Parent Advocacy, Autism Services and the Lack of Decent Adult Autism Care in New Brunswick

In Canada October is our official Autism Awareness month.  

That is not as widely known as it might be for a number of reasons including the fact that we live next door to the large, influential United States where April is the official Autism Awareness month. A second reason is that we do not have a meaningful National Autism Strategy.  Here in Canada our federal government has taken a small and narrow approach to autism.  Our federal government plays no meaningful role in providing autism services across Canada and in fact plays no meaningful role in providing reliable evidence based information about autism.  For that reliable autism information parents and autism advocates have had to look to the United States for guidance. It is quite understandable in those circumstances if Canadians assume that April is also autism awareness month here in Canada. In some provinces though, particularly British Columbia and New Brunswick strong parent advocacy did lead to creation of evidence based autism services being available. 

Here in New Brunswick we live in one of Canada's smaller, less affluent provinces.  Nonetheless we were, for a while at least, a Canadian leader in provision of evidence based early autism intervention, thanks to strong parent advocacy and sound guidance about evidence based autism interventions from UNB Professor Emeritus (Psychology) and clinical psychologist Dr. Paul McDonnell. With the information base to which Paul McDonnell directed us, parents were able through determination and strong advocacy, to prompt our governments, both Conservative and Liberal,  to provide evidence based early intervention services, in both English and French at a level that was recognized by the Association for Science in Autism Treatment:

"ASAT Responds to Canadian CBC's "N.B. Can Be a Leader in Autism Services"

Saturday, October 23, 2010

I read with great interest your recent article about the state of services in New Brunswick (“N.B. Can Be a Leader in Autism Services," September 14, 2010). I do beg to differ about the title of the piece. New Brunswick is already a leader. To have amassed 800 trained agents of change in six years is nothing short of incredible and inspiring, particularly given the diversity of your province with respect to geography and language. Other Canadian provinces can look to New Brunswick for an exemplary model of how things could and should be for children with autism and their families.

There is a misconception that services in the United States are superior to that of our neighbors to the north. I can assure you that children with autism in rural areas and in economically depressed areas of the U.S. do not always access state of the art, science-based treatment such as those based on applied behavior analysis. In many cases throughout the US, children with autism receive poor quality behavior analytic services that may be lessened if providers were able to access more intensive training and networking opportunities similar to what is being offered in your province. Part of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT)'s mission is to help close that gap through information dissemination, and we are keenly interested in the efforts of leaders like yourself developing, implementing, and evaluating systems.

And like other true leaders, you have looked critically at your accomplishments with an eye toward making every year of service delivery better than the previous year. We applaud your recognition that treatment parameters such as intensity need to be tailored to each child to maximize gains. When resources are scarce, this individualization can be an arduous task, but nonetheless critically important. Equally important is the need to communicate to government officials, tax payers and other stakeholders that immense financial savings are attached to doing right by our children when they are young.

It is unfortunate that funding for parent training is not more abundant. Optimal outcomes for children with autism are predicated on the support of educated, informed and skillful parents. Promoting carryover, ensuring consistency, and enhancing skill development across all environments are crucial roles for parents, but parents require support and training to assume these crucial roles. Your stated concerns and insights about the dearth of services for adults are much appreciated, and reflect the challenges that we have here in the U.S as well.

Families of children with autism in New Brunswick are blessed. Keep fighting the good fight.

David Celiberti, Ph.D., BCBA-D, President

Association for Science in Autism Treatment"

The most advocacy focused organisation in New Brunswick was group, of which I was a founding member, called FACE ... Family Autism Center for Education. Despite the reference to Education in the title FACE was primarily an advocacy organization that. because of its advocacy focus, did not enjoy official charitable status. We met in my law office board room on King Street in Fredericton and we lobbied persistently online, through the "regular, mainstream" media such as CBC, Rogers Television, The Daily Gleaner and the Telegraph Journal.  Eventually we were able to convince more reluctant members of the provincial Autism Society to join our advocacy efforts and we returned to the Autism Society New Brunswick. Together parents stood in front of the Legislature and other provincial government buildings holding signs and making our voices heard.  

Ultimately we received conscientious, serious responses from high political leadership in the Conservative Bernard Lord government and subsequently in the Liberal Shawn Graham government. With responsive leadership from our provincial cabinets we were able, for a considerable period of time, to leap frog over the more bureaucratically inclined senior civil servants who wanted to go slow who lacked the understanding of the need for urgency in helping our autistic children. 

As noted by ASAT's David Celiberti we were able to establish a strong early intervention autism service base here in New Brunswick.  We were also successful in having our governments begin providing strong autism training to Teachers' Aides and Resource Teachers to assist autistic children in our schools.  That fight was somewhat more difficult.  "Educators" did not really see it as the place of parents to play a significant role in determining what services are available in NB schools.  Again, we appealed to our political leadership and with solid information from local experts like Paul McDonnell and US sources like ASAT,  the Office of the US Surgeon General and state autism reports from Maine, New York and California we were successful. We also used the tools at our disposal including appeals under our provincial Education Act and Human Rights Act to help our autistic children receive autism trained aides in our schools.

Strong parent advocates in British Columbia played a significant role in providing tools for New Brunswick parents to use in exerting political pressure here. The Hewko BC Supreme Court decision and the Auton BC Supreme Court  and Auton BC Appeal Court  decisions (until the latter was reversed by the Supreme Court of Canada) provided valuable tools to assist us in our advocacy here in NB.  Ontario parents fighting for autism education services in the Deskin-Wynberg litigation were also of great assistance to our efforts here in NB. 

