(Canada) Ont: More than 67,500 kids waiting for ASD funding agreement; 5 yr wait for individual children
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Provincial budget promises $186M [$134M U.S.] in new funding for autism program this year.
One of the first things Deny Soto was told after her son was diagnosed with autism was "get on the list."
The Toronto mom didn't really know what she was signing up for in 2022, but she listened. Now, four years later, her nine-year-old son Nico Tsirigotis is still on that list waiting for government funding for core autism services. Those services can include occupational therapy or applied behaviour analysis.
"It's just sad, because that was a critical part of his development," said Soto.
"We lost any support that we could have gotten during that time. So we've navigated it on our own, we found alternatives … but I won't know what we've missed."
Nico is one of more than 67,500 children with autism across the province waiting to access funding for core clinical services through the Ontario Autism Program, according to government records obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request.
CBC News reviewed more than a year of bi-weekly progress reports for the program from late June 2024 through early January of this year. The documents show the total number of children registered and seeking funding for core services, and how many of those kids actually have access to that funding for services like speech-language pathology and occupational therapy.
Despite increases to provincial funding in recent years, the percentage of Ontario children with autism registered with the program and receiving funding had yet to crack 25 per cent as of the Jan. 7 progress report — as demand for the funding continues to grow.
Demand jumps 21 per cent
The number of children registered has jumped 21 per cent since mid-2024 to 88,175 kids this January. Only 20,666 of those children have a funding agreement for services.
Last year, a survey conducted by the Ontario Autism Coalition found that parents were on the wait list for at least five years before receiving funding.
Practically, the advocacy group's president says that means many parents miss out on early intervention. . . .
Cameron's daughter Fiona, 10, was registered in the program in 2017 and was on the wait list for five years. She's now had access to funding for three years. . . .
Province promises $186M in new funding this year
Last week the Ontario government announced $186 million in new funding for the Ontario Autism Program as part of the province's yearly budget. Those additional funds bring the annual funding up to $965 million [$693M U.S.], which the budget says will "enable more children and youth to access core clinical services." . . .
Cameron says her organization appreciates the funding increase, but she worries it's not enough, and wants the province to commit to providing all of the new funding to families for core clinical services.
"Last year's increase didn’t move the needle on the core wait list at all," she said. . . .
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