Court Rules Treatment for Autistic Children
a Provincial Government Responsibility

April 4, 2005

 

In her ruling today, Madam Justice Frances Kitely identified the Ontario Provincial Government as the body responsible for the provision of treatment for autistic children, not school boards. The Government must now determine its course of action in response to the judgement before any action can occur at the School Board level.

In February of this year, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) decided that school boards are not responsible for providing autistic children with costly intensive behavioural intervention therapy. The decisions signed by chief commissioner Keith Norton, the human-rights agency said it will not allow the matter to proceed to a public hearing before a tribunal because the treatment falls under the jurisdiction of the education, health and long-term care, and children and youth services ministries, not under the jurisdiction of the school boards.

The decisions said that the therapy - a structured, rigorous and labour-intensive treatment - "is not appropriate in the classroom because IBI treatment requires a clinical setting." The decisions of the OHRC are consistent with other decisions of the Ontario Special Education Tribunal.

School Boards will await the decision of the Minister of Education before initiating changes to their special education plans and making program changes.

In the interim, consistent with rulings from OHRC and the Ontario Special Education Tribunal, Rick Johnson, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association said, "School Boards will continue to do what we do best, provide a full range of appropriate services for all students with special needs."

 

See also

Ontario providing more autism therapy to young children according to Ministry of Children & Youth Services
The Ontario government has expanded its autism program for preschool-age children by more than 25 per cent in the past year, Children and Youth Services Minister Marie Bountrogianni reported today. "With over 110 new therapists hired, our autism program is providing behavioural therapy to more than 25 per cent more preschool-age children than one year ago," said Bountrogianni. "We exceeded our 20 per cent target since announcing our new autism strategy in March 2004, and continue to improve the supports the government provides to children with autism." As a result of the government's new initiatives, the number of children with autism waiting for assessment has decreased by 72 per cent - from more than 1,000 in March 2004 to 287 in March 2005. Read More