Local Tory MPP’s aide quits over PCs’ autism revamp
‘I just think it’s wrong, harmful,’ says assistant to Amy Fee
KITCHENER — The province’s plan to revamp autism services has been met with criticism by parents and advocates — even prompting the resignation of the legislative assistant to Kitchener South-Hespeler Progressive Conservative MPP Amy Fee.
Bruce McIntosh quit on Wednesday when the government announced the overhaul of the Ontario Autism Program, saying it provides too much money to low-needs children and not enough to those at the severe end of the spectrum.
“They’re trying to portray it as fair, and it’s not,” said McIntosh, who was Fee’s assistant for about eight months. He is also the former president of the Ontario Autism Coalition.
“I just think it’s wrong. It’s harmful.”
Fee was a vocal advocate for autism in the lead-up to last year’s provincial election and vowed to be a special needs advocate when she won last May.
Under the plan, a child entering the autism program at age two would be eligible to receive up to $140,000 to help pay for programming, while a child entering the program at age seven would receive up to $55,000.
Funding would end once the child turns 18, and families earning more than $250,000 per year would not be eligible.
The goal is to clear the 23,000 kids from the wait list within the next 18 months. There are about 8,400 currently enrolled in the program.
McIntosh, who has two teenage children on the autism spectrum, said the $140,000 cap isn’t nearly enough for families with high-needs kids. It can cost upwards of $80,000 per year for treatment, he said.
“The $140,000 lifetime funding will be burned up in two years,” and just spreads the money around more thinly, McIntosh said.
The decision to grant funding based on a child’s age and time in the program, rather than their need for support, is like giving “every kid who needs glasses the same prescription,” McIntosh said.
When asked if the funding is suffi-
cient for families, Fee said her concern “is with the 23,000 kids sitting on the wait list” who are receiving no funding, while a “select few families are getting a significant amount of money to help their children.”
McIntosh said he raised his concerns with the government and Fee listened, “but clearly what I had to say didn’t make it into the final version” of the government’s plan.
Parent and autism policy researcher Janet McLaughlin, an associate professor in health studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, is also concerned by funding based on age and not severity.
“You’re potentially giving some people more than they need and some people less than they need,” she said. “Autism is truly a spectrum.”
She started crying when she heard the announcement.
“It’s just so short-sighted to not give kids the amount of therapy they need,” McLaughlin said.
Her seven-year-old son Sebastian, who has severe non-verbal autism, gets 20 hours of therapy a week, costing about $80,000 a year. Under the new program, he likely wouldn’t be eligible or have hours reduced to almost nothing due to age and income cutoffs.
With treatment through the provincial program, which they waited to get into for almost three years, he’s made significant gains. He’s now eating a diverse diet, he’s toilet trained and communicating with an iPad.
McLaughlin said the benefit of the right treatment in childhood s not just for the child, but also their family and society. Parents have less stress and can continue to work, and the child will later require less support.
“Every dollar invested in early autism treatment ends up paying dividends,” McLaughlin said.
For KidsAbility Centre for Child Development, the plan means a “seismic change” in how it delivers autism services, said chief executive officer Linda Kenny.
The non-profit agency currently has a contract with the province that provides a lump sum to deliver certain services. Staff develop a holistic treatment plan based on a child’s goals that are periodically reassessed.
“For decades, that’s how we’ve done business,” Kenny said. “Moving into a private pay model will be very different for us.”
Under the new program, families will use their budget to decide what services they want for their child, and from which providers on a fee-for-service basis.
Kenny said the changes will accelerate early diagnosis and clear the wait list while providing more choice to families.
“There’s no question that the demand has outstripped the resources for many years,” Kenny said. “We are pleased that those kids who are on the wait list will be able to access some level of service.”
However, she added, “the total funding remains the same.”
Kenny doesn’t want families to panic as KidsAbility works through what the changes will mean for the agency. While there’s lots of information about the new program, details on the transition are bare.
“We’re going to continue to support kids and families that are in our service while we go through this transition.”
Wednesday’s announcement from Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Children, Community and Social services, also doubled the funding for five diagnostic hubs to $5.5 million per year for the next two years to address the waiting list of 2,400 kids awaiting diagnosis. The government says the current wait is about 31 weeks.
In a news release, NDP child and youth services critic Monique Taylor said: “We need to eliminate wait lists by investing more into autism services, focusing on evidence-based solutions ... not just redistributing a funding envelope that’s too small to solve the problem.”