alwayssaythanku

What are services for autism like in Canada, anyone know? B.C. and alberta mostly. Does canada pay disability to children with autism like they do in the UK?

dingbat

Healthcare is provincially controlled. Autism is not classed as a disability here in BC. Getting autism recognised as a valid diagnosis is a huge problem here. Unfortunately the actual diagnosis of ASD was so widely over-used in the last few years, along with ADHD and ADD, it has become mistrusted. Most kids with anything that legitimately registers on the ASD scale struggle to get T/A help in schools. If your child has Aspergers, forget any help at all. There are support groups, but the group hug approach hardly meets the child's needs in the long run. No, there are no extra payments. Parents are expected to cover the cost of additional resources needed.

alwayssaythanku

Oh my, i didnt know that. I left canada 15 years ago and now i want to move back but i thought things would be a bit better than that seeing as things seem to be booming. Maybe i will move to Alberta.

Do you or anyone know if a child with a disability can use their UK diagnosis as a valid document in Canada? Does anyone know if this affects immigration, having a child with a "disability"?

thanks

dbd33

I believe having a child with autism precludes emigrating to Canada. It would be an expensive pre-existing condition.

My deeply autistic (non-verbal) child who is a resident of Ontario attends a special class in a regular school. It's extremely well funded, to the extent of having a Snoozelen room, a swimming pool and threaputic horseback riding. Basically they have more money than anyone knows how to usefully use. Alas, school ends at age 21 and not much is available after that. She does however receive a payment of $1050 per month, tax free, as a disability pension (I believe that's from the feds, not provincial. I can check on Monday.)

Judy in Calgary

Aside from the merits and demerits of moving an autistic child to Canada, about which I know very little, I'm wondering in what way the immigration issue is relevant to you and your child. I thought from your previous posts that you were a Canadian citizen. If you are a Canadian citizen, I would have thought your child had a right to Canadian citizenship as well.

alwayssaythanku

Hi Judy. Yes, i am a canadian citizen, born and bred. But havent been able to definitely find out if my child has citizenship. If i am canadian i assume my children would be citizens too, just for the asking. maybe someone can clarify this for me as its confusing.

thanks

CDNReturner

Just a few more thoughts to add here.

My sister has an undiagnosed 13-yr-old 'special needs' child with autistic tendencies (also non-verbal). I'm not sure where in Ontario DBD33 is referring to but from my sister I understand that there is far more help available in Toronto than was available here in Guelph. In fact she spent a lot of her time fighting for help to be brought to Guelph.

She has moved to Winnipeg 3 months ago where in her opinion the services are far better. Part of this is probably that she is in a large city now and also she says it is far easier to get help. From her experiences over the years there are only 2 provinces that far exceed the others when it comes to 'special needs'. One being Manitoba and the other I think she said is PEI. From the financial side of things I'm not sure if there is a lot of difference. From the 'help' side of things, like getting to see doctors, getting him in school, etc it has been a far smoother process.

Cathie

alwayssaythanku

Well, beein looking into provinces like PEI and NB just from a housing point of view. Thanks for letting meknow. Its a bloody nightmare worrying about the best place to go.

thanks

Judy in Calgary

If your child was born after February 14, 1977 and had a parent who was a Canadian citizen at the time of his/her birth, then your child is a Canadian citizen.

However, you need to submit some paperwork to the relevant authorities to acquire the necessary documentation on behalf of your child. So, to the extent that you have to jump through a few bureaucratic hoops, your child is not entitled to Canadian citizenship "just for the asking." That is, he/she cannot simply show up at a Canadian port of entry and say, "Hi guys, I'm a Canadian citizen."

There are many previous threads here on the Lifestyle & Culture forum and also on the Canadian Immigration forum, like this one, that address the issue of getting a child registered as a Canadian citizen. In addition to that, the website of the Canadian High Commission in London explains what you need to do.

dbd33

Autism is an easy diagnosis to obtain if the child is autistic, here are the criteria : http://ani.autistics.org/dsm4-autism.html. "Autistic tendencies" and "special needs" however describe everyone and medical opinions of that nature are no help in dealing with RevCan. (I understand that doctors are reluctant to diagnose autism because it's untreatable but "autistic tendencies" and "on the spectrum" are now terms used to mean "rich but bratty" or "rich but not very clever"; the truly autistic person needs a proper diagnosis as a differentiator.

The area in question is Peel. What is the nature of the "help" unobtainable in Guelph?

dbd33

What sorts of things would you be looking to get from the government in Canada?

There isn't a treatment for autism and, at the same time, it's not something that needs medication or mechanical aids, so the issue for the parents is the provision of comforts while the child is at home; trampoline, swimming pool, therapy balls and so on, and then somewhere for the adult to live. Group home places are very difficult to obtain in Ontario, effectively the child must have be born here and the parents not moved school district since. I cannot imagine there are any number of group homes or similar facilities in PEI and, for those in NB, you'd have to speak French.

