Parents protesting autism funding cuts
Larz was 6½ years old when he finally said, “I love you, Mommy.”
It was a moment Christine Levesque will never forget.
Prior to that, the Niagara Falls resident said the closest Larz came to saying those words was while singing “Skinnamarinky Dinky Dink” together — stressing the words “I love you” in the chorus.
And only a few months before that, Levesque said, autism spectrum disorder prevented Larz from speaking at all.
But she attributes the progress Larz has made to the intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) treatments he has been receiving for the past three years at Gain Learning Centre.
“It helped him learn to speak and communicate.”
Through the work done by therapists at the Fonthill centre, she said, Larz, now nine years old, also “stopped self-harming.”
“It’s helped him in relationships with people, whereas before he just kind of hung out by himself because he didn’t know how to even understand what a person was saying,” she said. “They’ve helped him behaviourally, they’ve helped him with life skills, helped him with basic skills.”
But getting her son the help he needs has been a struggle for Levesque, who leads a group called Autism Advocacy Ontario.
She said Larz was at risk of losing his treatment before it even really began, when in 2016 the former Liberal government was considering cutting off treatment for children over five years old.
And now, she said, Larz “is one of the kids who is obviously going to get the short end of the stick from everything going on.”
“Now, all the kids are getting the short end of the stick,” she said.
Levesque will team up with Autism Advocacy Ontario members from throughout Niagara and neighbouring communities at 11 a.m. today to protest proposed changes to Ontario’s autism treatment program which they fear will do more harm than good.
Protests are planned for Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff’s office in Grimsby, followed immediately afterwards by a second protest at Flamborough-Glanbrook MPP Donna Skelly’s office in Hamilton.
Oosterhoff — his office did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday — issued a media release last week in support of changes intended to extend treatment to 23,000 children with autism languishing on waiting lists.
“Autism hits close to home for every community across our province and ours is no exception,” he said in the release.
“I have heard heart-wrenching stories about wait times from families across Niagara. Our plan ensures that no child will wait more than two years for autism support again.”
Levesque and the families of children struggling with the disorder, however, say the changes would provide too little funding to cover treatment costs. And as a result, she said, “it’s going to be closing doors” to treatment, rather than opening them.
She said treatments such as IBI and applied behaviour analysis can cost up to about $80,000 a year for children with severe autism.
Funding under the proposed program is limited to $20,000 a year for children aged two to six years old, while older children receive up to $5,000 a year until they turn 18 — to a maximum of $140,000.
While it might be enough funding to pay for about two to seven hours a week, Levesque said a child with severe autism may need more than 40 hours of treatment.
“If we can help them now to learn how to adapt, when they become adults they can become better functioning members of society. They can become scientists or mathematicians,” she said.
“Whereas, if we don’t help them now they’re going to live on ODSP until they die.”