New Brunswick parent advocacy was very successful in establishing the early intervention and school autism services here in NB.  We intentionally started out by focusing on early intervention services and then moved on to the school years.  Unfortunately the success we enjoyed in advocating for our children in early intervention and school services has not been repeated in the adult years. We are as we have been for many, many years largely bereft of any meaningful adult autism care residential care and treatment services.  Our more severely impaired autistic adults will, if they are lucky, live in group homes staffed by people with no autism specific training and little if any professional oversight. Those, like my son, who are severely autistic AND developmentally challenged will probably have to live in hospital facilities, again, if they are lucky.  New Brunswick has for many years ignored these serious needs of autistic adults although there are some signs of an awakening in the form of a pilot project involving the training of one service providers at one group home. 

We also have to continue the battle to make our civil servant decision makers understand that some people with autism have other challenges which present themselves which can provide very serious risks to the safety of autistic adults. Many with autism and intellectual disability also suffer from seizures, some of which are life threatening.  Some on the autism spectrum, including some with higher functioning levels also suffer from serious challenges like depression, challenges which may be made very difficult to address because of their autism disorders. 

In Autism Awareness Month in Canada we still lack a meaningful National Autism Strategy.  Here in New Brunswick our successes at early intervention are still recognized as in they were by ASAT in 2010 and by a mother who recently returned to NB from Ontario to open a Bistro in her hometown of Woodstock and because New Brunswick offered better autism services for her autistic son than those that were available in Ontario:

"Opening a restaurant, however, was not the motivation to bring McQuade back to Carleton County. She has a four-year-old son with autism, and she says the treatment in New Brunswick is more accessible and better than what was available to her in Ontario."

A new bistro in the square, Telegraph Journal, September 5, 2013

Many New Brunswick parents whose children are currently receiving early autism intervention services or school autism services may be unaware that it was parent advocacy that led to the creation of these services.  We have to be vigilant to maintain and expand these services at the early and school years. And we absolutely have to work to bring to the attention of government the need for a full range of autism residential care services and for the end of policies of excluding adults with Aspergers/autism from other mental health services.

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Adult Autism Care in New Brunswick: An Open Letter to Premier David Alward

 

May 6, 2013

Honourable Premier David Alward

Respected Cabinet Ministers and Party Leaders

Dear Premier Alward

I am the Acting President of the Autism Society New Brunswick  and a parent that was involved, with many  other parents, in the advocacy that led to the establishment of the UNB-CEL autism intervention training program, the provision of early autism intervention to children aged 2-5, UNB-CEL  autism specific training of Education Aides and Resource Teachers and the reversal of the decision to close the Stan Cassidy Center tertiary care autism team. We also argued with some modest success for an evidence based, student centered, definition of inclusive education. We have been less successful in advocating for  a continuum of placement options to accommodate the varied, complex needs of autistic students although individualized instruction does continue in some schools. 

 

Autism successes in New Brunswick have resulted from many factors including access to sound, knowledgeable, professional advice that oriented us toward evidence based, scientific goals to assist our children's very challenging needs and responsive  leadership in the Lord and Graham governments.  Despite these gains, which are in need of further refinement and advancement,  we must, with sorrow, shame, and fear, acknowledge that  we have to date failed to see any substantial improvements in services  for New Brunswick adults with autism disorders. That failure, like the aforementioned successes, must be shared by parent advocates and government decision makers.

 

Several news agencies have highlighted events in Ontario where parents left their 19 year old severely autistic son with a government office because they were unable to continue providing him with the necessary level of care.  Many New Brunswick parents including me, and my wife, have also long feared that day. That fear grows stronger with each year of non action, each year of failure to address seriously the needs of autistic adults across the autism spectrum. 

 

Many parents in New Brunswick seek meaningful assistance to help care for their adult autistic children in their homes.  Obviously at some point parents grow too old or exhausted and ultimately become enfeebled and pass on. We do so  with the knowledge that no credible, comprehensive autism care system is in place to care for our adult autistic children who require assistance when we can no longer help them.  Moderately to severely autistic and intellectually challenged autistic adult children will face serious difficulty living in group homes with untrained staff and non existent educational and social options.  Our most severely affected autistic adults will live in the Restigouche Regional Hospital psychiatric unit or in facilities out of  province like the Spurwink facility in Maine. 

 

Money is always an issue in government decision making and that is understood by all.  However, the failed group home system that exists in NB   also carries costs such as placements in Spurwink Maine at several hundred thousand dollars a year per individual.  Money is part of the problem but so too is the overwhelming dominance of the "community"philosophy in the mindsets of NB's public decision makers.  There is no question that those who have promoted the community/inclusion model in NB have made very substantial contributions to the lives of most persons with disabilities in our province but  the dominance of their beliefs, and the rigidity with which they are maintained, precludes the development of evidence based alternatives and prohibits the development of a facility that can provide permanent residential care and treatment for those with severe autism and co-morbid disorder challenges.  

 

Autistic residents of group homes have been charged with assault when in conflict with untrained staff.  An autistic youth was housed temporarily on the grounds of the Miramichi correctional facility and at least two New Brunswick residents with autism have been sent to Spurwink in neighboring Maine.  We do not have a modern, professional,  permanent residential care and treatment facility for adult New Brunswickers with severe autism in large part because of the rigid adherence to a decades old philosophy that simply ignores contrary evidence including those persons who are sent to psychiatric and general hospital wards, out of province facilities and correctional facilities to spend their lives.  Public events to discuss disability policies and service requirements are typically organized in pre-arranged "table discussion" formats that prevent serious open discussion of contentious issues.

