Critics Claim Province Has Betrayed Autistic Kids With Funding Cuts

Stacey Hayward claims the province has betrayed her son and thousands of other children by pulling the funding of a specialized treatment for autism.

Hayward’s son Branden was supposed to start his intensive behavioural intervention sessions on Monday but the family’s hopes were dashed when they received a letter from the government last week informing them the boy wouldn’t be eligible for the program due to cutbacks.

“When we opened up the letter, to our dismay it actually stated that any new entries to the I.B.I. program were now being put on hold due to lack of funding,” the frustrated mother explained.

Branden was third on the list to receive the one-on-one treatment. (For more information on I.B.I. treatment, follow the link at the bottom of the story)

NDP MPP Peter Kormos joined Hayward and Melanie Cooper, whose five-year-old son Reese currently receives the therapy, at a press conference at Queen’s Park Thursday.

“These children need our help. The government, no if, ands or buts, the government’s failing these children,” he said.

Critics claim the government isn’t fulfilling its promise to provide funding for I.B.I. treatments, which can cost families tens of thousands of dollars a year. Now agencies across Ontario may have to turn children away.

Hayward says she’ll be forced to turn to private therapy which could cost between $40,000 and $60,000 a year.

“We can’t afford not to have him in a program,” she said. “So the bills and that we’ll have to worry about later.”

Cooper’s son started the treatments in April and she says she’s already noticed a significant improvement in her child.

“I’m worried with the cutbacks that they already have that they’re going to take [the treatment] away,” she said.

About 1,400 children currently receive I.B.I. treatment, but another 1,100 are still waiting.

Related Stories:

What Is Autism?

CityNews Exclusive – A Mother Reveals What Having An Autistic Child Does To A Family (May 13, 2008)

  • For more information on I.B.I. therapy, click here.

 

 

 

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