With the province announcing another delay in rolling out its autism programming, a local family doesn't know where to turn.
Ontario announced changes to the autism programming early this year, with the goal of being up and running by April 2020. This week, Children, Community and Social Services Minister Todd Smith announced a needs-based program won't be implemented until 2021.
The government says the new program will give families access to core services, foundational family services, early intervention and school readiness services, and urgent and complex needs services.
Timmins parents of children with autism reacted to the news this week.
“Our community has been devastated. There are children in crisis who need help now. We held onto hope for April 2020 to get our help and the government has failed us,” said Dawna Chorney.
Her 11-year-old son Quinton Collins is severely autistic and non-verbal. She also has a nine-year-old, Austin, with high-functioning autism.
As Quinton enters puberty, he is encountering new issues.
“He is having some fits of rage and this is a really important developmental age for him and he’s our first child and we don’t know where to turn for any advice or parenting tips,” she said.
When he was four, Quinton had intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) for 2.5 years.
“They work very intensely one-on-one with an instructor therapist to teach the children anything from daily life skills to academics, different things that they can achieve. When Quentin was in IBI the biggest thing that we achieved with the program was he was toilet trained,” she said.
They had to leave the IBI program and were put on a waitlist for applied behavioural analysis (ABA) therapy. Quinton hasn't received a service since March 2016.
“And he is very severe, he is non-verbal and we’re going into puberty, which is causing for lack of a better word, a crisis,” she said.
For families on the waitlist that haven't received a Childhood Budget cheque yet, the government said they'll receive an invitation for one-time funding of $5,000 or $20,000 to purchase services for their child. That is expected by the end of March.
Even if the payments are made, Chorney said there's only one instructor therapist covering the region.
“The north is in a very unique position. We have a great area that we need services in and we don’t have enough therapists. When they thought of this plan, they did not think of the north,” she said.
Parent Karla Gagnon noted it also isn't enough money to cover the treatment plan for a child.
“Whether the family receives a $5,000 cheque or a $20,000 cheque, it will not put a dent in therapy treatment plans. If anyone understands autism, repetitive behaviours are a component to success. It takes the average child 10 exposure opportunities for them to grasp a concept or a new food or task or whatnot,” she said.
Timmins MPP Gilles Bisson is encouraging people to get involved.
“We used to have a needs-based system, yes it wasn’t big enough to respond to the need, but at least there were 10 therapists in Timmins who were there and if you got in you got some help. Now we’re down to one because the government got rid of all the therapists when they changed the system,” he said.
He said people can write Premier Doug Ford and Smith, asking them to start providing needs-based services today.
“We recognize we’re not going to be able to get every child into a service tomorrow, but we’ve got to start somewhere. This is just untenable,” he said.