 

Over the last decade the Autism Society New Brunswick advocated for a continuum of residential care and treatment options to provide for our autistic adult children.  Three years ago, during the 2010 provincial election,  UNB Professor Emeritus (Psychology) and practicing clinical psychologist Paul McDonnell articulated in a CBC interview the concept of a continuum or network of residential care and treatment center.  Professor McDonnell spoke of the need for a modern adult autism residential care and treatment system in New Brunswick with a center that would provide residential care and treatment for those severely affected by autism, a center that could also assist in the training and service provision in group homes and facilities in communities around the province.  The center would be a modern facility that could provide educational and social elements in the lives of severely autistic adults. No progress has been made in moving towards such a home grown solution notwithstanding the international recognition that NB received for its successful UNB-CEL early intervention autism training program.

 

On behalf of the Autism Society New Brunswick, and parents of autistic children and adults, I ask you Mr. Premier to commit to the modern, professional system of adult autism residential care  articulated by Professor McDonnell.  An adult autism residential care and treatment facility based in Fredericton, with professional administration, trained staff, evidence based treatment,  education and social programs for the residents is needed.  An autism center would  provide desperately needed  permanent residency for the most severely affected by autism disorders, training and advice for staff in community based group homes, and assistance for parents whose adult children are still living with them.  The Fredericton location would be centrally located and in close proximity to other New Brunswick autism successes and expertise at UNB and the Stan Cassidy Center.  

 

Much time has passed with no serious response to our calls to address the needs of autistic adults. There has been no progress to date. Hopefully that will now change and work can begin as soon as possible on the development of an autism residential care and treatment facility.

  

Respectfully,

Harold L Doherty

Fredericton

cc. ASNB

      media

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Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr Opens a Dialogue with the Autism Society New Brunswick

L: Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr

R: Autism Society New Brunswick Acting President Harold Doherty

The Autism Society New Brunswick meeting last Saturday March 23, 2013 was scheduled to be a regular meeting with election of a new Board of Directors and routine business.  That plan was changed, the election was adjourned, at my request, and after passage of a motion to that effect, and the routine business, for very good reason did not take place.  Instead ASNB took full advantage of the presence at our meeting of Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr.  

Minister Carr had to adjust his schedule to attend and we only received confirmation he would be there the day before the meeting. The brief notice though did not reflect the nature of Minister Carr's attendance.  He was present for the entire meeting, he participated actively throughout, took notes and answered questions openly and directly.  In the 12+ years that I have been an active autism advocate we have had meetings with premiers and cabinet ministers in their offices but this was the first time  I know of that a cabinet minister actually came to one of our meetings.   

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr attended our meeting and to his credit was fully engaged.  Details of the meeting and discussions with the Minister will be published soon.  For today I would like to say thank you to Minister Carr for his presence and active participation at our meeting.  We look forward to future discussion with you,  and hopefully your colleagues, of matters affecting New Brunswick children and adults with autism.

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New Brunswick's Extreme Inclusion Fantasy Harms Some Children With Severe Autism Challenges

Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr 

 EECD/NBACL Event Focus on Inclusion: Walking in our shoes.

Minister Carr spoke for 40 minutes, repeating the word

 inclusion 30 - 40 times but never mentioning  evidence based 

accommodation of individual needs and challenges 

Premier David Alward's government has transferred control over New Brunswick education policies and practices to the NB Association for Community Living.  The NBACL is, beyond doubt, an organization of  people with good intentions committed to improving the lives of those with intellectual challenges.  I wish , as the father of a son with severe autism disorder and profound developmental delays I could support them.   Unfortunately the NBACL, and its federal counterpart the CACL, have subscribed for decades to a philosophical, non-evidence based, belief  that all children's best interests are served, protected and accommodated by placement in a regular classroom. Alternative learning arrangements are demonized as "segregation" when in fact such arrangements constitute evidence based accommodation of disabilities that some children, including my son with severe autistic disorder and profound developmental delays, need in order to gain access to a real education.  

In handing control over the education of children with disability challenges to NBACL the Alward government is acting in defiance of its obligation to ensure that education decision making represent the best interests of children founded on evidence.  It has placed many children with autism and other severe disability challenges at risk of being deprived of meaningful access to a real education, at risk of suffering mental and physical harm and at risk of being charged with criminal offences.  The Alward government has sacrificed some children with autism disorders and other disabilities to a fairy tale, one that is known to be untrue by many teachers, education assistants and parents.

In handing control over education of children with disability challenges to NBACL the Alward government  has abandoned democratic principles by surrendering one of government's most important responsibilities to an outside organization unaccountable to voters.  Equally concerning is the fact that the NBACL does not subscribe to modern, evidence based approaches to educating children with disabilities.

The NBACL adheres to one philosophical principle which it places above the best interests of individual students and which ignores the government's existing Inclusive Education Definition policy which requires education decision making based on the individual needs of the student and founded on evidence (not simplistic extreme inclusion philosophy) ... needs which in some cases, such as my severely autistic son, require education outside the regular classroom.  In any public discussion by NBACL reps of the Inclusive Education Definition no mention is made of the stipulation that inclusive education decision making is premised on  individual student needs  based on an a foundation of evidence requirement.  Nor is any mention made of the  fact that students with special challenges, autistic students in particular, in some instances very young, grade school students, are sent home from school when they can not function in NBACL inclusive classrooms. 

