04-09-2005, 03:24 PM
http://ottawa.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/Vi...08&ref=rss
Quote:
Government urged to modify autism strategies
Last Updated Apr 8 2005 08:40 AM EDT
CBC News
TORONTO – Autism advocates say Ontario could deliver therapy in a more cost-effective way and continue to treat autistic children when they get older.
On Monday, the McGuinty government said it would appeal a court decision ordering it to pay for intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) for autistic children aged six and older.
* FROM APRIL 5, 2005: McGuinty broke promise on autism treatment: parents
Parents of autistic children say the treatment can cost as much as $80,000 a year.
An Ontario judge agreed that the government is discriminating against those children by cutting off payments for the therapy based on their age, but Attorney General Michael Bryant has vowed to fight the ruling.
* INDEPTH: Autism
Dr. Wendy Roberts, head of an autism research unit at the Hospital for Sick Children, says autistic children have a wide range of abilities.
Roberts says some of those patients can be moved beyond the basic level of IBI, thereby costing less to treat.
"Good IBI programs, as soon as a child is ready, will move from individual to group teaching," Roberts said. "Of course, those children cost the system less."
Dr. Sheila Laredo, the mother of two autistic boys, says there are other options the government can consider to pare down the cost of individual therapy.
"For example, there are several hundred special-needs assistants [who] very often work with children with autism," Laredo said.
"To give them appropriate intensive training in IBI would only cost the amount of the training."
Laredo says the cost of legal fees for parents and the government would have been better spent on programs for autistic children.
Last Updated Apr 8 2005 08:40 AM EDT
CBC News
TORONTO – Autism advocates say Ontario could deliver therapy in a more cost-effective way and continue to treat autistic children when they get older.
On Monday, the McGuinty government said it would appeal a court decision ordering it to pay for intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) for autistic children aged six and older.
* FROM APRIL 5, 2005: McGuinty broke promise on autism treatment: parents
Parents of autistic children say the treatment can cost as much as $80,000 a year.
An Ontario judge agreed that the government is discriminating against those children by cutting off payments for the therapy based on their age, but Attorney General Michael Bryant has vowed to fight the ruling.
* INDEPTH: Autism
Dr. Wendy Roberts, head of an autism research unit at the Hospital for Sick Children, says autistic children have a wide range of abilities.
Roberts says some of those patients can be moved beyond the basic level of IBI, thereby costing less to treat.
"Good IBI programs, as soon as a child is ready, will move from individual to group teaching," Roberts said. "Of course, those children cost the system less."
Dr. Sheila Laredo, the mother of two autistic boys, says there are other options the government can consider to pare down the cost of individual therapy.
"For example, there are several hundred special-needs assistants [who] very often work with children with autism," Laredo said.
"To give them appropriate intensive training in IBI would only cost the amount of the training."
Laredo says the cost of legal fees for parents and the government would have been better spent on programs for autistic children.