My guess is that the best you could hope for in government benefits would be the $1050 a month tax free, a place in the school system until age 21 and routine physical medical care. Perhaps not a bad deal since the Canadian tax payer didn't create the child.

dingbat

Be careful though: I just dealt with (i.e. referred to someone else) a couple of cases here for kids from two European countries who were both diagnosed as autistic in their home countries. Both of these kids are on a long waitlist for "diagnosis evaluation" as the paperwork they bought with them did not satisfy (is it) CCRA? One is non-verbal but uses Makaton (not used here in BC) but nevertheless I think they will be OK to get help and the other...well...I am not a doctor but there are <ahem> possibly contributing environmental issues for that one. In BC there are kids falling through the cracks left right and centre because they just cannot get a solid autism diagnosis. All I can say is, if I see another "personality dysfunction" or "ODD" diagnosis/statement written on casenotes I will scream. :scared:

I thought the CCRA payment was for adult and parents of adult children. Could be wrong though, this is not my area.

http://www.autismbc.ca/services_funding.php

dbd33

CCRA are a pain in the arse. I have a framed letter from them demanding proof that the daughter is "still permanently disabled". The answer to that is, of course, to take the child to the CCRA office (I expect this would work especially well with a head banger).

In general CCRA will take a letter from a specialist at a well known hospital in Canada or the US as proof. If there is a queue in BC and, if the parents are sure that the condition is autism (per the DSM IV definition) then they could look at going to La Jolla and getting Bernard Rimland's opinion. He's a genuine expert and a bit mercenary. He's also publisher of the Autism Research Review International, next to quackwatch.org it's my favourite source of informational on alternative "medicines" and "treatments").

I believe that's so. My daughter is 20. We used to recieve $800 and change from the province but she recently outgrew it and became eligible for the federal money instead.

BTW, Ontario isn't a bad place for the autistic. There are a lot of small but nice things for disabled people here. For example, it's cheaper for two people to go to the zoo with an autistic person than without (the disabled person is free and the "helper" goes for half price), camping at any of these www.ontarioparks.com is half price for the group if one person is disabled. Museums, art galleries, the Ex, the Royal Winter Fair, even the Pride Parade, provide free wheelchairs.

We have eaten in literally thousands of restaurants, from Pete's Donuts to La Maquette (www.lamaquette.com), requesting a spoon and sometimes a bowl rather than a plate and, in twenty years, we have only once been given a hard time by the restaurant management. (We were refused admission by the Wave on Queen St. in the beach on the basis of having "an animal" in our group. It wasn't me that torched the place, though I was thrilled to discover it was uninsured.) By and large, people here are very accepting of odd behavior and quite a few will guess at autism due to recognising the repetitive hand gestures. I believe we would have a much harder time in Europe though curiously we don't in the US.

CDNReturner

OK, I don't know an awful lot about this except she gets passed from pillar to post. Troy was actually born and bred here in Guelph so it's not a case of a newcomer to the system here. She has to wait up to a year to get doctors appointments for Troy. Since I came back 2 years ago I went with her twice to McMasters. I was with her when the consultant diagnosed Troy as 'mentally retarded'. My sister and I were absolutely stunned that this term was still in existence. Her main problem is that due to the fact that he has some but not all signs of autism/Angel's Syndrome and something else I forget, he isn't categorized and falls through the net. For instance he has never had any kind of speech therapy. The therapeutic horse riding that he enjoyed so much was cancelled last year due to lack of funds for buses. He gets swimming lessons but only if Anne manages to be on the phone the second the lines open for booking. Anne has always had to find her own workers and has to make a request and justify how many hours she needs each year.

In Winnipeg, Troy seems to be getting so much more. She phones some government place for diapers and they are delivered next day. They are taken out and about with the school (I think once a week they go to a place to actually work....not that he can yet). Anne just got a job last week (different story but she's worked for a certain bank for 14 years and is now being paid less than her start salary in 1992!!!! for same bank...so it isn't just immigrants having problems in this area!!!!). However, she tells the services out there she has got a job and they find qualified people to look after her son (seeing as this is the summer holidays). As with anything she still gets lost in the system sometimes but overall is far more impressed.

Cathie

alwayssaythanku

OH MY! Some of these experiences outlined in this thread are very depressing. I was under the impression that Canada was more progressive in terms of the "treatment" of autism, of which there are many. We use biomedical intervention and ABA (applied behavior analysis) OK, we pay for this but it can be available if you fight the school boards for it.

Where we move back to Canada, hinges on what services will be available for our child. I know Alberta pays for ABA and has money at the moment, and apparently PEI has an autism "program", though i dont know what that means yet.

I am stunned that words like "retarded" are still used. Dont get me wrong, I am not naive. Autism is a complex "disorder" and the general public and including most GP's dont know much, if anything about it. I just thought Canada would be more up on things. Guess I am wrong? Or does it really depend on where you live?

Anyway, if anyone could be kind enough to let me know how I would find out more about what I need to prove my child's diagnosis to the Canadian government i would be very grateful. We have paediatricians and education psych reports up the ying yang already, there is very little to prove at this stage. Also, if anyone is aware of what services are for autistic children and how I access them I would also be very grateful to know. Perhaps some of you know of some progressive autistic societies or organisations.

I also agree that autism is being used as a word which is almost fashionable these days!! Too bad those who think it is "fashionable" dont live with our child to see how very emotional and financially draining it is. One can never know what autism is really like until one has a child on the spectrum. The life of a parent is a constant battle and lifelong worry. Those who use the label willy nilly are doing people like me and my child a great disservice.

Do schools provide special classroom assistants to autistic children? Are there special needs units attached to mainstream schools? What is the attitude of schools in general to special needs kids. Post me a personal note if you like. I really need to know if we are putting our child in jeapardy if we move to Canada.

many thanks for your time.