Autism and Related Disorders in New Brunswick

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Dear NB Government September 25, 2018:

Please don't forget to invest in the 1 in 59 NBers with autism spectrum disorders. Please invest in the health and well being of persons with autism including those who die 9 years earlier than persons in the general population at the higher functioning end and 30 years earlier on the severe end of the spectrum.(Personal Tragedies, Public Crisis, Autistica UK). NB has chosen to send severely autistic NBers to a Psychiatric Hospital on our Northern Border far from the vast majority of families and far from the World Recognized autism expertise developed in Fredericton. The Autism Village Model Proposal was submitted to Government in 2015 and ignored. Please at least read these 2 paragraphs from the introduction:

""It is therefore imperative that New Brunswick establishes an Autism Treatment and Residential Centre. The centre should be situated in Fredericton so that it is physically close to regional autism expertise at the UNB-CEL autism program and the Stan Cassidy Centre. The Centre would provide treatment for all autistic adults who are too old for treatment at the Stan Cassidy program and permanent residential care for the most severely autistic some of whom have been sent to the Spurwink Facility in the State of Maine and to the Restigouche Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Campbellton. Autism specific group homes around the province are required with autism trained staff and oversight from the Centre.

In this sense, the model proposed could be characterized as a “satellite” model in which the centre in Fredericton would be linked directly to a number of satellite homes around the province. Medical issues commonly associated with autism disorders including epilepsy and depression would also be treated in the context of persons suffering from autism and the extra challenges it presents to treating those common co-morbid conditions.""

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NB Needs an Adult Autism Center and Network

"Paul McDonnell, September, 2010 "Our greatest need at present is to develop services for adolescents and adults. What is needed is a range of residential and non-residential services and these services need to be staffed with behaviourally trained supervisors and therapists. In the past we have had the sad spectacle of individuals with autism being sent off to institutional settings such as the Campbellton psychiatric hospital, hospital wards, prisons, and even out of the country at enormous expense and without any gains to the individual, the family or the community. We need an enhanced group home system throughout the province in which homes would be linked directly to a major centre that could provide ongoing training, leadership and supervision. That major centre could also provide services for those who are mildly affected as well as permanent residential care and treatment for the most severely affected. Such a secure centre would not be based on a traditional "hospital" model but should, itself, be integrated into the community in a dynamic manner, possibly as part of a private residential development.The focus must be on education, positive living experiences, and individualized curricula. The key to success is properly trained professionals and staff."