There are many autism blogs on the internet. They vary a great deal in perspective, interests of the blogger, views about cause and treatment and so on. I find them all helpful, even those I disagree with fundamentally, like the Neurodiversity, joy of autism blogs. Very few blogs that I have read though really shake me up.
"Too Autistic In Ontario" by Maryna is one that does.
On reading this blog I am absolutely disgusted to learn that in Dalton McGuinty's Ontario severely autistic children are discharged from Applied Behavior Analysis programs because they are not making enough progress. For these children any progress is a blessing. But the Ontario of Dalton McGuinty has decided to throw these vulnerable children overboard, into the frigid waters of indifference.
The discharge papers of Maryna's son Sebastien can be found at:
Discharge Papers
The discharge papers of Maryna's son Sebastien can be found at:
Discharge Papers
Premier McGuinty you are one cold, heartless excuse for a human being.
autism
Those discharge papers show that Sebastian sits at the table for 2 hours at a time? He's only 5!
ReplyDeleteHarold -- Out of courtesy, just letting you know that I put up two posts today that wrote about issues from your blog -- the 2009 budget which I believe DOES include some initiatives for those with disabilities/autism and about Maryna and Sebastian.
ReplyDeleteBest regards.
Crux-of-the-Matter.
I agree with you
ReplyDeleteHello,from Montreal Quebec
ReplyDeleteOnce again the governmental system has chosen to let down the families of the children with severe autism. The Ontario premier Mr.McGuinty along with the rest of the countries' premiers must once and for all learn that the autism crisis is not going to magically disappear into thin air. Unless drastic tight law measures are taken to ensure the Canadian Medical Health Act includes ABA ( medically based autism therapy),for children with autism(mild to severe) the children will continuously fall through the cracks of our medical system. The government should not be allowed to pick and choose which children should require which specific therapies. In every case the parents should be the final judges in choosing a "tailor made therapy" for their children after all they are relentlessly advocating for the fundamental rights and required therapies of their children.
Autism must be enshrined under the Canadian Medical Health Act. The Canadian government has a moral and financial obligation to the families of these children. Anything less would be completely and utterley unacceptable.
Sandy
ReplyDeleteThanks for the courtesy call. I have read your comments on the budget and the exclusion of severely autistic children from ABA intervention in Ontario. They are thoughtful as always but, for me, not persuasive.
Thanks for providing your perspective on these issues.
Harold
Harold, I keep reading about the steps needed for the governments(provincial and federal) to take in order to begin helping families who have a child or an adult with autism. I've heard this for a few years.
ReplyDeleteThere's the long White Paper where (I don't have my files open right now) a Canadian Autism association sat with government representatives early 2000's, and made a list of changes needed, steps to follow, and so forth.
I'm wondering how much money was spent to document this 'must do' list. I'm wondering how many items from that long list are actually in a 'forward completion' stage. I'm wondering why funding is so high for some disorders/ailments/diseases compared to Autism Spectrum Disorder. I'm wondering why our "Woody 'Sleeper' Allen" government are dormant to the needs of the families with members who are autistic. I'm wondering if officials have any clue to the stress, funding difficulties, divorce potential, and everything else that falls under the heading "parent who loves her/his child with autism and will do whatever it takes to give them the love, attention, therapy, family atmosphere they need"-- does the government see the stream of families moving out of their own province to settle at a new province, one that offers better services, quicker turnaround time, more funding, etc?
All these things I'm wondering and have been wondering for a while now. Do I see a result. Let me put it nicely:
The Tortoise and the Hare
meaning the cries of help go out quicker than the results coming in.
Sit at a table for 2hrs at a time is nothing. My son was 4 and spent 8mths in Ont's ABA program... and spent 5hrs/day sitting at a table. Doing what... sorting and matching... drawing lines that had to be absolutely perfect before the next line could be drawn.
ReplyDeleteChilden with autism need to be education not Pavlov's dog trained. The brain can be re-wired, but training it doesn't put in the wiring.
There are others that claim they've had ABA therapy but IMO it's more like Floortime/playtime using ABA principals of carrot/stick to get compliance.
EDUCATION!!!! Someday someone's going to have to teach these children... not train them.
Yes, in the contract you are told that if the child does not make gains you will be removed from the program.
S.
That letter reads like my son's psychometry exam after 8mths in the program... It's just missing the "child is unable to transfer skills learned in IBI to the real world" - really... never noticed.. ::eye-roll:: Tell her not to give up. To work at it a little every day... he'll do much better with his Mother teaching him... than the IBI therapists.
ReplyDeleteMy son is now 7 and reads, spells and does math at grade level. Going to start teaching him how to use a calculator this summer since he doesn't get he can memorize his math facts. He still appears "autistic" to outsiders. He still speaks very little... He dresses, toilets (80%), understands most directions, has taught himself to spell the words he needs when I can't understand what he's saying.... Still bolts in the store - working on that one still.
Everyday there are changes... Everyday we work on it a little more.
Have another "joke" IEP session tomorrow.... same old, same old.
S
I already have a lot of disagreement with the basic frames-of-reference of ABA, so I'm not surprised by this action.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we will make much headway in solutions for any of the Developmental Disorders until we have changed our paradigms about them.