New centre helps kids to ‘be the best they can be’
New Heights Learning is a space for children with autism and other exceptionalities to access services
INSIDE TWO adjoining buildings on Main Street East is a world of colour and rainbows.
The bright, 17,500-square-foot space is home to New Heights Learning — a recently opened centre largely specializing in ABA (applied behaviour analysis) therapy for children with autism and other exceptionalities.
Moms Stephanie Ridley and Nicole Martin, who both have young kids with autism spectrum disorder, are the forces behind the Hamilton facility, where the focus is on helping children “be the best they can be.”
“I have this mentality of ‘if you want something done, you’ve got to do it yourself,’” said Ridley, who lives in Oakville. “That’s the same mentality for opening up this centre.”
It started a year and a half ago when Ridley learned her son Ewan, who was four at the time, would be removed from the government’s wait-list for autism therapy known as IBI (intensive behavioural intervention), which he had been on for two years.
New provincial rules dictated children five and older wouldn’t qualify for intensive autism therapy covered by the government, and because Ewan would turn five before he made it off the wait-list, he was taken off and they were given $8,000 to pay for private therapy, Ridley said.
“At that point I was just on a mission to be, like … he needs to get what he was promised and what he deserves,” she said.
(The government later announced those families would be given direct funding — in successive payments of $10,000 — to pay for therapy until their child has a spot in the new program, or if they prefer, ABA funded by the government.)
That’s where Ridley’s advocacy work began.
She travelled to Queen’s Park eight times, visited the offices of MPPs and party leaders and “chased (Premier) Kathleen Wynne down in a parking lot.”
But she wasn’t getting the response she sought, and so she took matters into her own hands.
She decided to start the centre in May. By June, the deal closed on the property near Main Street East and Gage Avenue Ridley, and by September they took possession.
“I’ve put everything on the line for this,” said Ridley, who left her job as a toy developer at the end of August.
The two women chose Hamilton because of the city’s relatively affordable real estate, its proximity to neighbouring communities like Grimsby and Beamsville where fewer services exist, as well as its location near amenities such as Gage Park.
“In a community that is also changing rapidly, we want to be a part of that positive push,” Ridley said.
The inside of the centre looks similar to a school — with a small library, gymnasium and classrooms in which kids can learn — but it is more colourful, with rooms painted yellow, blue and pink.
There is a sensory room, a full commercial kitchen and a set of scooters for the kids to use.
About eight people make up the staff team, which includes occupational therapists and speech language pathologists who can work with the kids anywhere from a few hours a week to more than 23, depending on their needs.
On a recent visit, Gabe Pellegrini sat on the floor across from his behavioural therapist, Kevin Brimer, who helped him sort through toy vehicles.
In another room, Ewan used his iPad to convey his wants to his therapist, Cassy Crabtree.
LB Brown, a family support coordinator for Autism Ontario, said more centres like New Heights Learning having been popping up throughout the province to support communities.
“They’re providing a stress relief for parents,” Brown said. “It’s allowing opportunities for families to access services that they may have not been able to or had the option to because they would be waiting.”
Ridley’s son Ewan, now five, is one of the half-dozen kids currently at the centre, which can accommodate as many as 25 kids, ranging in age from two to 18.
“He sees the world in pictures and his brain works in ways I don’t understand,” she said, noting he is nonverbal, but “super intelligent.”
For her, the centre offers a chance to help kids on the spectrum like Ewan to become productive adults who can integrate into the community, give something back, and live independent, productive lives.
“I’m so thankful that these kids can give me the perspective that I need in life,” she said. “Be kind, be gracious and give back — just to be reminded of that every day.”