[Karen and Donald Davis]

Hi to everyone

In regards to the Kindergarten Transition funding again. Typical government double-talk I see happening. It is such a sad situation that the government makes each individual family fight for the same goal. Will it ever be solved in our lifetime?

What I failed to mention in regards to holding our son back from kindergarten is that the block rate (special needs of $12,750.00) the Ministry of Education would have paid to the school Darold is registered at is paid to supported childcare for his one-on-one worker at preschool.

The sad part is that the School District in Chilliwack will only pay $10,000.00 of this and keep the difference for themselves. We had to go through 5 1/2 months of jumping through hoops, writing the same letter over and over to different people higher up the ladder to tell them that we needed most or all of this funding. Finally, they decided that we were right and we mutually agreed on an amount.

I don't know how it is in other school districts but I would assume it is the same. The MOE pays the money and whether your child is held back or goes into kindergarten at the appointed time, this money should be used for a one-on-one worker. In Chilliwack they have a "special needs" division that helps "oversee" this.

I would be interested in hearing how other school districts work.

Karen Davis
– Darold's mom

[Karen and Donald Davis]

Hi,

This is reply to Terry Suzuki in regards to information on the KTY funding.

We chose to hold our son back from kindergarten for this year and continued to enroll him in preschool with very intensive one-on-one work there as well as ABA therapy at home.

We live in Chilliwack and are currently receiving funding from the CDC in Abbotsford who is administering the distribution of funds for this program.

There are 2 ways you can do this program;

1. Set up your program (ie ABA therapist, speech, O.T. etc…..) and have your team members bill directly to the CDC and they will get paid; or

2. Have the CDC help you with a program (if you already do not have one).

This program is currently being funded for children between the ages of 4.5 to 6 years of age to help assist them in that difficult transitional year from preschool (where our son is thriving) to the school system (which we are deathly afraid of).

We currently are funded $1,000.00/month which allows us to pay for our therapist, o.t. and speech pathologist. We will have this funding until our son turns 6 next July. So, we are going ahead full force with our program. We were beyond lucky that we know someone who is trained in ABA, and works with our son at preschool too.

The planning of our program, as most of you know, takes time and energy, but the rewards have been tremendous. I really like our option of screening and hiring our own people as I feel more in control of what is going on and what is in the best interest of our son.

I don't know where you live so I am not sure if there are other Child Developmental Centres out there doing this. As well, we had heard about this program last spring and I immediately called and got placed on the list for when funding became available. I think there are currently 20 or 30 children receiving this funding in the Valley (but please don't quote me on that. I can find out though).

After 3 years of struggles to get programs going and receiving any type of funding to help with the financial side, I feel relieved that we finally got something. But, autism doesn't end at the age of 6 and we will keep on fighting the strong fight.

Karen Davis
– Darold's mom

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