(For our readers information, the following is a March 31 media release from Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath, two days before ‘World Autism Day’ this April 2)
QUEEN’S PARK – NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the McGuinty government is ignoring its own Autism Intervention Program guidelines and is allowing children to lose their therapy prematurely and languish without proper supports.
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath
“Children with autism and their families are being given the short shrift in Ontario,” Horwath said. “They are victims of a process that is deeply flawed and terribly unfair.”
Horwath found problems in the government’s Autism Intervention Program (AIP) after filing a Freedom of Information to obtain details about the review of the government’s controversial benchmarking policy. Benchmarking deems whether a child is making sufficient progress to remain in IBI therapy.
In the $118,000 contract to review the benchmarks, the government’s hand-picked consultant, Dr. Louise LaRose, reported that no psychological data from assessments existed. This runs afoul of Ministry of Children and Youth Services guideline for the AIP, requiring final assessments before ending a child’s IBI, Horwath says. It validates the concerns parents across the province have raised with Horwath about missed assessments, arbitrary terminations and lack of fair and transparent protocols, she said.
“Many parents are reporting that benchmarks were used to end their child’s IBI therapy and without the required discharge assessment,” Horwath said in Question Period. “The Minister may choose to disbelieve her hired adviser, but she can’t possibly dispute the reports from affected families across Ontario.”
“Children with autism are being cycled through the system in a hurry to accommodate children from waiting lists,” Horwath said. “It’s a revolving door with the government looking the other way and having no particular regard for the individual needs of each child and family. Parents are desperate for a fair and comprehensive program.”
Joining Horwath were Viano and Maria Ciaglia, who came to Queen’s Park to fight for their son Luca, 6, who has autism. His parents say IBI has worked wonders for Luca. But he is being discharged after one year in an AIP in Hamilton, without a final assessment and certainly unready for school. The Ciaglias paid for IBI privately for two of the three years Luca was on the government waiting list.
“They know if Luca loses his IBI, he will regress. They are financially exhausted and deeply worried,” Horwath told Laurel Broten, Minister of Children and Youth Services. Why can’t children in Ontario like Luca receive therapy while they continue to benefit from it?”
“The autism program in Ontario needs an independent review to ensure all children receive the IBI they require,” Horwath said.
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Health Issues in general are short-changed. Read the Niagara Health System Sunshine list to discover why front line care will continue to be “short-changed”
VP of Patient services $213,000
VP of patient services $183,000 {yes we have 2 of them}
Pathologists ,,over $300,000
Registered nurses ,all over$ 100,000 {no wonder they dropped their NHS
blacklist}
The good news publicist $133,000 plus over $5,000 in taxable benefits.
Its time to truly put the Patient first.
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I don’t watch much mainstream media, but it seems that health care isn’t getting much attention by politicians. I would suggest as many people as possible check out the Health Coalition site: http://www.HealthCoalition.ca
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Pingback: Children with Autism Shortchanged, says Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath
The Provincial Mc.Guinty Government needs therapy or brain surgery, Dalton put his fave George Smitherman (the Wrecker) in charge of numerous portfolios every one he trashed and broke, E-Health 1 Billion dollars down the sewer, OlG party time for the staff and cover ups, Energy a catastrophe that is a unco-ordinated mess with 20 thousand solar producers
unable to hook up to the grid, these people could’nt run a one car funeral. they have done nothing to clean up the environment, or where are the sewage treatment plants? 1 billion dollars could have built plenty, and upgraded a lot more, we are now 16 billion dollars deficit situation what a waste of our tax money.!!!!
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Excuse me, people, but autism doesn’t fall under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. If it did, we might be far further ahead in understanding the disorder.
Autism — and I speak as the mother of a 26-year-old-autistic — is not a disease, but a complex genetic condition that effects the development of the brain. Like other parents of older autistics, I am not convinced that IBI is the “cure-all” that many seem to think it is. Yes, it works for some children, but not for all. What about the others? While millions of public dollars go towards one therapy that has succeeded in grabbing public attention, resources that would help other autistics later in life are slashed.
I continue to hope that resources will be directed towards research in neuroplasticity (see Norman Doidge’s fascinating overview in “The Brain That Changes Itself”) so that therapies such as that developed by Dr. Barbara Alexander — which has proved highly successful in helping learning disabled students in the Toronto School Board, for instance — will be introduced throughout the public school system.
On the one hand, I agree with Andrea Horwath that parents should not have to shoulder the burden for providing therapy for their young autistic children. On the other, I think we should be careful not to place all our eggs in one particular — and expensive — therapeutic basket. It’s just not that simple, folks. And it shortchanges our unique and special autistic kids to pretend that it is.
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informative article
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