Autism Program

April 2, 2021

Today on World Autism Day CHEO is excited to announce our involvement in the Pediatric Autism Research Cohort (PARC) study — a multisite study that will examine the diverse and changing trajectories of children with autism and their families and to help position them on a positive developmental path toward optimal outcomes.

“We see this research as an important way to help enhance communication between clinicians and families as they work to develop and adapt intervention plans,” says Dr. Melissa Carter, a co‐investigator with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute in Ottawa, Ontario.

 CHEO is one of six  autism clinics who will participate in the study, With a projected recruitment of 1000 participants, PARC study is set to be one of the largest autism cohort studies ever conducted. Read the PARC study launch statement.  

February 3, 2021

Over 2,500 families have been served through CHEO’s Autism Program since 2018. According to a region-wide survey, 93% of families currently in service want to continue receiving service at CHEO. We are keen and committed to continuing to serve these children, youth and families.

Our expert team delivers high quality autism services that families count on. We are receiving today’s news like everyone else. And will carefully review it to learn how to continue to support children and youth with autism in our region.

Autism program - CHEO

November 26, 2020

Life in a rural town is challenging enough, but especially when it comes to accessing specialty health-care services. As the only autism provider who delivers home-based care to families in rural areas outside the Nation’s capital, CHEO’s Autism Program has been a beacon of hope for families who don’t have the option to travel long distances for therapy. Take some time to read Declan’s story and learn how rural in-home autism therapy is helping him live his #BestLife.

November 10, 2020

From the time of diagnosis, through to adulthood, supporting a child or youth with autism is a learning journey. Parents and caregivers have told us that waiting to access early intervention care is stressful — especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In response, CHEO is introducing a new program to teach caregivers critical skills for supporting recently diagnosed children. We have also expanded care for teenagers with ASD, adding programs for social skill building and job seeking. Learn more about our newest programs.

October 2020

Do you have an upcoming visit to the Brewer Park COVID-19 testing site with your child or youth? We put together a kid-friendly video to help your child prepare for their upcoming swab.

In the video you’ll take a walk through the testing site, see the types of testing rooms available for children and youth,  and learn what the swab looks and feels like. A special shout out to our Autism Family Advisory Committee for helping design this video!

September 2020

Family input is at the heart of everything we do at CHEO. Did you know CHEO’s Autism program has its own Family Advisory Committee (AFAC) that helps inform program updates and co-create new services? We are currently looking to further diversify our Autism Family Advisory committee by recruiting new members.

Please visit our AFAC webpage for more information about opportunities to volunteer your time as a Family Advisor.

August 2020

Families with children and youth with autism have told us that coping with the COVID-19 pandemic has been extra hard. Big changes in routines have lead to increased challenging behaviours, difficulty sleeping, and even fewer opportunities to build social skills.

CHEO has responded by creating some new programs related to these topics that families can access, free of charge. Registration for these programs (and more) is now open.

Monday, July 20, 2020

As a part of CHEO’s ongoing response to COVID-19 — and overwhelming interest from families who participated in our first round of virtual services — we will continue to offer virtual care options from July-September.

Services offered in the coming months reflect what families have told us is important. For example, getting ready to go back to school!

Our foundational family services will include our popular virtual education sessions. Each  session includes a question and discussion period and many offer follow-up 1:1 virtual consultations with an ABA-trained clinician. 

As always, CHEO is here for you and we want to support you however we can. If  you have feedback or questions, please reach out to us at autismemail@cheo.on.ca. 

Learn more and register

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

We know coronavirus has brought new and unforeseen challenges. We want to do everything we can to make sure all families are getting the support they need during this time. 

As part of CHEO’s response to COVID-19, we are offering free virtual care options in May and June for all interested families. Our focus is to help families, children and youth in creative ways — helping them maintain their skills and support one another while doing our part to flatten the curve.

Our free virtual care options include:

• virtual education sessions followed by two 1:1 virtual consultations with an ABA-trained clinician to discuss coping strategies
• virtual drop-in consultations with one of CHEO’s ABA-trained clinicians– three free sessions per month, per child

CHEO is here for you and we want to support you however we can. If there are any pressures you are facing during this time, or if you have feedback or questions, please reach out to us at autismemail@cheo.on.ca. 

Learn more and register

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

On Friday, January 24, the MCCSS announced changes to the Ontario Autism Program’s transition plan for families with existing behaviour plans through their website. At this time, CHEO does not have any more information beyond what is posted on the MCCSS web site, but we will continue to share any further government updates as they become available.

