Canadian boy in the news for being denied treatment

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Hello,

My family was featured on CBC regarding our struggles with our health care system here in Canada.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... ected.html

I'm quite frankly not surprised, this is what I've been arguing about your healthcare system up there is not as good as people here advertise.

Canada has a Socialized healthcare system. What did you expect, compassion?

WP members who keep going on about how great government-run social programs can be should keep a close watch on this one.

It sounds like you will have to find treatment in the US.

I think it is hard for any parent to figure out what to do, but the reality is that nations cannot afford to give untested treatments for untested diagnosis. If you believe in something, you have to jump in and solve it for yourself. You research the interventions, pick the ones you think might work, and you apply them at home. Temple Gradin's mom took it all on herself, using her own gut instincts, and most of the methods available today actually come from parents just like her that eventually got tested and proven in the mainstream. You don't need a paid therapist nearly as much as you need your own instinct and determination. You take all your energy and you turn it into becoming the best therapist / mommy you can be for your own child.

And ignore the guy who posted below the article about toxins in the uterus. You can literally kill your child trying to play out that theory. Gluten issues ... maybe. More of a "no harm" thing to try.

Also ... don't obsess over early intervention and "doing all you can" and the whole road show. What your child needs most is relaxed, happy mommy that keeps her cool, sees what he needs, and gives it to him. Almost every ASD child I know in my son's age group and below has been doing really well, simply because we understand it all so much better than we used to. That is 90% of it, I really believe that, and you've already got that one covered if you're coming to places like this. Deep breathe, enjoy life. Enjoy your child. What is going to happen, is going to happen. Or not happen. He's so little! Who knows what your road will be.

Well they can probably get treatment Canada if they pay for it. They got a diagnosis. Here they would have to pay too. I think they are being denied the insurance or government funding. Right?

Thanks DW mom - Best advice I have gotten since I started this journey. I guess I just got caught up in the early intervention is necessary mantra that I have been reading about.

Well they can probably get treatment Canada if they pay for it. They got a diagnosis. Here they would have to pay too. I think they are being denied the insurance or government funding. Right?[/quote]

Right, we get $22,000 per year for treatment for children under 6 years old, thanks to our incredibly high tax rates. It is too much for us to pay on our own right now, but if we wait to get him reassessed when he is 18 months old then the government will pay for it. It is just sh***y that we paid for a private assessment ($2450) in order to access the funding right away (instead of waiting 8 months for the public system to diagnose him). Being told that your child has autism, but that he is not able to access the funding that every other child in your province is able to get is the frustrating part.

Well. I feel for you. I'm sure your frustrated. Are there any local advocacy groups that can help you? Any groups that provide free services in your area?

I've had my share of problems too and I have to pay out of pocket for some of my DDs therapy etc. Our insurance is kind of crap here and we pay for it too. It doesn't cover everything. Oh how I wish we had free healthcare.

P.S. I hope he gets the help he needs ASAP.

You know what Inuyasha, this board and this thread are not the time and place. When our parents want to debate healthcare systems with you they'll visit PPR.

Glad it helped.

You're a can do mom, so you are trying to do. But there are always other ways.

Hate to rain on your parade DW_a_mom, but early intervention can help as long as it isn't that crackpot's early intervention that uses behavioral conditioning. From infancy to about two years old is an extremely critical time period that can set the stage for future development.

It's only been fairly recently that autism started being diagnosed at very young ages -- do you have any information to back up this opinion? Not about the critical early development, but about early intervention in that time.

I was concerned about my son when he very young, but he wasn't diagnosed til almost 3. But his early development featured lots of holding, lots of reading, lots of singing. I think those all helped him develop just as much as they help any NT baby.

Opponents of one system or another always seem to think that it there is a situation where the system they oppose failed then it's a damning indictment of the whole system and prof that it doesn't work, but failure in their own system is not seen as evidence of anything

Yes, in Canada she is forced to wait until her child is 18 months old to get a free diagnosis and 22,000 per year. Where as here in the great USA we have have the luxury of not getting a diagnosis till the child is 6 years old, and then no money whatsoever.

Just because you don't like one aspect of what the government does, doesn't mean it is as bad as you think.

That being said, if you are concerned about your child's development, one of the first things to work on is effective communication. To that end, things like PECs or sign language are a decent way to start off with a very young child. But aside from that, I am not sure what you expect to spend the money on. There isn't anything a specialized therapist can do that you can't do at home for free.