A new autism services program is being launched in Ontario in March, starting with 600 children.
myFM News spoke with the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Todd Smith, who says the program will provide children with needs-based supports, including applied behaviour analysis, speech language pathology, and occupational therapy.
The Ontario Autism Coalition says a new provincial autism services program will do little to help thousands of families who are still waiting for support. President Angela Brandt says the program is covering too few children, is taking too long, and puts into place service caps based on age – which parents oppose.
Smith says they are also renewing interim funding because not everyone will be a part of the needs based program on day one. This way, every family that is registered to the Ontario Autism Funding will receive the necessary funding.
He ends by saying the program will expand throughout the year to include 8000 more children by the end of the year.
