Back in December 2021, the Ontario government promised to get 8,000 autistic children into core clinical services and off the waitlist by Fall 2022. By that time, they refused to publicly divulge its progress in enrolling children in core autism therapies, after the last update showed it was far off its own target.
The government has been going in order of registration, meaning they started with children who first sought therapy as far back as 2015. However, officials have said it’s possible some don’t even need service anymore due to them now being adults or receiving support through separate support services.
In 2022, the government sent out approximately 25,517 letters to families inviting them to transition to AccessOAP, the registration portal, which is less than half of families registered. More than 60,000 children are now registered in the Ontario Autism Program. The vast majority have not received core services funding, but most have received some one-time payments, and thousands have accessed other parts of the program including early years services, foundational family services and an entry-to-school program. The list was recently removed from the government’s website.
Reports state that just 3,304 children had been enrolled in core clinical services by the Autumn of 2022, while just 1,511 children (19 per cent of target) had entered into service funding agreements by Oct. 31. The report defined an enrollment as having been completed when a family accepted an invitation to core clinical services, and not when children were actually seeing the benefits or funding flowing to families.
Since the Ford government overhauled autism programs in Ontario, families have faced a complicated journey — one that has generally been slow. Hopefully, it gets better as we move forward.