SIGN OF THE TIMES FOR MPP
Marc Mailhot and his son, Kevin, 4, joined about 40 others for a rally Friday at Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod’s constituency office. They were protesting changes to provincial funding for autism programs for children. Debate is raging over the pl
NO RECALL OF ‘FOUR LONG YEARS’ FAMILIES KEEP UP THE PRESSURE A PRIMER ON ABA AND WHY IT MATTERS
Autism families kept up the pressure on Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod on Friday, staging a noon-hour rally outside her Barrhaven constituency office for the second consecutive week.
Scott St. John drove up from Kingston to be at the rally, adding his voice to those of about 50 other parents angry about changes to autism services announced last week by the provincial Conservative government.
St. John’s son, Braydon, who turns nine this weekend, functions low on the autism spectrum and has had intensive therapy to reduce his aggression.
“It was a struggle. We had to wait 18 months to get service. But when we did, we felt it was good service. It was better than what’s being offered now,” St. John said.
The money the province is offering — $140,000 in lifetime funding for children under age six and $55,000 for older kids such as Braydon, with annual caps of $20,000 a year — is inadequate, St. John said.
“I think it’s a slippery slope if they start saying, ‘We’ll get rid of the wait list by giving you money. Go find your own health care.’ Where does it end? It doesn’t sound very Canadian to me.”
Everyone is stressed and panicking (over program changes).
Other parents at the rally, some of whom brought their children along and carried signs saying “No more lost generations” and “I deserve to learn,” spoke of their fears about what would happen when the funding their children’s therapy ended.
“We’ve got families who are being told their kids are going to be taken out of therapy April 1,” said Kate Logue, who has two children on the autism spectrum, Ruby 8, and Desi, 5. Desi is non-verbal and receives 28 hours of Applied Behavioural Analysis therapy a week at a cost of $55 an hour, currently funded by the government. The Logues remortgaged their house to pay for the costly service privately before they were approved for funding.
Now, all that is in jeopardy, Logue said. “Everyone is stressed and panicking. Where are we sending our kids? We’re talking a month and a half away from now,” she said.
Without private therapy, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will begin to flood an already overburdened school system in which special education classes are already full and there are too few educational assistants, Logue said. “This affects everyone. Kids who are in school now, they’re going to lose their support if our kids are coming in now,” she said.
MacLeod, who met with parents at last week’s rally, was not in her office on Friday. Speaking to reporters at another event in Ottawa, MacLeod reiterated that the government was doubling funding for diagnostic hubs to get children diagnosed sooner, eliminating wait lists and directing funding to parents for treatment, respite, caregiver training or technological aids.
However, families at Friday’s protest said they’d been told little of how the new system would work.
“They’re not releasing much detail. We’ve had to contact individual MPPs and just getting little tidbits,” Logue said.
The government “has it all set up on their website and there is some minor information, but it doesn’t go into the nitty gritty. It’s just not available for us.”