Waitlists for kids with ADHD and autism. Reporter: Daniel Taekema.
The number of children with autism receiving publicly funded, needs-based core therapy in Ontario appears to have only now returned to the level it was at five years ago, before changes by the Progressive Conservative government upended the system, new figures suggest.There are about 60,000 children seeking services through the Ontario Autism Program and about 7,000 more are added to the list each year.
Back in 2018-19, mostly before the Tories' changes took effect, 10,365 children received needs-based services under the Ontario Autism Program, the province's Financial Accountability Office reported. Instead of providing children with core therapy based on their individual needs, the new program would see families get up to $20,000 or $5,000 a year for therapy, MacLeod announced, in order to "clear" the waitlist for services — then at about 23,000. Intensive therapy for children with high needs can cost upwards of $90,000 a year, families and advocates say.
By the time new enrolments in core services began last summer, about 3,600 children were receiving publicly funded needs-based therapy, having been grandfathered in from the previous Liberal government program. A transition binder containing information for Michael Parsa, who took over as minister in March, said that at the current $667 million budget about 20,000 children can be funded for core clinical therapies.
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