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“Ontario boosts funding for autism treatment spaces”
Last Updated: Friday, August 17, 2007 | 12:17 PM ET
CBC News
Ontario will spend $12 million in last-minute provincial funding for another 210 children to receive costly specialized autism treatment this year, the province said Friday.
Mary Anne Chambers, the children and youth services minister, said the funding will mean about 1,400 kids in all will receive Intensive Behaviour Intervention (IBI) treatment. Some of the new money will be used to hire more specialized therapists and provide temporary services to over 3,000 families across the province, she said.
How the government funds the expensive treatment of autism is expected to become an election issue.
A group called the Ontario Autism Coalition says its 600 members will be pressuring political parties to do more for families with autistic children. In April, the Supreme Court of Canada said it would not hear arguments on the matter of who should pay for behaviour intervention for autistic children in Ontario.
The court’s decision halted a lengthy legal battle between Queen’s Park and 28 Ontario families who argued the province was discriminating against autistic children and should pay for the therapy, as well as provide it in schools.
The families have said the expensive treatment can eat up an entire year’s salary and should not be a crippling financial burden. Private therapy costs between $30,000 and $80,000 a year for one child.
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