Pilot will let autistic kids get therapy at school
$5M plan criticized for falling short, but education minister calls it ‘important first step’
Children with autism can receive treatment from their therapists on school premises, and classroom educational assistants will get more autism training through a provincial pilot project announced Wednesday.
News of the pilot, which starts this year at 18 Ontario school boards, including Toronto public and Catholic boards, came one day before a rally planned at Queen’s Park to protest the lack of school services for students with autism.
Some advocates said the $5-million plan falls far short of what’s needed, but Education Minister Mitzie Hunter called it “an important first step towards greater integration of autism services in schools.”
“We’re really looking to implement a more seamless day for students through this pilot by having the dedicated space for practitioners to come on site,” Hunter said in an interview.
School board policies on outside therapists who deliver applied behaviour analysis (ABA) have varied across the province; some schools quietly allow them into the building with students, while others refuse, leaving parents scrambling with logistical challenges of moving kids from school to treatment sessions and back, and robbing children of time in the classroom with peers.
Advocate Bruce McIntosh called the announcement “a toe in the door,” but said it won’t change much for the roughly 20,000 Ontario students with autism, including those who need support from therapists in the classroom.
“There are flaws, and the scale is very limited,” said McIntosh, president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, which has organized a Thursday news conference and protest at the legislature over lack of school services. “It’s not ABA in schools; it’s ABA in a room that happens to be in a school.”
However, Toronto parent Brad Ryder called it a good start because it will minimize disruption for chil- dren such as his 6-year-old daughter, who has benefitted from provincially funded treatment but also needs socialization with classmates. She spent last year dividing her days between school and home, where she received therapy.
This year, her Toronto public school is providing space for treatment as part of transitional support, which has been “phenomenally beneficial,” he said.
“Children on the autism spectrum and their families shouldn’t have to choose between school or therapy,” Ryder said. “It’s both an equity issue and a common-sense issue.”
Hunter said the pilot will provide 40 hours of online training for about 365 educational assistants, although they won’t get a pay raise for volunteering to take the course. McIntosh noted they won’t be required to take an exam.
To Beth Skrt of Mississauga, the pilot leaves out an important piece by sending children to a separate space instead of bringing therapists into the classroom to help them learn.
Her family has launched a widely watched human rights case that began this fall, fighting for the right of her 5-year-old son Jack to receive ABA in class.
“They (kids who benefit from ABA) have a right to learn and they need it to access the curriculum,” she said Wednesday.
Skrt said the province’s announcement needs to look beyond logistics and speak to the education of those children.
Aunion representing13,000 educational assistants was quick to criticize the move, warning it is “raising alarm bells” about the future of accessible public education by opening the door to private providers of “critical services” on school grounds.