January 18, 2007

McGuinty Government Investing In More Services For Children With Autism

New Measures Will Ensure More Children Receive The Best Services Available

TORONTO - The McGuinty government is building an improved and expanded continuum of services to help Ontario families meet the challenges of autism, Minister of Children and Youth Services Mary Anne Chambers announced today.

“The McGuinty government is working to make sure that the best possible services are made available to children and youth with autism and their families,” said Chambers. “We are moving quickly to fund Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) services for 225 more children currently on waitlists in the province. We are also addressing long-term challenges by boosting training and recruitment of more IBI therapists across the province.”

Today’s announcement is the latest step the government has taken in working with parents and other partners to best serve Ontario’s children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In June, 2006, the government announced IBI services for an additional 120 children. This means the number of children receiving IBI services has increased to more than 1,100. That’s an increase of 105 per cent from April 2004.

The government is expanding training and recruitment of more IBI therapists across the province over the next year. The government has increased the pool of qualified autism professionals through the creation of an Ontario College Graduate Certificate Program in Autism and Behavioural Science, and investments in training for teachers’ assistants and those working in the child care sector to learn how to better support children with autism.

The government has also established dedicated teams in each region across the province to review waitlists and work directly with parents to help them access services for their children sooner.

“Parents are committed to securing effective evidence-based interventions for our children in a range of settings,” said Sheila Laredo, a parent of two children with autism.  “This announcement is an extremely welcome step in reaching that goal. We look forward to continuing to work with the government and others in this positive way to achieve the best possible outcomes for our children.”

“Parents have told us they want real choice when seeking services for their children,” said Chambers. “Our government has responded, both with this immediate investment that will help more families access IBI services, and through a long-term plan to improve the delivery of services for Ontario children and youth with ASD.”

Since taking office in October 2003, the McGuinty government has more than doubled its investment in services for children and youth with autism and their families to more than $115 million in 2006-07.

McGuinty government initiatives to better serve children and youth with autism and their families include:

• Since July 2005, all children referred to the autism intervention program have been assessed in a consistent manner regardless of age and no child has been discharged from the program based on age
  
• In partnership with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services established a reference group to provide advice on effective, evidence-based educational practices to meet the wide range of needs of students with ASD
  
• Providing funding to Autism Ontario to provide online information and resources for families to assist them in finding and hiring Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) providers to work with their children with autism.  The ABACUS website, www.abacuslist.ca, includes a registry of ABA providers as well as information for families who are seeking ABA services
  
• Investing an additional $10 million annually in children’s treatment centres to provide services to approximately 4,800 more children and youth with complex special needs, including autism.

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