My son is severely autistic with profound developmental delays.  He has been well accommodated in Fredericton schools since he was removed from the regular classroom at our request. He was overwhelmed in the regular classroom and came home each day with bite marks on his hands until he was removed to an alternate, individualized instruction area where he worked with an autism trained Education Aide.  Some children for whom the regular classroom is not the answer are not as fortunate though; some are expelled from NB schools, sometimes under police escort, and some are charged with assault when their behavior, their inability to exist and function in the NBACL dominated school system results.  It is always the child who is blamed never the ridiculously simple, non evidence based, unthinking philosophy of the NBACL which is forced on parents, education assistants, teachers, resource teachers and education department officials who must fall in line and repeat the NBACL belief in extreme, everyone in the regular classroom fairy tale.

The children who are sent home and in some cases charged with criminal offences are powerful evidence that the simplistic everybody in the mainstream classroom philosophy is a failure that has hurt some children and impedes their access to a meaningful education contrary to the Education Act, the official Definition of Inclusive Education and contrary to principles enunciated in the Moore decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.

New Brunswick Inclusive Education Definition 

The New Brunswick government  Inclusive Education Definition  resulted from two inclusive education reviews: the MacKay and Ministerial Committee reviews. Both were initiated by the Lord government although the Ministerial Committee review continued under the Graham government during which time the Inclusive Education definition, after years of consultation with a wide range of stakeholders,  was concluded. I attended throughout both proceedings as an Autism Society New Brunswick representative,  and advocated, over the persistent opposition of NBACL representatives, for an evidence based approach to the individual education needs of students.  Those principles are set out throughout the Inclusive Education definition but particularly in the vision statement, the student centered principles and the accommodation sections (underlining added for emphasis):

"Inclusive Education

I. Vision

An evolving and systemic model of inclusive education where all children reach their full learning potential and decisions are based on the individual needs of the student and founded on evidence 

III. Overarching Principles

The provision of inclusive public education is based on three complementary principles:

(1) public education is universal - the provincial curriculum is provided equitably to all students and this is done in an inclusive, common learning environment shared among age-appropriate, neighbourhood peers;

(2) public education is individualized - the success of each student depends on the degree to which education is based on the student’s best interests and responds to his or her strengths and needs; and 

(3) public education is flexible and responsive to change.

Recognizing that every student can learn, the personnel of the New Brunswick public education system will provide a quality inclusive education to each student ensuring that: 

Student-centered 

1. all actions pertaining to a student are guided by the best interest of the student as determined through competent examination of the available evidence;

2. all students are respected as individuals. Their strengths, abilities and diverse learning needs are recognized as their foundation for learning and their learning challenges are identified, understood and accommodated; 

3. all students have the right to learn in a positive learning environment;


IV. Accommodation 

Accommodation means changing learning conditions to meet student needs rather than requiring students to fit system needs. Based on analysis, student needs may be met through individual accommodation or, in some cases, through universal responses that meet the individual student’s 

needs as well as those of other students.

The NBACL  now determines education policy and indoctrinates NB teachers and educators but it ignores the principles of evidence based accommodation of individual students and insists on regular classroom placement for all students regardless of needs.  Some may dispute these  points but they are  derived from repeated public statements:

2012 - David Alward's Admission That Community Living Association Sets Policy and Indoctrinates Senior Government Officials

New Brunswick Premier David Alward has publicly acknowledged the role of the New Brunswick Association for Community Living related organizations in setting inclusion and disability policy in New Brunswick as was made clear on the community living organizations' IRIS site. IRIS is the Institute for Research and Development and Inclusion in Society. It purports to be the "research" branch of Community Living Assocations across Canada. The IRIS board of directors consists of present and former Community Living Association officials from accross Canada including former NBACL official Lorraine Silliphant.  

In February 2012 IRIS spent a week indoctrinating high ranking New Brunswick education officials including Deputy Ministers and Assistant Deputy Ministers in the Community Living Association philosophy based policies of full mainstream classroom inclusion as was bragged about on the IRIS web site:

"Premier Alward of New Brunswick acknowledges IRIS’ ‘Policy Making for Inclusion – Leadership Development Program’

New Brunswick Premier David Alward issued a letter Friday February 4th to all participants in the ‘Policy Making for Inclusion – Leadership Development Program’ that will be delivered in Fredericton by IRIS February 6-10 to senior officials with the Government of New Brunswick. The program is designed to assist policy makers achieve the government’s platform commitment to “enable New Brunswickers with disabilities to actively participate in all aspects of society and take their rightful place as full citizens.” With Deputy Ministers, Assistant Deputy Ministers, Human Resources Directors and Policy/Program Directors from across government participating in the week-long series of leadership development workshops, major strides will be taken towards creating a public service in New Brunswick ready and able to deliver on the government commitment to people with disabilities. In his letter, Premier Alward thanked The Institute “for developing this program to inform our public servants on the latest research on disability and inclusion…” A core resource for the program is the guide to Disability and Inclusion Based Policy Analysis just published by The Institute." 

2013 - NBACL  Trains Principals and Teachers

"25 FEB 2013 11:00PM

SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY LIVING ASSOCIATION PARTNER UP

CAROLYN THOMPSON

TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

SAINT JOHN – Schools in southern New Brunswick are seeking support from the New Brunswick Association for Community Living in training principals and teachers on inclusive education approaches.

Shana Soucy, manager of inclusive education for the association, said research has shown that without leaders who champion inclusive education, schools have a more difficult time implementing policies to make learning accessible to all students.

“I think we are doing a lot better with having the kids in the classroom, but are they really included in the lessons or are they just sitting there. We don’t want the segregation in the classroom, we want them to be included in the lesson,” she said."

