Parents of neurodiverse children, local autism therapy centre want more details about support system changes

“From where I stand now, it’s actually a pretty scary thing. Partly because we just don’t have any details,” explains Chabot. “We don’t know what that’s going to look like, we don’t know where the provincial hubs will be.”

Over the next four years, the province will switch to a needs-based system, with one-stop connection hubs. Families with neurodiverse or disabled children would access information, expert intervention, and therapies from the hubs — regardless of whether they have a referral or diagnosis for their child.

Wanda Eddy is the executive director of the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism and says a more inclusive system is a good thing, but she wants to know more about how it will be implemented.

“On the surface, I love the idea of no wait lists,” she notes. “However the need for our folks to still get diagnosis is still needed in order for the Ministry of Education to offer the services that they currently offer. Unless that changes, there’s still a need for diagnosis. I’m not sure that really addresses the wait list issue that was kind of brought forth.”

In a release, the province says the change will provide help to approximately 8,300 more children and families — a 28 per cent increase. With that in mind, families like the Chabots are hoping the next announcement will include key words, such as ‘increased funding’ or ‘service expansion’.

“With the resources we have in the province here right now in terms of numbers of therapists and availability of services it’s really hard to image that being potentially spread even thinner,” says Chabot.

The government announcement states parents and caregivers will have the option to continue with the supports they have, or opt into the new hub services as they’re launched. But by 2025, hubs will be in place around B.C. and the province says individualized funding will be phased out.

“What does this mean for early intervention, what does it mean for individualizations?” asks Eddy. “What does it mean for my families that come from Merritt or Clearwater? What does a hub service mean for them?”

Chabot is part of several online groups of parents with neurodiverse children from around the province and says she doesn’t know anyone who was consulted about the changes. As the B.C Government irons out details, she hopes they’ll seek input from more families.

She wants to know whether the changes would impact specialized funding availability, how frequently Matthew can come to the centre and if he can still attend the same centre.

“We’ve spent years developing the team that we have now and so the thought that that might be changed in any way is pretty scary for us.”

Regardless of what changes come with the new system, Eddy reassures families that the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism will still be there to support.

“You know, I’m saying to the parents, we existed before autism funding, let’s not say we’re not going to exist after autism funding,” she reiterates. “Right, I don’t think we’re going in that direction at this point, we just need to figure out what it means, and what it’s going to look like.”

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Parents of neurodiverse children, local autism therapy centre want more details about support system changes

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