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OAC Media Release
O N T A R I O A U T I S M C O A L I T I O N (O.A.C.)
www.ontarioautism. com
Media Release
For immediate release
August 17, 2007
Minister announces plan to NOT eliminate Autism waitlist
Today’s announcement of new funding for children with Autism fails to meet the needs of children on the waitlist.
The Ontario Autism Coalition recognizes that 210 new program spaces and funding for respite is most welcome, but the OAC is still concerned about the growth in the waitlist and the lack of IBI in schools.
Increases in funding—including today’s announcement— have barely kept pace with the growth in the waitlist. The Minister says that as of July 2007, there were 1,082 children waiting for IBI, up from 985 in the fall of 2006. This was despite Minister Chambers’ last announcement of 225 new spaces in January of 2007.
More information about growth in the waitlist can be found at http://www.soaringh orse.com/ ?q=node/192. The bottom line: wait times for children with autism are still measured in years, not weeks.
The OAC has repeatedly pointed out that the waitlist could be eliminated if money was targeted through direct funding to families and if the Ministry of Education would allow special education funding to be used for IBI in schools. This is done is many other jurisdictions across North America.
The need for the Ministry of Education to step up to help children with autism in schools is clear. 60% of children currently on the IBI waitlist are of school age, as are 45% of the children on the waitlist. Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne announced in March 2007, that ABA would be introduced in Ontario schools, 3 1/2 years after Premier Dalton McGuinty promised to do so. But she also indicated that the intensity that is so important for children with
autism would not be required, and that not all school boards would be prepared for September 2007.
Students in Ontario are able to access many accommodations for education, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy. Children with autism are specifically prevented from accessing IBI, the best-researched, most effective method of teaching, in a memo from Deputy Minister of Education Ben Levin issued in March, 2007 (The memo can be read at http://www.ontarioa utism.com/ Documents. html). IBI instructor therapists are still barred from entering the schools to support children with Autism.
Families touched by autism do not need half measures and partial solutions. We need a wholehearted embrace of the best teaching methods for children with autism.
For Further information:
GTA
Laura & Bruce McIntosh 416-315-7939
905-761-5226
tosh555@hotmail. com
GTA
Malcolm Stanley
416 275-3562
amstanley@rogers. com
York Region
Sharon Gabison
647 892-4418
shar.gabison@ utoronto. ca
Windsor & Essex
Mary Beth Rocheleau
519 734-6387
grocheleau6@ hotmail.com
Sarnia/London
Susan & Dan Fentie
519-869-4198
autism@coolgoose. com
Ottawa
Sam Yassine
613-841-3886
Sam_yassine@ rogers.com
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