Ontario Autism Program — Examining the Baber report
On Friday, the Globe and Mail obtained a copy of a report that MPP Roman Baber prepared for Premier Ford’s office on the Ontario Autism Program reforms. Sadly, the fantastic Globe story doesn’t seem to have received as much attention as Lisa MacLeod having been insulted on Twitter. Here’s a highlight from the Globe piece:
Fortunately, the full report leaked out over the weekend; you can download it here.
Louis Busch wrote a must-read in-depth summary of the report. Instead of trying to duplicate Louis’ work (and he’s more qualified to discuss than details than I), I thought I’d just highlight a few things that jumped out at me.
Before I do, though, I need to give credit to both Roman Baber for writing a no-holds-barred report, and to Premier Ford for commissioning it in the first place. It truly is an invaluable report.
ABA works but can be overprescribed
Parents have (rightfully) been concerned with anti-ABA activists being named to the province’s advisory panel. Baber, however, unequivocally disagrees with them, by stating “ABA is good science, in that it often improves lives and outcomes of children and adults with ASD.”
Families would not be able to access ABA under Ford’s plan
Math here is simple. Most kids in the OAP would only receive $5,000/yr in support a year, and full-time ABA costs $80,000/yr. Since hardly any families can afford to pay $75,000/yr out of pocket for health care, they would go without.
Hostile reactions to Ford’s plan should have been expected
When you take healthcare away from someone’s children, that will “[lead] the parent to reach for the pitchfork”. The Ford plan eliminated “hope” from parents.
The Ford government has no plan to deal with the influx of kids on the spectrum into schools
What will happen under the Ford plan: Without access to therapy, parents “will be forced to send [their children] to school”. Those schools lack the resources for these children, which would not only lead to poor outcomes for those kids but also “compromise the learning and safety of the existing student population.”
The Ford plan is a colossal waste of money
It’s pretty much the same argument I made in The new Ontario Autism Program is a colossal waste of money that cannot be fixed. The Ford plan gives thousands of dollars per year to children with little-to-no clinical needs, “resulting in pure waste”.
The Ford government’s communications on their reforms were built on a foundation of lies
The 23,000 number that Premier Ford and Minister MacLeod kept citing over and over again was simply untrue. Baber calls the idea that there’s a single waitlist “fiction”. Unfortunately, Baber does not call out some of the other falsehoods from this government, such as their continual (and bizarre) claim that the previous government was spending $256 million per year on the OAP.
The Ford government’s plan simply will not work
This speaks for itself: “[The] Government is unable to design a Plan that is both needs based and Clears the Waitlist. That is impossible!”
We need better data
Was heartened to see Baber note the need for better data, which has been one of the bottlenecks in designing sound autism policy.
That’s it for now. I hope you all read the report and find things I missed!
