"It takes nine months to get an assessment from a psychologist," said Mr.
Lander. "Then it takes about a year to get approved into the preschool autism
program. Then it’s two to three more years of waiting until you actually begin
to receive treatment."

A spokeswoman for Mr. McGuinty noted that the government has eliminated the
age cutoff and that about 60 per cent of children in the IBI program are six
years of age or older.

She said that the government more than doubled the number of children
receiving IBI from 531 in 2004 to 1,400 today, more than tripled spending on
autism services for children and youth from $44 million in 2003-04 to $140
million in 2007-08, and created a college program to train new therapists.