McGUINTY GOVERNMENT INVESTING IN MORE SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH WITH AUTISM

Increasing The Number Of Children Receiving IBI, Providing Relief Services For Thousands Of Families

TORONTO — The McGuinty government is investing more than $12 million this year to provide Intensive Behaviour Intervention treatment for 210 more children and youth with autism, bringing the total number of children receiving the specialized care to approximately 1,400 – a 160 per cent increase since 2004,  Minister of Children and Youth Services Mary Anne Chambers announced today. 

“Our government has been taking steps to increase the capacity of the sector by training and recruiting more therapists for kids with autism,” said Chambers.  “As a result of our capacity building efforts more children with autism will have access to Intensive Behaviour Intervention therapy and more families will have access to much needed respite services.”

With the government’s policy of not discharging kids from the Intensive Behaviour Intervention program on the basis of age, the resulting increased demand is being addressed by building a continuum of service for children and youth with autism and their families and by more than tripling annual support since 2003-04 to more than $140 million in 2007-08.

In addition to taking 210 children off IBI waitlists, the $12 million in additional funding announced today will be used to hire more IBI therapists and provide temporary relief services to more than 3,000 families across the province. 

“I am very pleased that over 200 additional IBI spots have been funded while children over age 6 continue to remain in this program,” said Tammy Starr, a parent of a child with autism.  “I have confidence that Minister Chambers and her ministry will ensure that families will be able to access these services quickly and that children will be receiving high quality treatment."

 “Autism Ontario is encouraged to see this additional investment in support of children and families with autism. Respite services are so vitally important for families dealing with the day to day challenges of autism and Autism Ontario is pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Government and parents to further understand and deliver respite options that meet the unique needs of families from communities across the province,” said Deborah Kitchen, President of Autism Ontario.

“We  have listened and learned from families, service providers and specialists, that our efforts to provide supports and services for children and youth with autism spectrum disorders need to consider the incredible demands placed on families involved,” said Chambers. “I have seen the enormous benefits that our government’s support for respite services, including summer camps, provides for both parents and children alike.”

Other ways the government is working together with community partners to support children and youth with autism include:

1. No longer discharging children from the Autism Intervention Program on the basis of age and assessing all children referred to the program, regardless of age
2. Creating the Ontario College Graduate Certificate Program in Autism and Behavioural Science and increasing the number of qualified professionals graduating from the program to at least 220 by 2008-09; the program is being expanded to include three more colleges, bringing the total number of colleges participating to 12 across the province, effective September 2007.  More than 200 trained therapists have graduated from the program provincewide since 2006
3. Hiring nearly 300 new therapists since 2004
4. Reducing the number of children waiting for assessment for the Autism Intervention Program by 752 or 69 per cent since 2004
5. Through the Geneva Centre for Autism, training up to 1,600 resource staff in the child care sector and child care workers and 5,000 educational assistants who work with children with autism
6. Providing nearly $6 million in further investments to support school boards in providing Applied Behaviour Analysis for students who need it beginning in the 2007-08 school year
7. Investing $530,000 in summer 2007 to help send more than 800 children and youth with autism to supportive camp environments
8. Providing $900,000 over three years to expand  www.respiteservices.com, a centralized website operated by the Geneva Centre for Autism.  Effective September 2007, the site will link 35 communities across the province, providing information on relief services to families caring for an individual with a disability, including autism
9. Providing approximately $1.5 million in funding to help Autism Ontario give more supports to families of children with autism. This funding includes support for the ABACUS website, which aims to serve as the best possible source of information so that parents, caregivers, and the general community can be informed consumers of Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) services for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Ontario.

“We have made significant progress over the past few years, and our government will continue to strengthen services for kids with autism and their families across the province,” said Chambers.