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Globe

SUPREME COURT

Ontario parents continue battle for accessible autism therapies

KATE HAMMER

August 28, 2008

It was four years in the making, a stolen glance in which, for the very

first time, i's eyes locked with her son 's.

Never in Ms. i's life had eye contact seemed so precious.

i, now 11, was diagnosed with autism shortly before his third

birthday. His mother credits therapies such as applied behaviour analysis

(ABA) and intensive behavioural intervention (IBI) with bringing his wide

brown gaze to connect with her own.

A class-action lawsuit brought by the is and four other families

against seven Ontario school boards and the provincial government has over

the past three years fought and fumbled its way through levels of court,

ending up at the Supreme Court of Canada. Elements of the lawsuit have been

tossed out by judges and reborn in turn, and, in documents submitted

yesterday to the Supreme Court of Canada, lawyers for the families hope to

resurrect several more elements of the lawsuit they argue are essential to

making ABA and IBI available to Ontario children affected by autism.

These elements relate to their rights to seek damages from the provincial

government and to the basis on which their lawyers will argue for access to

ABA and IBI therapies for their children in public-school classrooms.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney-General confirmed

the status of the lawsuit, but declined any further comment while the case

remained before the courts.

ABA and IBI therapies are widely regarded as the most effective - perhaps

the only effective - intervention available to children affected by autism.

According to Noor Muhammad, executive director of the Autism Centre of

Canada, a non-profit care organization, they are " one of the most

scientifically proven therapies in the field of autism. "

Ms. i and her husband, Umberto, spent their life savings, re-mortgaged

their Woodbridge home, cashed their registered retirement savings plans and

borrowed money from family to pay for one-on-one behavioural therapy for

and his younger brother Noah, who was also diagnosed with autism.

Parents in Ontario are forced to make difficult decisions in order to secure

provincial dollars to pay for these treatments. In order to receive funding,

the minimum number of hours a child is required to attend therapy prevents

them from also attending public school. The province will pay for private

schooling that offers ABA and IBI therapies, but these facilities aren't

numerous enough to be readily accessible to families throughout the

province.

Many parents have to give up their jobs and drive hours every day, just to

take their children to and from school, according to Baker, one of the

lawyers for the families.

Lynne Shane, another complainant in the lawsuit, said, " I want my son to go

to school with his sister and all of the children on my street. "

When her son began Grade 1, she tried taking him to public school and then

bringing him home for 2½ hours of behavioural therapy in the evenings, but

before long he began hiding under the kitchen table to avoid his therapist.

In British Columbia and New Brunswick, funding is available for children

with autism to bring support workers specially trained in IBI and ABA

therapy into public-school classrooms. In Ontario, the government will only

pay for teacher's aides, and IBI and ABA therapists are not allowed in the

classroom.

Teaching assistants often don't know how to address these children's special

needs, and can inadvertently undermine therapy.

" Consistency is absolutely critical, " said , president of the

Autism Society of British Columbia and vice-president of the Autism Society

of Canada.

" Without the consistency between the intervention that's being delivered

outside the school and inside the home or elsewhere, basically the aide

becomes nothing more than a babysitter. "

According to Mr. Baker, forcing parents to choose between access to public

education and ABA/IBI therapies has driven many families to move to other

provinces, or the United States, where more integrative programs exist.

" By forcing families to choose they save money, " he said, adding that

individuals trained in these therapies would not be much more expensive to

employ than teachers' aides.

Beth Nolan

Mabel's Labels Inc.

1-800-30-MABEL

1-

<http://www.nolan.mabel.ca> http://www.nolan.mabel.ca