Autism advocates react to latest funding changes

By Faiza Amin

Children with Autism who are over five years old will no longer be eligible for Ontario’s intervention program, impacting thousands of kids in the province.

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services will now only offer Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) to diagnosed kids under five years old, saying this will cut the wait list times from two years to eventually six months.

“It’s created significant pressure on the system where now we have far more children waiting for services than children currently receiving services,” said Tracy MacCharles, Minister of Children and Youth Services.

Older kids will instead be shifted to the Applied Behaviour Analysis program, where they won’t be receiving as much support as they would be under IBI.

Regardless, while families with younger children are receiving early intervention, it’s those with older kids who are feeling left behind.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Margaret Spoelstra, Executive Director of Autism Ontario. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking to hear when you’ve been waiting for something and then to know that you’re no longer going to be able to participate in that program.”

Those who are currently on the wait list or in the IBI program, but no longer eligible under these new changes, will be given a onetime payment of $8,000 to go towards treatment costs.

“That’s an amount that will get them started but it wouldn’t be the same without being in the IBI program,” Spoelstra said.

The province will be mailing out 30,000 letters in the coming week to the families who are affected by this change.

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