NBACL Manager of Inclusive Education Shana Soucy identified problems, with inclusive education in New Brunswick, on the NBACL Blog site:

Even though Bill 85 was introduced in 1986 stating the full participation of all students in all aspects of school and community life, without regard to their disability or difficulty, we are still coming across many issues regarding exclusion:

• Segregated classrooms and segregated programs across schools in New Brunswick
• Modifications and accommodations are not being properly done to students’ lessons as noted in their Special Education Plans in order for them to have success in school
• Some students are being excluded from school activities (ie: field trips)
• Students are not only excluded from the regular classroom, they are not able to have lunch in the school cafeteria, instead, having their lunch with other students with a disability and Educational Assistants in the Resource room of the school

Some of what Ms Soucy describes as "segregated" classrooms  and "segregated" programs" are actually evidence based accommodations of the needs of some students with autism disorders like my son Conor who was overwhelmed in the regular classroom and who receives individualized ABA based instruction which is not assisted by being in a regular classroom with other students.  In other words the NBACL officials who now set education policies and train senior government officials, educators and teachers describe evidence based accommodation of the individual needs of some autistic students, including my son, as segregation, as inclusion "issues".   Ms Soucy insults and attacks accommodations specifically made to help children like my son with severe autism and intellectual disability challenges. 

NBACL Inclusve Education Manager Soucy's comments about the Resource room are an insult to students like my son who starts his day and has lunch in the resource room and enjoys tremendously his  time at the Resource Centre at Leo Hayes HS.  Ms. Soucy's issues with Resource Centres are not my son's issues.  Following is a picture of my son on St. Patrick's Day, March 17  2011 as he prepared to leave for school to start his day at the LHHS resource center.  He does not feel like he is being excluded or segregated at all.  He is fact being accommodated and enjoys his learning experience:

My happy, smiling son Conor can't wait to get to LHHS with a 

resource  center for some  purposes and individual environments 

for his  ABA based learning.  He also uses resources such as the

 gym, library, and swimming  pool in common with all students. 

For Conor these arrangements represent accommodation not segregation. 

Contrary to Ms Soucy's  non evidence, philosophy based, beliefs Conor loves his time at the resource centre and his so called "segregated" individualized, evidence based, ABA instruction.  Each evening he packs his lunch bag, places it in his school bag and when he gets up places it in front of the door to make sure it accompanies him to school.  These resources have been vital accommodations of his needs as a student with severe autistic disorder and profound developmental delays.  NBACL has clearly targeted for closure resource centers and individual areas of instruction in NB schools. I am very concerned that the fundamental ignorance of the NBACL adherents will deprive my son, and others whose needs are accommodated outside the regular classroom of these very valuable accommodations of their individual needs.

Imposition of NBACL Icon Gordon Porter's Simplistic, Extreme Inclusion Philosophy on Department of Education and Early Childhood Development 

Even without the indoctrination of high ranking government officials in a week long inclusion training/indoctrination session based on  Community Living policies, and even without government contracting out "disablity" training of teachers to the NBACL on an ongoing basis, NBACL has exercised a dominant role in the current NB government. Gordon Porter, an icon of the NBACL and federal CACL organizations, was a member of the Alward transition advisory team and subsequently conducted, together with NBCLA director Angela Aucoin,  yet another inclusion review which was not conducted objectively or transparently and simply reflects Mr. Porter's philosophy as stated by him during a Newfoundland appearance and reported in a Western Star article by Diane Crocker:

"Inclusion in the classroom ‘simple,’ says educator: 

CORNER BROOK — Gordon Porter believes inclusion is the most natural thing in the world. The educator and director of Inclusive Education Initiatives presented a session on inclusive education at the Greenwood Inn and Suites on Thursday. Porter, who is also the editor of the Inclusive Education Canada website inclusiveeducation.ca, spoke to parents, educators and agency professionals who deal with children with special needs at the pre-conference for the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living Conference taking place in the city today and Saturday. The session was sponsored by the Community Inclusion Initiative. 

 Porter’s session revolved around the theme of parents and teachers working together to make inclusion work.“It means kids go to their neighbourhood schools with kids their own age in regular classes,” said Porter.“If you’re seven years, old you go to the school just down the street. You go in a class with other seven-year-olds, and you’re supported if you have extra needs. “It’s so simple, it’s that simple,” said Porter."

Mr. Porter will forever cling to his belief that inclusion is simple if you just dump everyone in the regular classroom regardless of their needs.  There is nothing simple about autism though and I defy anyone to point to an informed source that would say there is. As the parent of a severely autistic child with profound developmental delays, sensory issues and, like many autistic children, capable of engaging in serious self-injury when overwhelmed I can not allow myself to wallow in such ignorance.  

The new DSM5 autism spectrum disorder criterion B expressly recognizes highly restricted, fixated interests, excessive resistance to change, abnormal in intensity or focus, hyper-or-hypo-reactivity to sensory aspects of environment, factors which, for some students with autism make the regular classroom an obstacle to learning and a risk to the child's safety:

Movie theater chains have recognized autism challenges and realities by trying to present sensory friendly showings of some movies.  Self-injurious behavior, (such as head banging and .. hand biting), and responsive (not planned) aggression to others, are recognized as a common problem for many with autism disorders.  The appropriate, evidence based approach to dealing with such issues is to provide a continuum of alternative learning arrangements, meaningful learning and functioning with the environment selected and individualized assessments of students skills and abilities to function within the setting selected,   as described on the web site of the University of North Carolina TEACCH program which has substantial influence in academic and professional autism circles:

"TEACCH's position on inclusion of children with autism:

