The Saskatchewan Party announced on Oct. 6 it would increase support for children with autism, if they are re-elected to government. Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe made the announcement at the Saskatoon Autism Behavioural Analysis Treatment Centre.
Moe said, “When we first came to office in 2007, the former NDP government was providing just about $500,000 to help families who’ve been affected by autism spectrum disorder, or ASD. We knew this amount was nowhere near what was required by those families. We'd heard that from parents, and we had heard that from all of the dedicated and committed people working in the autism community. So from the very beginning, it has been a priority for the Saskatchewan party to increase support for autism services in the province.
“Since 2007 we have boosted funding to $12 million a year. That's 24 times what was provided under the NDP. Three years ago, we delivered on an election on an election promise to provide individualized funding to parents with children under the age of six who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. We wanted to provide parents with the flexibility to choose the services that would benefit their child. Individualize funding does just that, and allows for that. In 2018 we provided $4,000 a year to purchase those services. Since then, we have increased it to $6,000 and in the most recent budget, now doubled that support to $8,000 per year,” Moe said.
“Beginning in 2021 children under the age of 12, who had been medically diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder will now be eligible for individualized funding of $6,000. Parents will be able to choose from a range of therapeutic interventions and supports that may benefit their child. And we plan to consult with parents and stakeholders to determine whether the list of eligible for services should be expanded to include other supports that may be available in our communities as well. Right now, about 500 children with ASD are receiving individualized funding. We estimate that with these expansions, the number of children eligible will triple. So, when it's up and running, we expect a total of 1,500 children in Saskatchewan will receive individualized funding for autism services, at the cost of about $6 million per year.”
Moe said this is just the next step in enhancement of autism support.
Shannon Hill, one of the owners of the Saskatoon Autism Behavioural Analysis Treatment Centre as well as a behavioral consultant, said, “This type of funding is really crucial for those school-aged kids because what's happening is now we're seeing preschoolers come to us and, because of the funding, we're able to offer them a continued service up until age six. But after age six, they still need some support. So that's where they need things like speech pathology. A lot of kids still need speech pathologists. They still need behaviour analysts like ourselves, who are either working on behavioural issues or things like anxiety and things that kids are struggling with in school. Helping school teams is a lot of what we do in those years.
“So this is really, really important for those kids that didn't have sort of missed out on intervention, too. There's some of those kids that kind of missed out on the intervention, but the kids that had intervention up until that point and then were able to continue that care further on for those kids. It’s super important for them,” Hill said.
Moe said there is strength in collaboration on providing flexible supports for families.
