Planned autism program changes protested
‘One-size-fits-all’ does not apply to children’s needs, says certified behaviour analyst
Erin Marshall is adamantly opposed to sweeping changes to Ontario autism treatment program — although her fledgling company might ultimately benefit from the proposals.
“There’s obviously stress there,” said Marshall, a certified behaviour analyst who recently started Sprout Behaviour Services, providing homebased therapy for children with autism in west Niagara and Hamilton.
Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod has announced a revamped autism program intended to extend services to all 23,000 children on waiting lists for autism spectrum disorder treatments, while also providing funding directly to families rather than service providers.
Although the changes might mean more clients for Marshall’s business — it does not accept funding through the Ontario Autism Program — she’s more concerned with the children she works with than she is about personal gain.
“Obviously I want to work and provide for my family, but that’s not why I chose this line of work,” she said.
“There’s a lot of stress for people who are working in the direct service model right now. They’re wondering what this is going to look like. As providers, our first stress is our clients, our second stress is our own.”
Marshall’s concerns compelled her to join about a dozen people who gathered Wednesday morning outside the office of Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff to protest changes they say will provide too little funding to adequately cover the cost of providing treatments such as intensive behavioural intervention and applied behaviour analysis.
Christine Levesque, the parent of a nine-year-old boy with autism who organized the protest, said the province’s revamped program — it limits annual funding at $20,000 for children under age six years, and $5,000 for children under the age of 18 — falls short of paying for treatments which can cost up to $80,000 a year for children with severe autism.
Although some smaller independent service providers could potentially benefit as a result of the changes, Levesque said other service providers directly funded through the Ontario Autism Program fear they will be forced to close their doors.
“There are some providers that are calling and messaging me saying we’re going to have to close our doors or turn away all of our clients because we won’t be able to provide therapy for these kids,” said Levesque, who leads a group called Autism Advocacy Ontario.
Although Oosterhoff left his office shortly before the protest began and did not speak with participants, in an email sent to The Standard he said the Tory government has increased funding for autism programs by more than $50 million.
“The most important component of our changes means that the wait list will be eliminated over the next 18 months,” he said.
“We heard from families who desperately needed support and have taken
action. Our changes will provide support to all impacted by autism, instead of leaving 75 per cent of children behind. This means tens of thousands of children who were languishing on the wait list for years will finally be receiving support.”
Only about 8,000 children were supported under the previous program, leaving the rest to languish on a waiting list.
Oosterhoff said the Progressive Conservatives have also invested millions of dollars in diagnostic centres to ensure early diagnosis and intervention and said it’s inaccurate to call the changes that are being implemented funding cuts.
“We are expanding supports and adding flexibility by letting parents make the choice about where that money is spent,” he said.
Marshall, however, called the government’s plans “irresponsible.”
“Funding needs to be based on each individual child and their specific needs,” she later added.
“No two interventions are ever identical. Each person receiving services gets an individualized plan that takes into consideration their own strengths, and areas that are targeted for growth and support.”
Marshall called it unacceptable to implement changes that would provide a “one-size-fits-all funding model.”
“Giving families merely weeks to prepare for this vast change to their child’s life highlights that the government does not understand what these families’ lives are really like,” she said.