Families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder applaud premier’s move to pause funding changes

KAMLOOPS — Thirteen months ago, Tammy Chabot was filled with uncertainty after the province announced a change in funding for families with children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder from an individualized model to one based on centralized resources.

“It felt like a really big blow because it took us a long time to get to where we are now,” Chabot says. “Matthew has been for — this is his fifth school year.”

Last Friday, Premier David Eby announced a pause on last year’s plan and committed to maintaining individualized autism funding for families for the time being.

“We have a reset where those parents are assured they’ll get the services for their kids that they need, regardless of that child’s diagnosis,” Eby explained. “Those parents that have systems in place that are working for their kids will be able to continue with those programs.”

For Chabot, who drives in from Vernon three days a week so her son can attend the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism, that news was a huge relief.

“Now we can move ahead, at least for the next few years while he’s able to be here and at least have a little bit of security,” Chabot says.

Many of the families who have kids enrolled at the Chris Rose Centre have expressed relief that the sweeping changes that were planned won’t be happening.

“Immediately, there was a big sigh, a big, huge relief,” Executive Director Wanda Eddy says.

As part of Friday’s announcement, the province plans to move forward with an engagement process that includes First Nations leadership and leaders from the disability community.

There’s also a plan to move forward with a pilot project to test the family resource centre model. According to Eddy, the challenge will be in finding staff to operate those centres.

“We have a hard time attracting speech therapists, occupational therapists,” Eddy explains. “If we were looking at these hub models, where were we getting those staff members from?”

For Chabot, there’s still uncertainty when it comes to her son’s future. However, she’s pleased that the government listened to parents like her before making sweeping changes to the support her family receives.

“At least we’ve got a little bit of time to maybe have some input,” Chabot says. “It felt really nice to feel like some of the campaigning, the letter writing, the emails we’ve sent have maybe been heard.”