All children and youth who have an autism diagnosis will get the treatment they need for as long as they need it until they reach age 18, under a new Ontario autism program to be announced Thursday.

Details of the $533-million program, promised a year ago, are to be revealed at a news conference by Michael Coteau, Minister of Children and Youth Services, who took over the portfolio last June.

Under the plan, all children, regardless of age, the severity of their autism symptoms, or whether they have co-existing conditions, can receive provincially-funded therapy, government sources confirmed.

“We’re thrilled,” said Bruce McIntosh, president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group that has been calling for treatment based on need for the last 12 years, and fought to end wait lists — that sometimes dragged on for up to four years.

He called it “a huge sea change” from the previous system, which saw many young children deemed too severe or too “high-functioning” to be considered eligible for intensive treatment. Those who didn’t qualify, or were considered too old, could get limited behavioural therapy of a few hours a week to work on focused tasks.

“This approach is going to meet the needs of all children,” says McIntosh, who has two teenagers on the autism spectrum. “If you have autism, you’re going to get help. That’s what we’ve always wanted.”

Currently about 23,000 of the estimated 40,000 children and youth diagnosed with autism in Ontario are receiving or waiting for provincially funded autism services, McIntosh said. Under the new program, those numbers are expected to soar, with kids and teens able to get anywhere from a few hours a week of support to intensive levels.

The program is to be fully rolled out in the next year, though how potential wait lists will be managed in the transition is a big question.

The new autism program follows 15 months of chaos for many families of children with the developmental disorder. In a surprise move in March 2016, the province announced a new $333-autism program that made children 5 and older no longer eligible for intensive treatment from the province.

The controversial age cap, aimed at cutting wait times and providing treatment at younger ages, when it is most effective, backfired because it affected 3,500 children and left distressed parents suddenly without the help they had been promised.

The move was followed by three months of protests and a campaign dubbed #autismdoesntendat5 led by the Ontario Autism Coalition. By June, then-minister Tracy MacCharles was replaced in a cabinet shuffle by Coteau, who backed off the age cutoff and announced the program would be reworked, with an additional $200 million investment to make sure kids got services based on their needs. He also promised successive payments of $10,000 for children removed from wait lists to cover the costs of therapy until the new program was unveiled.

Sources said Wednesday that under the new program, each child’s treatment needs will be determined by a licensed clinician, and not by program guidelines, benchmarks, or availability of funds — similar to health-care needs.

Families can expect streamlined access to services, with a family plan and support worker helping and involving all family members. A child’s treatment plan will be transferable in the event the family moves to another region.

Last month, Coteau announced that under the new program, families will be able to get funds to hire their own qualified therapists or opt for services paid for and delivered through government-funded autism agencies.

The direct-funding option has been in huge demand because many families say it provides flexibility and gives them more control over who provides therapy, their child’s daily schedule and where it is given — including the choice to have it delivered at home.

Details including the amount per hour that will be provided to pay therapists will be available by year-end.

In another important move, Coteau is expected to announce Thursday the first steps towards regulating behaviour analysts who provide treatment in Ontario, sources said. The ministry intends to register them as regulated health professionals who would be subject to oversight, standards and a complaints mechanism. That move has long been called for by families and those who work in the field.

News of the program will likely come as a relief to many parents of children who were removed from treatment or taken off wait lists a year ago because they were considered too old.

Parents of others on the cusp of the age cap who had just begun treatment were also in a perpetual state of uncertainty, wondering how long it would last and what would happen when the new program was introduced.

Kitchener parent Jessica Perusco was cautiously optimistic Wednesday, saying the changes sound like good news. However, she reserved judgment until more details are provided, particularly about who makes the decisions about how much treatment children get.

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Her daughter Lucia, who turns 6 next month, has been receiving 20 hours a week of intensive autism treatment for the past year and “it’s working,” she says. She recently found out Lucia is eligible for another six months of treatment, but with the advent of the new program, has been anxious about whether that plan will proceed.

“She’s making significant gains and doing a lot of cool things that she couldn’t a year ago,” says Perusco. Lucia, who didn’t speak, is now putting words together to ask for a glass of milk or a toy from her 2-year-old brother Matteo. She sorts objects at kindergarten and is better able to focus on activities. But Perusco is anxious that more children getting services might mean less for children like Lucia who are already in treatment.

“It’s very exciting for all children, but I’m worried about what it means for my child.”