Ontario mother quits job to drive son to autism program

A Harriston, Ont. mother says she is being forced to choose between her income and an autism program necessary for her son’s development.

Samantha Greer is a mother of three, and her three-year-old son Maverick is autistic and non-verbal.

“Maverick struggles with back-and-forth conversational communication,” she said. “He will be up half the night. And he struggles with social dynamics. He doesn’t seem to need anyone else around.”

The young boy was accepted into the provincially-funded Entry to School (ETS) for Autism Program. Over the course of six months, children with autism learn school routines and how to socialize to help with the transition into junior kindergarten.

She heard about the program through KidsAbility, which supports children and youth through clinical treatments, specialized programs and therapies.

“Our hope is that he’ll enter junior kindergarten at our local school in the fall,” said Greer.

Here’s the catch – the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) funds the ETS program through KidsAbility in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph. The closest location for the Greer family is the Guelph one, which is over an hour away from their home in Harriston.

“What this means is I can’t work a full day or anywhere close to even a half day of work,” said Greer.

That’s because Maverick was accepted into the afternoon cohort which runs from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Greer said she’ll now have to quit her job as a licensed home daycare provider in order to drive her son to the program, as she has no other options to get him there.

The result is a daycare debacle for the families she serves.

“There’s nobody within miles from here that is licensed. I’m the only one. And it’s putting my parents in a very difficult position,” she explained.

Greer feels forced to choose between her family’s financial wellbeing and her son’s access to the vital program. Even so, this move could be a gamble.

“Maverick has touch sensitivity. So for him to be in a car for over an hour both ways is going to be super mentally taxing on him. It could perhaps derail this whole attempt,” she said.

Samantha Greer hugs her three-year-old son Maverick. (Spencer Turcotte/CTV Kitchener)

Greer estimates this will cost her $430 per month in gas over the course of half a year due to the distance she has to travel. After she closes the doors on her daycare service in the coming weeks, it will result in significant financial strain since the family will rely only her husband to support them.

The family has to turn to the husband's 75-year-old parents to watch their two-year-old daughter and pick up their other son from school while Greer takes Maverick to the program every day. Considering both grandparents are immunocompromised, the family is worried about a backup option if they get sick and can't care for the kids during the day.

CTV News requested an interview with KidsAbility to address some of Greer’s concerns.

“We understand that distance from services can be a challenge for some families in rural communities,” KidsAbility CEO Jennifer Foster said, in part. “We offer the Entry to School program in the communities we have been able to consistently meet the enrollment requirements for both the morning and afternoon cohorts.”

CTV News also reached out to the MCCSS for an interview. Instead, they provided a statement highlighting their additional investment of $60 million to the Ontario Autism Program this year. The ministry said it has also given service providers more flexibility in the delivery of the ETS program.

MCCSS added that some service providers are working to establish satellite locations to deliver the program in less-populated locations. As well, the ministry said they’re working on offering mobile ETS delivery options where staff “go to a daycare, a family’s home or another community to deliver the program in person or virtually.”

Greer is hoping to put pressure on the province to bring change to areas like Wellington County, where she lives. She’s also started a petition hoping it helps ensure equal geographic access to publicly-funded school entry programs so other families aren’t faced with the same dilemma.

The bigger picture

Greer is also studying early childhood education online at Algonquin College. She said what she has learned prompted her to make the push to get her son in ETS program.

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development suggests early intervention, like the ETS program, is essential for children between two and four years old when it comes to their success and development.

Several research centres suggest early intervention can sometimes remove autistic children from the spectrum entirely.

It’s why Greer said she’s making such a significant sacrifice.

There are, however, significant gaps in rural communities when it comes to getting an autism diagnosis in the first place.

After moving from Ottawa, Greer said she wasn’t able to find a pediatric doctor in north or central Wellington where her family now lives.

She worries that if families aren’t getting those diagnoses early enough, it could cause a ripple effect when it comes to waitlists, and children aging out of government-funded services like the ETS program.

“Thank God we paid privately because we would have missed that core developmental window,” Greer said. “This program is crucial for those that get a late diagnosis.”