NDP bolsters autism support amid families’ demands

The Manitoba government will include $30 million in Tuesday’s budget to address the demand for autism services, after families have demanded more help.

St.Amant, a non-profit that supports people with developmental disabilities and autism, will receive some funding, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said Monday.

“It’s going to address some of the wait lists they have,” she said, adding it will “bolster their autism-specific supports.”

More medical professionals may be able to meaningfully diagnose autism, Fontaine said.

Her department is revising the children’s disability policy. Changes would allow community pediatricians to diagnose autism spectrum disorder.

“We think that this is going to really help to alleviate a lot of the wait times,” Fontaine said.

Currently, pediatricians refer toddlers and pre-schoolers to the Rehabilitation Centre for Children’s child development clinic. The wait list exceeds 1,600 people and, on average, lasts 26 months.

It’s frustrating for Dr. Meghan Cranston, a practising pediatrician. She said she’s referring kids to the clinic most days of the week.

“It’s difficult enough for families to hear that this is the diagnosis,” the president of the Manitoba Pediatric Society said.

“We think that this is going to really help to alleviate a lot of the wait times.”

“But then to tell a family that this is going to be a lifelong disability for your child (and) we are going to have to put into place a specific set of interventions… yet any of those interventions are going to be put on hold until you get a secondary assessment, which is going to take over two years.”

Children’s Disability Services — a provincial branch offering autism supports — recognizes autism diagnoses from developmental pediatricians, registered psychologists, school psychologists and psychiatrists.

The rehabilitation centre staffs around seven developmental pediatricians, though just three are full time. Developmental pediatricians have extra years of training on top of their general pediatric studies.

Representatives from roughly a dozen child-focused organizations, including the rehabilitation centre, have been prodding the government to recognize general pediatricians’ diagnoses — which is the practice in Ontario and British Columbia. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada outlines assessing autism spectrum disorder as a competency of pediatricians.

“Our current system does not do enough to set children up for success,” says a letter from the dozen organizations, called the Children’s Coalition.

Manitoba’s current set-up is contributing to “extraordinary” workloads for psychologists and developmental pediatricians, the letter states.

“In reality, we would want the experts to take care of the really complex kids and let the pediatricians take care of all the general ones,” said David Kron, chairman of the coalition.

Rural and northern families wouldn’t have to travel to Winnipeg for a diagnosis, Kron said

Children are missing crucial autism programming while waiting, said Diana Renaud, the rehabilitation centre’s director of neurodevelopmental services.

“I just can’t say enough about that early intervention… having those supports placed so the school is already ready, they’ve got the file, they know exactly what to provide.”

She gave the example of a three- or four-year-old referred to the child development clinic: once they wait a couple of years, they may have missed the window to join St.Amant’s early learning program or receive government services for pre-schoolers.

Audra Latschislaw recalled quitting work to care for her now 24-year-old autistic son when he was young. It can be a “huge” financial strain on families, she said.

Once children are diagnosed with autism, they’re often placed on another wait list for Child Disability Services supports, Latschislaw noted.

“I just can’t say enough about that early intervention — having those supports placed so the school is already ready, they’ve got the file, they know exactly what to provide,” she said.

Families waiting for diagnosis are often in “crisis,” added Caryn Birch, the executive director of Inclusion Winnipeg.

“Parents may be changing their work schedules; students might not be in school as often as they could,” she said.

An Autism Alliance of Canada researcher estimates one or two kids in each Manitoba classroom has an autism diagnosis. About 1.7 per cent of Manitoba youth aged one to 17 are diagnosed with autism, Statistics Canada reported in 2019.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com