Feb 15, 2019, Sudbury.com: After years of frustration, one Ontario family welcomes new autism funding model https://www.sudbury.com/around-the-north/after-years-of-frustration-one-ontario-family-welcomes-new-autism-funding-model-1245327 The Dodge family has spent eight years on waiting lists waiting for government-funded services for their son Jordan Once a week Jason and Jessica Dodge make the drive to Fergus where their 10-year-old son Jordan receives two to four hours of autism therapy at a government-approved centre. The Dodges pay for this out of their own pocket. Roughly $500 a month for the past seven years…. The Dodges are among the thousands of Ontarians on wait lists waiting for government-funded assistance for their autistic children. One of thousands who pay for the therapy themselves because they know it helps and they know they can't afford to wait. “We’ve been on some of the waiting lists for eight years,” Dodge says. … “There’s so many kids that are in need and so many families that are all trying to get into some of these big agencies where they don’t have to pay, but in the meantime, what do you do? You can’t just sit there. You have to do what you can for your kid.” … Under the new rules, the Dodge family and thousands of others will soon be given access to funding and have say in where they spend it for their children. There will be limits depending on the age of a child. “Families currently on the waitlist for services can expect to receive their budgets within the next 18 months,” the government said in making the announcement….
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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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