Grandview Children’s Centre meets with Durham families about new autism program

Grandview Children’s Centre is taking time this week to consult with families in Durham about the new autism program.

The focus groups, which allow parents to weigh in on the services that best suits their family, started Tuesday in Ajax.

Beyond behavioural services, families can now purchase physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology courses.

This comes in response to the provincial government’s changes to the Ontario Autism Program.

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With Grandview losing $3.4 million in funding, the organization was compelled to restructure and charge for services.

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“We need to really hear from them about what they think they will like to purchase with either their childhood budget, which will be finances coming from the government, their own personal income or their benefits,” said Lorraine Sunstrum-Mann, Grandview Kids CEO.

“And so we want to hear how they want to receive services, when they want to receive services and the ways in which they think will be most important for their family.”

Grandview will be holding two more focus groups, one Wednesday afternoon in Oshawa and another on Thursday evening in Port Perry.