1. The TEACCH program recognizes the important value of preparing all persons with autism for successful functioning within society. Each person with autism should be taught with the goal of successful functioning with as few restrictions as is possible.
2. Decisions about including children with autism into fully integrated settings must be made consistent with the principle of the "least restrictive environment" as a guiding principle. No person with autism should be unnecessarily or inappropriately denied access to meaningful educational activities. However, it should be noted that the concept of least restrictive environment requires that appropriate learning take place. Placement decisions also require that students be capable of meaningful learning and functioning within the setting selected.
3. Activities which are inclusive for children with autism should be offered based on an individual assessment of the child's skills and abilities to function and participate in the setting. Inclusion activities are appropriate only when preceded by adequate assessment and pre-placement preparations including appropriate training. Inclusion activities typically need to be supported by professionals trained in autism who can provide assistance and objective evaluation of the appropriateness of the activity.
4. Inclusion should never replace a full continuum of service delivery, with different students with autism falling across the full spectrum. Full inclusion should be offered to all persons with autism who are capable of success in fully integrated settings. Partial inclusion is expected to be appropriate for other clients with autism. And special classes and schools should be retained as an option for those students with autism for whom these settings are the most meaningful and appropriate.

Extreme inclusion is not simple, those who truly believe it is do not have actual first hand knowledge of an overwhelmed autistic child who bites his hand in one of Mr. Porter's inclusive classrooms, or one who reacts to the stresses of school and is sent home under police escort; in some instances to face criminal charges.  Inclusion may be simple for Mr. Porter but the simple truth is that he just ignores the evidence, all the evidence, any evidence which contradicts his cherished, fairy tale belief that the regular classroom solves all problems, even evidence of physical and mental harm that results from imposition of extreme inclusion policies on all students regardless of their needs.

At a Fredericton session during the Porter-Aucoin review discussion focused on integrating early autism intervention services into a smooth transition into the school system. ASNB was not invited to the Porter-Aucoin inclusion review session even though it was our advocacy that resulted in the establishment in NB of evidence based early autism intervention AND in the training of 4-500 education assistants and resource teachers at the UNB-CEL Autism Training program (also established in response to our ASNB parent advocacy) a program recognized by the Association for Science in Autism Treatment as a Canadian leader in provision of evidence based intervention for autistic children.

I became aware of the meeting and asked to be able to attend.  The discussion went around the table and when it came to me and I tried to speak for the first time I was told by the person conducting the session that they wanted someone else to be given a chance to speak.  I did not understand her statement since I had not addressed the group but I did not object.  The discussion went around the table again and when I tried again to speak I was again told that  they wanted others to be given a chance to speak. I had said nothing during the discussion.  I asked if they wished me to leave and was told no and given a chance to speak although nothing I said was reflected in the report that was issued by Porter-Aucoin.

As an ASNB rep I advocated persistently for evidence based accommodation of autistic students including those who required learning outside the regular classroom.  During the MacKay review Mr. Porter grew visibly annoyed with me and another ASNB rep Dawn Bowie because of our position.  Mr. Porter informed us that "you people should be thankful for what you have".  I have never doubted since that day that Mr. Porter's attitude toward educating children with disabilities, even children with autism, a subject with which I and Mrs. Bowie were much more learned and experienced, must conform to his everybody in the classroom beliefs.  Neither Mr. Porter, nor NBACL paid officers or representatives have ever deviated one iota from his fanatical obsession with the regular classroom.

NBACL Dominance in the Alward-Carr Government

NBACL domination of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is clear and indisputable.  Apart from Alward transition adviser Gordon Porter, NBACL Official Krista Carr is the wife of Early Education and Childhood Development Minister Jody Carr. Minister Carr's brother Jack Carr, also a member of the governing Alward Conservatives, is a former NBACL employee.   Danny Soucy is the Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour and worked for both the New Brunswick Association for Community Living Inc. and the Canadian Association for Community Living from  1988 to his election in 2010.  Teachers who are most compliant with NBACL inclusion beliefs receive awards handed out by NBACL officials.

No one openly questions the philosophically based, non evidence based, policies of the NBACL which sets the Alward government's education policies.  Teachers, teacher aides/education assistants and other school personnel have told me off the record for many years, including during the MacKay and Ministerial Committee reviews that they sympathize with my concerns about accommodation of some children with autism, and other students who need an alternative place of learning, but they are unable to speak out.   The message is clear, those who conform to NBACL extreme inclusion doctrine will receive  awards handed out periodically by NBACL, those who don't ... well they have no choice but to conform.

Conclusion:

As a lawyer I have represented some students on the autism spectrum who have not been accommodated in the everybody in the classroom fantasy of the current Department of Education/NBACL administration. Some have suffered meltdowns for which they were blamed notwithstanding their known autism challenges.  Some   have been sent home under police escort and some have faced criminal charges.

The Autism Society of New Brunswick advocated during the MacKay and Ministerial Committee inclusion reviews for an evidence based approach to inclusive education which would see alternative learning arrangements for those who needed them.

In the current administration  philosophy trumps evidence based accommodation of individual needs.  Some students with autism disorders and other severe learning challenges are paying the price. 

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Off To The Autism Resources Miramichi AGM!

I am thrilled to be heading off shortly for Miramichi to attend the Annual General Meeting  of Autism Resources Miramichi Inc. at 139 Duke St. Starting at 12:00 noon.   ARM has been kind enough to offer me an opportunity to speak and provide an overview of the history of autism advocacy in New Brunswick over the past decade and to address our most pressing need .... adult autism care.  

