Joe Blow, MPP
Room 123, Queen's Park
Toronto Ontario
M2 something

Date:

Dear Mr. Blow:

I am writing to you today to express my concern about the government's treatment of children with autism in Ontario.

I am the ________________ of a ___-year old child with autism, and I live in your riding. His/her name is ________ and I am enclosing a photo so that you know I'm not exaggerating when I say s/he is a beautiful child.

_______ was diagnosed with autism in ____ and 
	has been on the IBI wait list for ___years.
	waited ____ years before receiving IBI treatment
	was cut off from treatment at age six

The emotional impact of having a child with autism has been hard enough to deal with, but that is not why I am writing you today. What has been particularly devastating is the financial impact. Because of the long waiting list for treatment, we have had to spend approximately $___ of our own money on private treatment. This has meant

	borrowing money from friends
	seeking out donations from charities
	re-mortgaging the house/farm
	cashing in savings
	running up our credit

What makes this doubly frustrating is that the financial hardships of families like mine are so unnecessary. There is enough money in the system to help all the children like ______, but it's being spent irresponsibly. This is what makes me so angry. The government makes excuses that there isn't enough money to help all the autistic children who need it, and yet last year $21.5 million dollars from the IBI budget went unspent while over 1,000 children sat on a waiting list. This is inexcusable. The government knows that if they focused their spending on the Direct Funding Option (DFO) instead of the Regional Programs, they could provide IBI to twice as many kids for the same amount of money-and yet they consistently refuse to do so.

Treatment is most effective when children are young, so every effort should be made to ensure that it begins as soon after a diagnosis as possible. Families should not be left to watch their child deteriorate before their eyes, nor should they be forced to plunge into debt while paying for services privately during their "wait list years." I urge you to call upon the government to reduce or eliminate the IBI waiting list immediately by directing funding DFO contracts.

My other concern is my son/daughter's education. ______ starts Grade ____ in September and I worry about how the school system will deal with his/her special needs. Existing special education programs for children with autism are woefully inadequate. While some classroom Education Assistants or EAs do wonderful work, few of them have any professional training in how to deal with children with autism. My child needs someone who knows how to help them learn, not a babysitter. What is needed for children with autism need is ABA-based programming in their schools. Once again, the money to make this happen is in the system, but it's not being spent in ways that help a child like mine.

A child with autism will bring up to $60,000 to the school board that serves them. Sadly, because that money is not actually attached directly to the child, and tens of thousands of dollars get spent on things that have nothing to do with special education. This system must be changed-not just for children with autism, but for all children with special needs. If that $60,000 were to be spent on a combination of ABA training for my child's EA and the purchasing of equipment and materials to support my child directly, then __(child's name)__ would indeed be receiving the kind of education they deserve. I dream of a day when that becomes a reality.

An option that may be more realistic in the short-term is to allow my child's IBI therapy team to enter the school and provide him with the kind of ABA-based instruction that s/he needs. Speech and occupational therapists can enter the schools and work directly with students-why not ABA therapists? What is needed is a regulatory body to oversee them-something like the Ontario College of Teachers. Given that the government managed to find the time to create a regulatory body for interior designers this year, I doubt they'd have difficulty doing this. Once ABA therapists are licensed and regulated, the institutional barriers that currently prevent them from entering the school would fall, and children with autism would get the education that they need. Therefore, I urge you to call upon the government to regulate ABA professionals in Ontario and to allow IBI programming in the school system.

There is so much more that needs to be done to help children with autism in Ontario, and what makes parents like me so angry is that the solutions are right in front of us. They're not expensive or unrealistic-all that's required is the political will to make it happen. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I look forward to your response and I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss this matter in more detail. 


Sincerely,





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