TORONTO — An Ontario autism advocacy group has found that families are now waiting five years after registering to get publicly funded core autism services for their child.
Families had been reporting wait times for access to core services under the Ontario Autism Program creeping upward in the past several years, so advocates set about doing a survey of the community.
Their survey found that families starting to receive funding now to pay for core therapies first signed up five years ago.
Core therapies covered in the program include applied behaviour analysis, speech language pathology and occupational therapy.
Children, Community and Social Services Minister Michael Parsa refused to say whether that is an acceptable length of time.
Figures obtained by the Ontario Autism Coalition through a freedom-of-information request show that more than 84,000 children are registered for the autism program and 19,600 of them are receiving funding to access core services.
Ontario Autism Coalition president Alina Cameron says the government's autism program is not providing enough help for the children who need it.