Ontario overhauls autism program in attempt to eliminate wait list
Ontario is overhauling its autism program in an attempt to clear a waiting list of 23,000 children, but families and advocates say that backlog will be eliminated at the expense of the amount and quality of treatment.
The changes announced Wednesday by Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod include giving funding for treatment directly to families instead of regional service providers, dependent on age, with up to $140,000 for a child in treatment from the ages of two to 18. Families will receive up to $20,000 a year until their child turns six. From that time until they are 18 it would be $5,000 a year. But intensive therapy can cost between $60,000 and $80,000 a year, said Ontario Autism Coalition president Laura Kirby-McIntosh, which means that families will quickly burn through the funding.
“Autism is a range in terms of severity and what this does is it guarantees that kids at the severe end of the spectrum will not get what they need,” she said. Parents of children with autism launched protests against the previous Liberal government in the spring of 2016 when it announced that kids over four would be cut off from funding for intensive therapy. The Liberals ultimately backed down. Kirby-McIntosh said they will fight the latest changes from the Progressive Conservative government, too.
“Does the government think that we’re going to be any different to them because they’re a different political party? Have they met us?” she said.
Bruce McIntosh — her husband and the former coalition president — resigned Wednesday from his post as a Progressive Conservative staffer in response to the new autism plan.
He had gone to work for Amy Fee, MacLeod’s parliamentary assistant. Fee, as a parent to two children with autism spectrum disorder, had protested alongside them, and they had hoped both she and McIntosh could make a difference.
MacLeod said families are currently spending two years on the wait list, even though early years supports are key.
“We know that early intervention is when autism supports make the greatest difference, and yet families have told us that under the Liberal program they continue to wait with no hope in sight,” she said. The program will be means tested, with support targeted to lower- and middle-income families. Those making more than $250,000 won’t receive any funding, MacLeod said.