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Autism

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Parents, Critics Waiting For Autism Program

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The wait for a new autism program continues.

It was announced in February, but NDP critic Teresa Armstrong says there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

“The pilot program, that has yet to determine its metrics for success, has no staff to run it, or families to pilot with, and will service a mere 600 kids when there are 42,000 on the wait list,” she says.

Armstrong says many more have aged out of the program, making them ineligible for any support.

Angela Brandt, president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, says wait lists for “life-changing” therapies continue to get longer.

“This government promised to reduce the wait list, but instead they doubled it,” she says.

Brandt says the Ford government promised to eliminate the wait list in 2019.

Alina Cameron, a parent of a child with autism in the Thunder Bay area, says the delay is hurting families in northern Ontario.

“There is no plan to help families and providers in northern, rural, and remote locations bridge the immense distances between them,” Cameron argues. “Those distances, barriers to care, have grown exponentially for many while we’ve been waiting for the Ford [Ontario Autism Program].”

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Province Promises $7.5M For Autism Supports

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Students with Autism will get more support in school thanks to a $7.5-million investment from the province.

The Ministry of Education is funding a new training program for teachers and educational assistants in all district school boards across the province.

“We recognize the difficulty this pandemic has imposed on parents. That is why we are enhancing this investment to further train our education staff to better support students on the autism spectrum and to foster a culture of respect, inclusion and opportunity in our schools,” says Education Minister Stephen Lecce.

The training program will start later this year and be delivered by the Geneva Centre for Autism. The province says it will give educators a better understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Applied Behavioural Analysis methods.

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Liberal MPP Releases Northern Autism Plan

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The Ontario Liberal Critic for Children, Community and Social Services has released a report to address provincial autism services.

Michael Coteau says the document contains nearly 40 recommendations and seven of them are specifically for Northwestern Ontario.

The report follows comprehensive consultation with families and others across the province and focuses on four key issues:

-Clarity, Communications and COVID-19
-Funding, Frustrations and Failures
-Challenges for Service Provider Organizations
-Challenges in the North

Coteau says in our region, program capacities are a big issue.

“And that’s because of the funding cuts up in the north. So families, even if they are actually allocated some resources, have no where to spend it because the programs aren’t there.

The seven recommendations for northern Ontario include:

1. Understand the degree to which travel costs will dominate any expenses families are facing. Therefore, cover the costs of travel, special equipment, communication tools, etc so that remote/virtual therapy and staff training does not come out of the OAP funding allocated for a child, but rather a separate funding stream. All monies in the OAP need to go to direct services.
2. Develop and communicate a strategy for reducing wait times for diagnosis, especially in Northern Ontario where subsidized diagnosis has become a multi-year wait and private diagnosis is prohibitively expensive for most families.
3. Recognize that there is a capacity crisis in the North and develop a separate, comprehensive Northern plan. Such a plan must include a strategy to address untenable diagnostic wait times and prohibitively expensive private diagnosis options. The plan should also include strategies to incentivize, recruit and retain qualified practitioners to the area.
4. End any further defunding of current programs and continue with a single point of access (regionally or locally) such as Child Care Resources who can work with local partners in each community (i.e. provide training).
5. Expand the Single Plan of Care Coordinator program for those with complex needs (i.e.
multiple diagnosis).
6. Regional representation must be ensured, comprehensive with clear expectations. The Northwest, Northeast, Far North and remote First Nations must be included on any decision making bodies with at least 3-5 individuals from each Region
7. Decision making for the North should always be done through the lens of the “Social Determinants of Health”. This should include but not be limited to considerations based on Geography as well as culturally appropriate services for First Nations and Francophone families.

Coteau stresses a stand-alone model is needed in northwestern Ontario and a communication strategy is needed between local families and the government.

The Don Valley East MPP says Minister Todd Smith has stated that there has been action, but has not actually addressed what that action is.

Coteau says the unanswered questions have left parents in a very vulnerable place when planning for the future.

To read the full report from Michael Coteau visit https://michaelcoteau.onmpp.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/06/Autism-Report.pdf

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Province Looking At Autism Programming

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The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services is responding to concerns from families with autistic children.

Todd Smith says they are doing the best they can to offer help to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have changed a number of programs to allow for services to be delivered online in a virtual-type setting. I think that’s very important.”

Smith notes “Obviously not ideal given the current situation but very little is ideal during this current situation. I feel for those families that have had their world turned upside down.”

The province is providing an extra $250 a month to families with special needs.

 

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Local Autism Families Infuriated With Province

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Families of autistic people in the northwest say they’re “extremely disappointed and infuriated” by a new report on the Ford government.

