Jan 31, 2019, CBC: Parents vent frustration about Ontario Autism Program waitlist at Windsor roundtable https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/ontario-autism-program-waitlist-windsor-1.5001536 Parents with children who have autism had a chance to express their frustrations to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services at a roundtable Thursday about long waits for services. Minister Lisa MacLeod sent her parliamentary assistant, Amy Fee, MPP for Kitchener South-Hespeler, to Windsor to hear from parents. … Ball Rigden pointed to the Ontario Autism Program, which she says is only now accepting kids who were referred back in December of 2016. However, she said, the wait list hasn't moved for three months. So even if a child had a referral date of July 2017, it could be a much longer wait than just seven months. April Paré is in the same boat, whose daughter Adyson Paré has been waiting for two and a half years. … Paré said Adyson isn't learning in school because she struggles with some behaviour issues. Her frustration lies beyond the program's long wait list, saying schools should have these services incorporated for kids who need them. "I feel like our school system just isn't prepared enough and well-equipped to handle the behaviours that come from these kids sometimes," said Paré. According to her, there are 40,000 children with autism in the province, but only 8,000 are receiving services through the program. … Fee said the next steps will be to bring concerns from this roundtable, and others across the province, back to Minister MacLeod to inform the next steps for the program. However, Ball Rigden and Paré aren't optimistic that any positive change will take place soon. "Given the past history of the government and what they've tried to do to the autism programs in the past, I don't give very much hope to it," said Paré.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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