Ontario's fiscal watchdog says more than 70,000 children are seeking support through Ontario Autism scheme, but fewer than 15,000 people receive funding for core treatment.
Not all children in the program are on waiting lists for core treatment, which funds applied behavior analysis, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy and mental health services, but the Ontario Autism Alliance says most children do need those services, albeit to varying degrees.
The Progressive Conservative government has more than doubled the budget for Ontario's autism program to $720 million, but that funding for core services covers only a few thousand more children than the program implemented by the Liberal government before 2018.
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According to a previous report from Ontario's Financial Accountability Office, about 10,365 children received needs-based treatment in 2018-19, but the current government redesigned a new program in 2019 that stopped enrolling children in core treatment.
When some families said the new program did not meet the needs of most children, the program was forced to replan and will not begin enrolling children in the new program until 2022.
Data obtained by The Canadian Press through a Freedom of Information request shows 14,886 children were receiving funding for core services as of the end of March.
