Autism NB Debate

My apologies to Autism NB for posting this so late... I've been in overdrive at work and haven't been able to get around to posting your reply.

For readers who are unaware, recently Autism NB posted a comment that the Provincial Goverment was not doing enought for Autistic children in this province. Since I know very little on the subject myself, I asked Autism NB to send me a post that I could place on the blog to have a positive debate on the issue.

Since then the Liberals will form the next provincial goverment and it will be our responsibility to hold them accountable to their promise as highlighted in the reply from Autism NB. I have also added the link to Autism NB's blog, which is relatively informative.

Last note, please keep this debate civil and respectable.

Autism Reality NB said...
Thank you. I acccept your challenge/offer.

If your political friends wish to acquaint themselves further they can also consult my blog site Facing Autism in New Brunswick and the links I have posted there.

http://autisminnb.blogspot.com/ (A word of caution to your fellow conservatives: the most recent comment contains pictures of Liberal leader Shawn Graham signing a pledge to commit funding to autism services.)

My interest in autism originates with my profoundly autistic 10 year old son. I have been actively involved in advocating for improved pre-school, schooling and residential care for autistic persons in NB during the seven years since I discovered that there were virtually no services available specific to autistic persons. Generic, "it takes a community", approaches may be enough to deal with some disability challenges but not autism. Autism is a neurological disorder with a wide range of subsets hence the reference to Autism Spectrum Disorders.

ASD’s range from classic Autism Disorder, like my son’s, to Asperger's Syndrome or higher functioning autism. Autism is marked by intellectual disability in approximately 80% of cases, although higher functioning autistic persons can be of above average intelligence and a few can indeed possess special abilities. Autism can feature serious sensory issues such as hyper sensitivity to lights, sounds, movement, smells etc. all the factors often present in a regular classroom. Autistic persons can have severe difficulty with social interaction and communication even to the point of being totally non-verbal.

With some autistic persons dangerous self injurious behaviour such as head banging to the point of injury or self inflicted bites on arms, hands and legs are concerns.Many of these severe symptoms can be alleviated substantially in 47% of cases almost entirely eliminated if children receive intensive behavioural interventions between the ages of 2 and 5. Thereafter they can still improve and be educated but the progress is not as dramatic. Time, though is critical and can not afford to be squandered.

In New Brunswick activists amongst parents of autistic children protested and brought our complaints to the Premier, Bernard Lord in front of the Legislature, interviews on Rogers, Global and ATV and letters to the editor. We appeared in front of legislative committees and we filed Human Rights Complaints. Eventually we got responses from the Lord government. But it took precious time, time that autistic children will never recover. The pre-school funding for autistic children, after much delay, was implemented although not funded to recommended levels. Only recently the Lord government began training Teachers’ Assistants and Resource Teachers in the autism and autism learning techniques at the UNB-CEL Autism program that has won national recognition. But with approximately 1000 autistic children in NB schools the 80 TA’s and 9 resource teachers being trained only scratched the surface of the problem. And there is at present no commitment from Team Lord to train more as soon as possible. That means many more autistic children will go without a real education.

To this day the Lord government is not providing residential care for serious cases of autism. The group homes do not generally have properly trained staff and the most serious cases are dumped in Centracare or on the grounds of jail facilities until they can be sent to a decent facility like Spurwink in Maine.

Delay and indifference have marked the Lord government approach to autism. And the result has been to deprive autistic persons of the basics of decent life in society – good health, good eduation and good residential care.

These are the “autism issues”. I would be happy to discuss them with your conservative colleagues.