Lila Barry of ARM is a former Autism Society New Brunswick president and was one of our most active and effective advocates for autism specific early intervention and school services and accommodation.  It will be great to see Lila and her family and other friends from the Miramichi.   I will head up early so that I can drive slowly and hopefully see some opportunities to take a few pictures along the way. 

If anyone from the area reads this blog I hope to see you at noon today!

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Talking Autism In New Brunswick With NDP Leader Dominic Cardy

Together with New Brunswick's foremost autism expert, clinical psychologist and UNB Professor Emeritus (Psychology) Paul McDonnell,  I enjoyed a visit to NB NDP headquarters on Prospect Street in Fredericton this afternoon for a direct, candid and open minded discussion about autism services in New Brunswick with NDP leader Dominic Cardy and NB NDP Executive Director Amanda Francis.  We covered a lot of ground with Paul reviewing early intervention, school and adult care autism services along with the parent advocacy that led to those services being provided. (I chimed in on occasion).  

In fact everyone contributed to the discussion. It was refreshing to discuss autism issues without having to break through a fixed mindset.  Mr. Cardy's office had responded promptly to the February 7. 2013 Autism Society New Brunswick invitation to attend our AGM  and Ms Francis indicated Mr. Cardy would be pleased to meet with us.  With all the news breaking this week of the NDP role in the anti-patronage bill and former Liberal Minister Kelly Lamrock joining the NDP I was fully expecting a postponement of the meeting.  The meeting went ahead though and it was everything you could hope for in discussing a cause, in our case autism, with a political leader. 

Mr. Cardy also re-affirmed his commitment to attending the Autism Society New Brunswick meeting at UNB Fredericton, MacLaggan Hall  on March 23 beginning at 12:30.  

On behalf of ASNB I want to thank Mr. Cardy and Ms. Francis and say that we look forward to continuing the discussion!

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No Meaningful Inclusion, No Community Living for NB Youth and Adults With Severe Autism Challenges

                                              Resigchouche Regional Hospital Centre

As an Autism Society New Brunswick representative I attended a meeting held at the Restigouche Regional Hospital Centre a few years ago to participate in a meeting to review the operations of the RRHC and to vote on its future, specifically whether to continue to operate or to close. I voted to continue to operate the RRHC. There were autistic adults who had been living there for many years.  No alternative in New Brunswick then existed for these adults with severe autism challenges.  The vote was conducted and reluctantly agreed to by me, and all other stakeholders present, because no alternative accommodations existed in NB for the residents of the facility.  Today  no alternative has been developed despite representations made to government over and over and over again.

Millions forWoodstock Civic Center But No Time to Answer a Simple Adult Autism Care Question, Facing Autism in NB January 25, 2012

As the title to the above comment I made on this blog on January 25, 2012 indicates money is not necessarily an obstacle to construction of a modern, humane adult autism care network.  Money despite challenging economic times has been available for projects such as the Civic Centre for residents of Premier Alward's riding. Money has also been spent on sending autistic youth and adults out of New Brunswick to receive the care we could provide in New Brunswick if outdated, non evidence based models of community and inclusion did not dominate the thinking of our government leaders, educators and service providers. As former Conservative cabinet minister Tony Huntjens indicates in his comment on the above post between $300,000-$600,000 annually has been spent on just 1 or 2 persons living at Spurwink, money that could be used to build a network of adult autism facilities here in NB:

I totally agree with you Harold. When I was minister of FCS we had to use facilities in the State of Maine at an annual cost of $300,000 per person. I had planned on pursuing the initiative you speak of using the State of Maine model...this would keep the autistic person closer to home in familiar surroundings, it would create employment so that the $600,000 now spent in Maine could be used to pay for these services at home. As you know, my efforts were derailed and I had to resign as minister. These financial facts I speak of need to be brought to the attention of the present government...perhaps they will see the light.

Keep up the fight and I personally wish you the very best of luck.

Tony Huntjens, January 2012

Tony Huntjens was a cabinet minister during the Lord government years and showed himself to be  a true friend of New Brunswick's autism community as he remains to this day.  Although not a member of the legislature, or the current  government he has continued to be a supporter of children and adults with autism. I attended a meeting with a minister of the current administration on adult care over a year ago in which Mr. Huntjen advocated forcefully  for autistic adults in New Brunswick. His efforts, and those of everyone who attended the meeting were not met with any results by this current government which believes that all needs of autistic children and adults can be addressed by feel good cliches about community and inclusion.  His comments 13 months ago on this site are an accurate reflection of what took place almost a decade ago.  The adult autism care he described then remains largely unchanged today.  

Things were so bad then that an autistic boy was housed on the grounds of a youth correctional centre, a jail, before being sent out of the country to the Spurwink facility in Maine where the $600,000.00 annually that Mr. Huntjens spoke of was being spent.   Matters have not improved under the current Alward-NBACL government.    Things were bad then and ... they are not one bit better today.  

Social policies including  early intervention, education and adult residential care policies are now set largely by the New Brunswick Association for Community Living  which has extremely close ties to the current government.  Despite the wonderful sounding name NBACL turns its head the other way when autistic children are excluded from New Brunswick schools and autistic adults are sent to live on general and psychiatric hospital wards ... if they have anywhere to live at all. 

The Autism Society New Brunswick made representations annually to the Lord, Graham, and  the Alward government,  to develop a modern, humane autism residential care network as described by autism expert Paul McDonnell a Psychology Professor Emeritus and practicing clinical psychologist who was instrumental in the autism progress New Brunswick made in the pre-Alward era.  

