(Canada) Ft. Frances, Ont: Program launched to support children with autism
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As communities across Canada mark Autism Awareness Month, a new free program has been launched in Fort Frances, Ont., to support children with autism and their caregivers.
The autism mental health program was launched Thursday — World Autism Awareness Day — by Kenora-Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services (KRRDCFS).
The initiative is supported by the Ontario Autism Program workforce capacity fund, said Becky Andrusco, the agency's supervisor of clinical and community services.
“We've helped to reduce some barriers [to help families] better navigate the system, and we've also introduced some new programming, including parent support, child-focused service groups and specialized mental health supports tailored for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” Andrusco said.
About 1 in 50 — or two per cent of Canadian children — are diagnosed with ASD, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. . . .
“Each person with ASD is unique, and the term ‘spectrum’ refers to the wide variation in strengths and challenges reflected among those with the disorder,” it says.
KRRDCFS has been exploring ways to improve its child and youth mental health services to better serve people with ASD, Andrusco said.
“We often saw people, and some of our own clinicians, nervous or resistant to working with people with autism spectrum disorder,” she said.
“The province itself had invested through Children's Mental Health Ontario … significant funds to try to strengthen these core competencies for clinicians in the province of Ontario. We wanted to go a step further. . . .
“We do have a large population of people on the spectrum within our districts, so we wanted to be able to offer therapeutic services as well.” .. .
More than 67,500 children with autism across Ontario are waiting to access funding for core clinical services through the Ontario Autism Program, according to government records obtained through a freedom of information request.
While long waitlists have created challenges for many families across the province, northwestern Ontario faces an additional hurdle. . . .
“We don't have a lot of services to purchase in our area,” said Andrusco.
It's really important for kids to know that we celebrate all kinds of differences in our schools.
We are inclusive environments, we welcome everybody, we teach everybody and we meet our learners where they're at.- Lisa Adams, vice principal, École Elsie MacGill Public School
KRRDCFS is hoping to offer more ASD services at its Atikokan office soon. . . .
Meanwhile, school boards across the region are using Autism Awareness Month as an opportunity to educate students about neurodiversity. . . .
Lakehead Public Schools held a ceremony on Thursday to raise the World Autism Awareness Day flag at École Elsie MacGill Public School.
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