Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Articles & podcasts
    • Blog posts
    • Collection
    • News
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • Classified ads
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
    • Career Ad Discount
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
News and analysis

BC families win suit over government payment for expensive autism therapy

Heather Kent
CMAJ October 31, 2000 163 (9) 1181;
Heather Kent
Vancouver
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

The British Columbia Supreme Court says the province violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and discriminated against children with autism by refusing to pay for a controversial form of behaviour-modification therapy. The ruling came after families with autistic children filed a lawsuit. The province, home to 1300 autistic children, has filed an appeal.

About 150 BC families currently pay up to $60 000 a year for the intensive, 40-hour-per-week therapy developed by Dr. Ivar Lovaas of the University of California. Its supporters claim the Lovaas method is the only effective, long-term treatment for autism; 63 BC psychiatrists endorsed the therapy by signing a petition, which was used to support the lawsuit. The BC government's refusal to fund the treatment led several BC families to move to Alberta, where it is publicly funded.

In her ruling, Justice Marion Allan said early intensive behavioural treatment is medically necessary. She rejected the government's argument that it cannot afford the treatment, arguing that the costs “may well be offset by the saving achieved by assisting autistic children to develop their potential.”

Autism, a complex neurological disorder characterized by excesses and deficits in speech, language, cognitive function and socialization skills, causes developmental delay that is evident to specialists by the time a child is 18 to 30 months old. Lovaas therapy is supposed to counter it with intensive training in pre-academic/academic skills, language, socialization and behavioural skills.

Dr. Sabreena Freeman, a sociologist who has an autistic child, says that with the therapy, basic skills are broken down and taught through repetition. In teaching colours to a pre-school-age autistic child, the therapist may place a red block on a table and ask the child to “give me red.” If the child doesn't respond, the therapist would place his hand on the block and push it over. This process is repeated continuously.

Deborah Pugh of the Autism Society of BC calls the therapy “highly controversial,” since some supporters, desperate for help, started calling the treatment a cure. “For decades families were given very little hope, and [then] Lovaas gave us reason for hope,” she explains.

Dr. Ken Bassett of the BC Office of Health Technology Assessment says he is concerned by the lack of detail in the original 1987 study that introduced Lovaas therapy and its 1993 follow-up. “In his program, Lovaas provides a detailed manual, but the extent to which it was actually followed in his own studies is unknown. You can't even tell whether what is going on now is similar to what went on in the original study.”

About 10 BC families with autistic children have moved to Alberta, where government-funded Lovaas therapy is available. Scott McDonald's 2 autistic sons now receive 38 hours of Lovaas therapy weekly, and he pays only 3% of the cost. He said autism takes a huge toll on families. “A lot of the people we know [who have autistic children] are now single parents,” he said. —

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

CMAJ
Vol. 163, Issue 9
31 Oct 2000
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
BC families win suit over government payment for expensive autism therapy
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
BC families win suit over government payment for expensive autism therapy
Heather Kent
CMAJ Oct 2000, 163 (9) 1181;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
BC families win suit over government payment for expensive autism therapy
Heather Kent
CMAJ Oct 2000, 163 (9) 1181;
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • More medical students for Dalhousie
  • Stressed parents at “loggerheads” with children, report says
  • Number of medical school applicants drops on both sides of border
Show more News and Analysis

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions

Copyright 2021, Joule Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

Powered by HighWire