If your child has an existing EBBS service plan with CHEO or another private provider:

• you will continue to receive services outlined in your child’s existing behaviour plan until its end date
• your behaviour plan can then be extended with no gap in service, up to its current level of intensity, or less where clinically appropriate, until you transition into eligible core services offered in the new needs-based autism program
• clinicians will continue to review your child’s goals every six months to assess their progress and discuss a possible extension of a behaviour prior to your existing plan expiring

If you have any questions about the extension of your child’s plan, please discuss them with your clinical team to ensure that your child or youth is receiving the most appropriate care.

For the past year, families have told us they want CHEO to be part of the new OAP. As a public provider we remain committed to working with families, staff and the government to develop programs that support children and youth with autism and their families. CHEO will continue to offer bridge services until further decisions from the government are made.

December 17, 2019

Today, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services announced plans to implement a needs-based autism program in-line with the advisory panel's advice.

Congratulations to Anne Huot, who has been appointed the chair of the newly formed “implementation working group”. Anne has always been a tireless advocate for what families need. Anne will soon retire from her role at CHEO as Vice President, Child Development and Community Services but will continue to support children, youth and their families in this new role.

Our team of experts in the CHEO autism program and our leadership will carefully review what the government has announced today and we will continue to work with families, staff and the government to develop programs that can them. This has been a frustrating and overwhelming year for many, so we are hopeful that a needs-based Ontario Autism Program (OAP) will rollout smoothly and swiftly in 2020. Until then, we will offer bridge services; CHEO has the team, know-how and commitment to quickly rollout services and programs that families and the advisory panel say are needed.

For the past year, families have told us they want CHEO to be part of the new OAP. We are delighted with Minister's announcement that there will be multi-year, stable funding to allow public providers to support the kids and families who look to us for help.

September 28,2019

Thank you for your interest in CHEO.

The government will launch its new Ontario Autism Program by April 2020.

Until then, there are two streams of service under the current Ontario Autism Program. If you are currently in-service with us under the 2018-19 program, the government has decided that your plans will be extended. Please contact us to learn more.

For those who were still on the Ontario Autism Program waitlist as of April 1, 2019, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services has also started to issue cheques (known as Childhood Budgets).

CHEO does not manage the autism waitlist, the government does. We also don’t manage the Childhood Budgets; the government decides who comes off the waitlist and who gets a cheque.

You can choose to buy autism fall services packages from CHEO when you receive your Childhood Budget. If you have questions about this, please call us.

Our team of autism experts listened to families to develop these fall services packages. We’ve incorporated feedback from families currently in-service and from those who attended our family night events.

One thing we know for sure is that families want high-quality, effective services. By bundling different types of services together, CHEO is able to lower the costs to families in order to maximize Childhood Budgets.

In all other parts of CHEO today, we deliver services based on clinical need and greatest urgency but this is not how the government has set-up the Ontario Autism Program now or in the past. We are still learning how to operate in a fee-for-service system and we are doing our best to minimize negative impacts on families. We know this is a difficult time for many of you.

Once the government decides how the Ontario Autism Program will operate after April 1, 2020, we will determine what services we can offer long-term.  We remain committed to involving families and the community at-large in that decision once we learn more about the government’s new plan.  

Please contact us if you have questions at all. We know this is a stressful time for families and we are here to help you.

July 29, 2019 

Today, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS)  announced steps to move the Ontario Autism Program to a needs-based model. Families of children and youth currently in service with CHEO are invited to discuss their preferences for extending their current plans by speaking with their senior therapist or family support worker.

If you are unsure who to speak to, email autismemail@cheo.on.ca.  Families waiting for service will receive childhood budgets to purchase services and can choose CHEO or contact us for more information.

Read the MCSS news release.  

April 29, 2019

The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) has updated its website to share information about opportunities for public consultation on the new Ontario Autism Program. Specifically, the public can now register to attend town hall meetings by telephone during the month of May. For more information and to register for a MCCSS telephone town hall, visit its website.

April 24, 2019

Today, CHEO published its spring and summer autism services.

Earlier this year, the government of Ontario announced changes to its Ontario Autism Program (OAP). In short, over the next 18 months everyone with an autism diagnosis will receive money directly from the government to purchase autism services of their choice.

