BC professionals condemn autism cuts

As Victoria parents prepared for a candlelight vigil at the Legislature Monday Feb 1 to mourn the Province's closure of critical autism early intervention programs, the BC Association for Behaviour Analysis -- the equivalent of the BC Medical Association -- issued a lengthy position statement criticizing these and other recent autism policy changes.

The Association calls for significant increases to the current autism funding levels for preschoolers, for funding to be tied to individual need, and for restoration of the direct funding option for families. It also strongly condemned the lack of consultation over the controversial changes announced by Children's Minister Mary Polak last fall.

"Many people in the Autism community were shocked and disturbed by the closure of all of the EIBI programs and the funding structure changes," the BC ABA statement reads. "...Furthermore, discussions with stakeholders might have resulted in a more sound decision on how to achieve province-wide, equitable access to services for individuals with ASD."

The BC ABA joins parents, advocacy groups and other professionals who have universally panned the province's abrupt autism policy changes, stating that the new provincial funding formula for preschoolers with autism " is not sufficient to purchase intensive behavioural therapy at the level (25-40 hours per week) which research has shown to be effective ."  The Association cites the example of other Canadian provinces that fully fund the costs of early intervention, noting that "given the discrepancy between provincial funding and the actual costs of implementing an intensive ABA program, few children in British Columbia will likely receive the intensity of treatment that has been empirically shown to improve the core characteristics of Autism ." (Emphasis added)

The statement also criticizes the elimination of the direct funding option for families, which means that all families must now submit invoices for often lengthy government approval and payment instead of being able to directly pay the private therapists who provide early intervention services for their children.  The BC ABA warns that a critical obstacle for many families is being able to find and retain qualified therapists and that delaying payment in this mannner will only exacerbate this problem.

The statement urges the provincial government to increase funding per child to between $40,000 and $70,000 [i.e. approximately what government was formerly paying for the now cancelled EIBI programs which the Minister portrayed as wasteful] and to fund each child based on individual need.

The BC ABA recommendations support those that have been presented by parents, advocacy groups and international autism experts in numerous meetings and communications with Children's Minister Mary Polak and Premier Gordon Campbell, all of which have been ignored to date. Polak and Campbell now stand entirely alone, with no one left who has not denounced their unilateral actions that deny hope to BC's children with autism and their families.

UPDATE: Times Colonist reports on Victoria parents' Feb 1 protest plans