Unfortunately the Alward government has not seen the light as Mr. Huntjens had hoped.  New Brunswick adults with autism and their families have no reasonable basis on which to believe that their needs will be met, or that their voices will even be heard (1a,b),  during the reign of the current administration.

For New Brunswick youth and adults with severe autism challenges inclusion and community living are simply cliches uttered incessantly by those who pretend to care about their well being. 

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(1) (a) 

January 4 2012

Dear Honourable Premier, Honourable Ministers 

and Respected Recipients

Re: Adult Autism Care And Treatment - NB Continues To Fail Autistic Adults In Need  

I am the father of a 16 year old son with severe Autistic Disorder and "profound developmental" delays. He is now 6'1" with the strong, solid physique his father once had in younger days.  At some point in the future I will be too frail to provide the care he requires and ultimately will of course no longer be available at all to help him. I began my involvement in autism advocacy in New Brunswick approximately 13 years ago.  Along with other determined parents I fought hard, very hard, for early evidence based intervention for autistic preschoolers and for the means to deliver those interventions. I advocated strenuously for autism specific trained education assistants, teachers and resource teachers. Some success has been enjoyed because of the efforts of parents of autism in the area of preschool and school services. New Brunswick has even been cited as a model from which American authorities could learn by the Association for Science in Autism Treatment. The same can not be said, at all, when it comes to adult residential care and treatment 

I also advocated for  adjustments to the total inclusion education model in our schools.  My son's self inflicted bite marks on his hands and wrists declined and disappeared entirely once removed from the mainstream classroom where he was overstimulated, overwhelmed, frustrated and learning nothing because of his serious autism deficits. I have been a determined opponent of the excessive dominance in our schools and facilities of rigid, ideologically based inclusion and community models. This mindset discriminates against severely autistic persons by failing to accommodate their real needs.  Our children have, at times, been sacrifices to the vanity of a community movement which can not adjust to differing needs, experiences and expertise. I participated in regular disability committee meetings held by the Department of Education until they were disbanded, the MacKay review and the Ministerial Committe on Inclusive Education. Believe me or not but many teachers and teacher representatives have told me in confidence that they shared my aversion to the rigid inclusion model which has caused considerable suffering to some children and has disrupted the education of others unnecessarily. My son has been accommodated because of my advocacy and because educators who dealt directly with my son were conscientious, could see what he needed and acted in good faith to help him. I know that not all severely autistic children have been as fortunate.

Nowhere has the insistence on an inflexible and non evidence based inclusion model hurt autistic children and adults more though than in the area of  residential care and treatment as they move from childhood to adolescence and ultimately adulthood. What awaits is a model which includes a belief in "community" backed up by group homes with untrained, underpaid staffers at one end of a spectrum of care.  At the other end of that spectrum is the regional psychiatric care hospital in Campbellton. In between the two ends is a huge gap. What is need is at least one centrally located permanent residential care and treatment facility for severely autistic adults.  Such a facility could be modernized and based on existing models in the world. It could include the professional assistance needed to provide care for severely autistic adults in a setting designed to provide them with a decent life, with continuing education and recreation opportunities.  The facility should be based in Fredericton, not because I live here but because Fredericton is where our evidence based autism interventions and facilities began and grew.  It is centrally located and it has a naturalistic environment with many woodlands, trails, parks and outdoor areas together with indoor recreational and entertainment facilities. 

I realize the current economic realities in NB, in Canada and the world work against any consideration of the type of facility that is needed. But economic realities always weigh in and have done so over the last decade that I have been involved with trying to advocate for a reality based, evidence based residential facility for autistic adults in need of a permanent home when their parents age and pass on.  Ever present too, and just as big an obstacle, is the belief that citing "community" cliches will actually help those who are most in need of help. 

I have visited Centracare years ago with the father of a adult autistic son who resided there at the time. He told me of seeing his son dressed in a hospital "johnny shirt" in a room with a cement room and a liquid substance on the floor. I did not know whether to believe  him or not until we arrived and again found him in the same room in the same condition. At least one autistic youth and one adult have been sent to a facility in Maine at considerable financial expense and considerable emotional stress for families living on the other side of an international border.  I have had parents email me to tell me of their young adult autistic children hitting their head and having to wear self protective head gear at home while parents struggled to provide care. I was told of an autistic adult living on a general hospital ward for a time in Saint John. I am aware, as are we all, of the autistic youth who lived for a time on the grounds of the Miramichi youth correctional facility before being sent to the a Spurwink facility in Maine. 

In early intervention and in school services both Liberal and Conservative governments have been of some assistance, have helped to provide needed, evidence based services to some extent. I ask that the same spirit be applied to developing a modern, decent residential and treatment facility for severely challenged autistic adults in New Brunswick. Nothing has been done for years.  We have failed New Brunswick's severely challenged autistic adults. Community rhetoric has not helped.  Autistic adults need a place to live.  My son will need a place to live with access to professional autism care and autism trained staff, a place with educational and recreational dimensions to provide a decent life for him and others like him.

Please advise whether your government is considering helping autistic adults and is working on a modern, reality based model.  If that is not in the works, please say so straight up.

Respectfully,

Harold L Doherty, 

Conor's Dad

Fredericton (Nashwaaksis)

(1)(b)

Dubé, Hon. Madeleine (DH/MS)	1/5/12
to me

On behalf of Minister Dubé, I acknowledge receipt of your email.  Please be assured that it will be brought to her attention. 

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Minister. 

Yours, 

Lynda Godbout

Executive Secretary/Secrétaire exécutive

Minister's Cabinet/Cabinet de la ministre

Minister of Health/Ministre de santé

Tel: (506) 457-4800

Fax: (506)453-5442

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