CHEO has had to create a fee schedule to deliver its autism services under the new OAP. The government is planning future consultations with families and therefore we expect the OAP to continue to be updated over the next several months. In the meantime, some families will be receiving their money from the government and may want to choose CHEO as their service delivery partner. Therefore, we have developed a Spring and Summer program with offerings to meet varying budgets and needs. This is not our long-term programming. The Spring and Summer offering will expire in September.

We will be hosting information sessions to help families navigate these offerings. Visit the Information sessions page to learn more and RSVP.

Those already in service under the OAP have been extended to summer and fall and do not need to buy autism services until the end of their current plan.

Here is a letter from Alex Munter, CHEO's CEO and President.

March 21, 2019

Today, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) made the following announcement: “Ontario enhancing support for children with autism.” These are significant changes to their plan announced on February 6. The ministry will soon be issuing directions to regional autism providers like CHEO regarding next steps. We know that families are trying to make plans for the coming months so it is our intention to announce our spring and summer programs as soon as the ministry provides more details about the changes announced today.

According to today's news, families currently in-service will be eligible for extended services. If you are currently in-service, please contact your family support worker next week as by then we'll have more information from the ministry about this to support you.

March 13, 2019

We have been advised by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) that they will shortly be providing information packages to families‎ about childhood budgets and will begin to transition to the new model of funding for the OAP.

While CHEO will continue its role providing diagnoses through the diagnostic hub, in the new system CHEO is being removed from its previous responsibility of managing the referral process and waitlist for the Ontario Autism Program. Therefore, the information package will include details on how to register for the new program. We are here to support you through this process.

Meanwhile, CHEO is negotiating with MCCSS regarding our 2019-20 budget and performance obligations. Throughout this process, we continue to advocate for increased funding and support for kids with ASD and their families. By April 1, we expect to be in a position to announce our Autism Program's service offerings for spring and summer. We recognize that this transition period is very difficult for families and will do everything we can to support you.

After April, we will begin the process of working with families, staff and the community to co-design CHEO's longer-term service offerings. If you would like to be involved in these discussions, please email autismemail@cheo.on.ca.

February 26, 2019

The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services informed us that they've updated their website to include more detailed information about the childhood budget and the income test.

February 25, 2019

Today, the Deputy Minister of Children, Community and Social Services issued a statement to clarify its instructions to autism agencies in October 2018. It is common practice to receive a directive from the government about the autism program. Last fall and again today, the government identified which children can access evidence-based behavioural services (priority groups). This directive will change, yet again, with the rollout of the new OAP after April 1, 2019. While CHEO does not make any of the decisions that lead to access challenges in the OAP, we do have to explain the Ministry's directives to families. If in attempt to explain the government's directives, we have contributed to a family's frustration about their situation - we apologize. Our only goal is to support families as best we can within the parameters we are given.

February 13, 2019

CHEO leadership reached out to the Autism Family Advisory Committee to indicate that family consultations will be integral to help reshape our program in the current environment. We will share more information about opportunities to share public feedback about our programs, after we learn more information from the Ministry.

February 7, 2019

CHEO leadership met with staff to indicate that our delivery model for offering behavioural interventions needs to change to fit within the government's new parameters. We don't have the answers about what this will look like, yet. We have been told by the government that 2019-2020 is a phase-in year although we do not yet have the details of what that means or how it will work. We have been advocating to the Ministry for high-quality, evidence-based autism services.

In-service families

CHEO staff are sharing the government's FAQs (frequently asked questions) with families currently in service. More information is found here.

Operational planning for CHEO's diagnostic hub

We are pleased to receive funding to expand the regional diagnostic hub for Eastern Ontario that we manage, which covers a large area from Oshawa to Hawkesbury. Based on direction from the Ministry, we are already working with our partners including Kids Inclusive (Kingston) Quinte Children's Centre (Belleville), Five Counties (Peterborough) and Grandview Kids (Oshawa) to ramp-up diagnoses across the region. More details to follow.

Operational planning for autism behavioural intervention services and supports (2019-20 and 2020-21)

We have not begun detailed operational planning yet, as we are still awaiting more information and guidance from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. We expect to meet soon with its Regional Office to understand what's next for CHEO in particular.

February 6, 2019

In response to the news, our CEO provided the following statement about the investment in diagnostic hubs, “At CHEO, we've worked hard to cut the wait for an autism diagnosis from well over a year to 24 weeks. With today's announcement, we will be able to further speed up diagnosis.” With respect to the announcement, Alex Munter said, “We look forward to working with Minister MacLeod, families and our staff to see how CHEO can be part of the new provincial autism strategy.”

More updates to follow as information is available. Please bookmark this page for future reference.