Ontario autism services enrolments decline in some weeks despite large waitlist: docs [Video]

Ontario’s progress in giving children with autism access to government-funded core therapy has slowed so significantly that at times the number of kids enrolled is actually declining, despite a ballooning wait-list, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.

Progress updates on the Ontario Autism Program show a widening gulf between the number of children seeking services — 73,031 at the time of the most recent data from the end of June — and the number receiving funding for key therapies, which was at that time 14,113.

The enrolment and funding for core services, which includes applied behaviour analysis and speech-language pathology, has been slowing over the past year, but information obtained through a freedom-of-information request shows there are now weeks in which the number of kids being served actually decreases.

The ministry tracks progress every two weeks, and from May 29 to June 12, for example, the number of children with an active funding agreement for …