECHO program. As we learn more through research in this field, we are better able to provide more compassionate, individualized care and programming. As a result of this connection between research and clinical care, Holland Bloorview is uniquely positioned to affect system change.
What motivates you beyond your professional life? Any hobbies or passions outside of work?
Music and the arts are some of my greatest passions beyond work. In fact, I have often used the arts in the work that I have done both inside and outside my professional life. I don’t think we value the arts enough in our society, but I believe it can be transformative.
Is there anything else you would like to share about your work?
My work at Holland Bloorview has also enabled me to give back to my home country, where limited resources are available for autistic individuals. We launched an ECHO Autism Education program in 2022-2023 and in addition to 62 Ontario educators (24 from northern communities), we welcomed 25 special education teachers throughout the public school system in The Bahamas!
Learn more about ECHO Autism Ontario