Northern Autism Families is responding to a Financial Accountability Office of Ontario document that says the province spent much less on autism services than it said it would.

The report says that three-quarters through the fiscal year, the government had spent less than half of its $600-million Autism Program budget.

The regional group claims the under-spending is why the north has poor or no services for autistic people and families.

The province is now offering one-size-fits-all courses and workshops for families.

The group claims those aren’t enough, calling the move irresponsible and harmful to children left without services.

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Families Rally For Autism Services

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Parents of autistic children in northwestern Ontario are hoping the Ford government will take action following a day of rallies Tuesday.

Protests were held at Queen’s Park and in Thunder Bay by the group Northern Autism Families Matter.

Spokesperson Alina Cameron wants to see the province take action to immediately improve autism services in Ontario.

“Pressure and bad P.R. is the one thing the Ford government doesn’t like and they usually respond with something so that’s our goal.”

Cameron says a provincial one-time interim payment for families is inefficient.

“Up here people spend vast amounts of money travelling to get to services that are very sparse to find. There’s a big short of Francophone services as well in the North and that’s a big issue.”

The families say the “fragility of the programming currently in place is problematic” and changes need to be made immediately.

Cameron notes their voice is getting louder and they aren’t going anywhere so it’s in the best of the government to come talk to them.

 

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Parents Demand New Autism Strategy

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Protesters will be taking to Queen’s Park on February 18th demanding action to help autistic children.

That’s when MPP’s begin in a new session in the Ontario Legislature.

Alina Cameron is a regional spokesperson for parents with autistic children and she stresses they are upset with the length of time it is taking to roll out a new autism program.

“We’re talking about time sensitive therapies that families need access to right away.”

Cameron notes families are exhausted and some are even in crisis.

She is calling on the government to release a northern strategy or an emergency plan despite promising action.

Cameron says there has been no movement on this file.

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New Autism Program Timeline Angers Local Parents

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Local families with autistic children say there is no way they can wait two years for the new provincial autism program to be phased in.

Krista Smith is with Northern Autism Families Matter, and she points out after cuts to the program began, the government realized it needed more than a year to fix it.

“But they keep pushing back that time. These are kids that are waiting for therapy, there is no time, these kids just can’t wait.”

Smith adds she understands the government’s claim the autism file is complex.

She says she’s happy about some aspects of the plan, such as mental health supports starting in the new year.

“With autism comes a whole slew of things from anxiety to depression, and once kids reach adolescence, those numbers just increase.”

However, Smith is angry the new program was originally supposed to be ready now, then it was April 2020, now it’s over a two year period.

Smith also points out the government doesn’t understand the unique challenges facing the north.

“They (families) don’t have the time or the money. The kids can’t sit in the car for four hours, get therapy, and then sit in the car again for four hours and go home.”

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Some Hope Provided For Autism Families

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A delegation of families from northern Ontario who have autistic children are returning from speaking with government officials after sitting at Queen’s Park last week.

Officials say they feel a bit better after chatting with provincial staff about the future of the new autism program that’s expected to be rolled out in the spring.

Spokesperson Alina Cameron tells says they shared that northern families can’t wait until April 2020 for new supports.

“I’m not hopeful from the things I hear from politicians because they are trained to say the same thing over and over, but I’m happy after speaking with the staff who are working on the development of the government’s program. When you actually speak with people who are working on the policy, you can see the realization wash across their face when you are talking to them and that gives me a glimmer of hope.”

The Northern Ontario Autism Families group says government staff who are working on the new program asked the right questions during their meeting.

NAF claims the Ford government-caused “already insufficient” services to disappear, adding they took “decades of hard work to build and the Ford government was able to decimate them in less than a year.”

They want an emergency plan put in place for the north since there is a lack of services in this region, and insufficient funding given to families to access those services.

NAF adds much of those budgets are taken up by travel costs, claiming it can cost up to $600 to attend a single 30-minute speech-language session.

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Work Continues On Autism Program Changes

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The pressure remains on the Ford government to improve autism services for local residents.

With northern families of autistic children watching in the legislature yesterday (Tuesday), Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Todd Smith suggested improvements to the system are a work in progress.

“Our Ontario autism panel was meeting throughout the summer. They’ve made well over 100 recommendations. We’re working extremely hard to implement all of the recommendations that the panel has made.”

Smith says he takes the issue very seriously, noting for the last 30 years, governments of all stripes have not gotten the autism file right.

He notes he’s met with impacted families in Kenora and Thunder Bay and he’s heard their concerns regarding insufficient services.

 

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