Sask. government announces increased funding for children on autism spectrum

Saskatoon -

Saskatchewan families caring for a child with autism spectrum disorder will soon see an increase in funding.

In a press conference on Tuesdayy, Health minister Paul Merriman announced an extension of annual funding for children between the ages of six and 11 to provide them with more opportunities to seek therapeutic interventions and family supports.

“Parents wanted the ability to make sure they can customize their services for their individual child,” said Merriman.

Children in this age group will receive 6,000 annually while those zero to six will receive 8,000.

Merriman said the government wanted to make the process as possible.

“We wanted to make it simple for us on the government but we also wanted to make it very simple for the parents to be able to access those services so we started with that dollar amount and that dollar amount can be accessed every year," said Merriman.

Shannon Hill, who works as a behavioural analyst and whose son is on the spectrum said the increase in age means the children who need it will continue using services.

“This will help to be able to extend those services for some of those kids that are beyond six that are still needing services which most of the kids with autism still need services beyond that age,” said Hill.

Merriman said that in this year's provincial budget, the government invested more than 19.1 million to support autism services and of this amount, 10.3 goes to individualized funding.

Hill believes that while the funding is helpful, the problem lies elsewhere.

“The problem is that there's not enough service providers doing the work that needs to be done and especially for those folks in the rural areas.”