Saskatoon autism program helps children improve condition

SASKATOON – Autism has been something the provincial government has put on its radar, but one family says the lack of funding and resources has forced them to seek help south of the border.

Barbara Cabrera’s son LeKai is autistic; he was non-verbal and not really engaging before entering an Autism Services program last October.

“Now he looks at us, he acknowledges when people are at the house, he even says I love you and gives hugs and kisses, something we’ve waited over four years to get,” said Barbara.

LeKai is set to start kindergarten this fall. The Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention Program provides 20 hours of programming a week to six young children with autism.

It’s the only program of its kind in Saskatchewan and the kids have shown results, with some doubling, even tripling, their skills.

“Whether it’s ABA, whether it’s speech, whether it’s OT their not receiving an adequate number of hours of intervention and that’s what the research shows,” said Sunbul Rai, Autism Services ABA program director.

“The research shows early intensive behavioral intervention makes a huge difference,”

Rai says from her experience, Saskatchewan is behind compared to other provinces.

“Autism and FASD is an important issue for me and for our government. We put a lot of emphasis on it in the last number of years, the funding has increased considerably,” said Social Services Minister June Draude.

The program is funded mainly by the Ministry of Health. While it is a step in the right direction, one Saskatoon family with three autistic children, who are receiving treatment in Minnesota, say they would like to see more funding and resources from the provincial government.

The program was supposed to wrap up in October but Autism Services has decided to extend it for another year and expand it to 12 children in January.