Ontario hits reset on failed autism program
TORONTO, Ont. - The Ontario government failed to get its autism program redesign “right” and will launch a new needsbased strategy this fall, Children, Community and Social Services Minister Todd Smith says.
“We are certainly sorry for the anxiety that this has caused parents across Ontario,” Smith said Monday, announcing an additional six-month extension to funding for existing Ontario Autism Program Behaviour Plans for children already receiving services.
“We are committed, though, as a group to making sure that we get this program right … No government has ever really ever solved this issue or got this file right.”
An advisory panel has been asked to report back by the end of the summer with its recommendations for a needs-based program within a $600-million budget, Smith said.
The much-maligned previous program offered each child an equal amount of money each year based on age rather than on an evaluation of the individual’s need.
Parents complained the new funding model would leave their children without access to the intensive one-on-one therapy that is most effective.
The previous minister, Lisa MacLeod, became a lightening rod for the parents’ protest, but Smith said she was pivotal in securing an extra $300 million in funding for autism services.
MPP Michael Coteau, the former Liberal minister responsible for the autism file, said the government finally appears to be reversing course in part, but hundreds of service providers have already lost their jobs, he noted.
“For over six months, parents had their lives thrown upsidedown by Premier Doug Ford’s misguided and flawed changes to the Ontario Autism Program,” Coteau said in a statement. “These changes will take months to implement, and the harm already done cannot simply be undone.”
Many families were frozen out of autism services under the previous Liberal government, which did not put enough money into the program, Smith said.
“I know that families are anxious, I know there’s anxiety. I know they’re frustrated at the amount of time it’s taken get to this point but … we are going to get this right,” he said.
However, even after the new program is launched there will be a wait-list for services, Smith acknowledged.
He also said he believes the time has come for a “national conversation” on autism, suggesting the federal government might need to get involved in helping fund services.