[Sabrina Freeman]

From: Sabrina Freeman
To: FEAT BC discussion board members
RE: BC Supreme Court decision

Hi all.

As many of you may have heard, Justice Allan recently handed down a supplemental decision regarding remedy in the Auton case against the BC Government. Here are the conclusions of the judgment:

[65] An "appropriate and just" remedy must be determined by the particular circumstances of the case under
consideration. I conclude that the petitioners are entitled to the following relief:

– There will be a declaration that the Crown's failure to provide the infant petitioners with effective
treatment for their medical condition of autism constitutes a denial of their rights under s. 15(1)Charter.

– There will also be a direction that the Crown fund early intensive behavioural therapy for children with autism, including autism spectrum disorder. It is presumed that the Government will act in good faith in implementing the appropriate policies to meet its constitutional obligations.

– The adult petitioners are each entitled to an award of $20,000 for monetary damages.

You can download the decision from the FEAT BC server at https://featbc.org/decision2001.html or from the BC Supreme Court site at http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb%2Dtxt/sc/01/02/2001bcsc0220.htm or at

We are gratified Justice Allan has awarded damages for a Charter breach, even if only for symbolic reasons. Unfortunately, these amounts do not come close to what is required to help parents with the onerous burden of paying for their programs.

The judge affirmed the BC Government continues to violate the constitutionally guaranteed equality rights of children with autism to effective treatment. She further directed that government “fund early intensive behavioural therapy for children with autism, including autism spectrum disorder”. Although the judge did not specify in her directive that this must be Lovaas Treatment, it is generally recognized that Dr. Lovaas pioneered the intensive behavioural therapy named after him; the Lovaas treatment protocol and Intensive Behavioural Therapy are one and the same.

Regarding HOW treatment will be funded, the Judge deferred to Government for the time being. This means she is allowing the Government more time to develop their autism treatment project known as the Provincial Centre for Autism and Related Disorders (P-CARD). Rather than providing individualized funding to parents running intensive behavioural treatment programs, the Government has elected to develop centralized diagnostic and treatment sites — there are four sites. The Supreme Court judgment presumes government will “act in good faith” in the implementation of the P-CARD; in other words, the judge is taking Government at their word — for now — when they assure her there will be effective, publicly funded autism treatment capability in place. Unfortunately, the experience many of us have had is that this government is not working in good faith. The judge welcomes us to appear before her if we can show that the government is not satisfying her judgment.

IMPORTANT: We ask that everyone on this discussion board — families and professionals — let us know what there experiences are with the government autism project referred to as P-CARD in the court case; it may take on different names. FEAT BC will document everything for possible future use in court.

We will keep all of you posted on future developments!

Regards,
Sabrina

[Sabrina Freeman]

Re: Unions in the School System

I completely understand Dave Chan's remarks regarding the union and have seen what he is alluding to many times. However, I would like to respond to Cory's post regarding unions and the educational system in a more general manner. This is a complex issue but there are some things that both parents and union members should know.

On a regular basis, a threat to invoke the union is used by some principals and teachers to keep parents running Lovaas programs “in line”. Generally, a principal will tell the parent that a teacher is threatening a union grievance for some reason that is typically baseless. It is a means by which the principal or teacher can avoid accommodation of the special needs that characterize children in a Lovaas treatment program. This scenario has been described to me by dozen's of parents. I have also been at the sharp end of this stick on more than one occasion.

That said, I am sure the union is quite unaware they are used to psychologically bludgeon and intimidate parents who are simply attempting to make sure their disabled child has equal access to education. In fact, I believe the union could be a very strong ally in the struggle to ensure our children receive the education they require and to which they are entitled. This is where those of you who are members of the teacher's union or CPU could help tremendously. The unions need to know they are being used by some of their members and by unscrupulous school administrators to victimize children with autism and other special needs. Unions do not exist to be misused as a weapon by anti special needs obstructionists. Unions are not intended to intimidate and hinder parents in their difficult battle against autism. I do not think the union leadership would be very happy about what is being done under their flag.

Regarding class size, I am profoundly aware of how difficult it is to teach a class of children, particularly when there are many children in the class who have a variety of learning disabilities. Unfortunately, the government, in typically incompetent fashion, calculated that if they decrease class size, they would be able to ration special education assistants (and cut the special ed. budget). The faulty reasoning is that with one less child the teacher can handle things without as many SEA hours. In the long run, the teachers lost out, the S.E.A.s lost out, and the children lost out, even though class size decreased marginally. The government is “happy-happy”, saving money on the backs of the school staff and the special needs children they are supposed to teach. Whether there are 30 typically developing children in the classroom or 28 typically developing children and 1 autistic child in the classroom, the teachers still cannot be expected to teach the autistic child properly without some trained one-to-one support.

I think it is very important not to allow the provincial government to create an adversarial relationship between parents of special needs children and the schools. They have done a very good job of it up to this point.

If anyone in the union would like to know how to improve the system from within and make the unions a strong ally, please contact me directly.

Sabrina Freeman (Miki's mom)

[Sabrina Freeman]

A quick reminder note about the FEAT BC parent group meeting on Wednesday 01/17/01

-> 7:30PM at St. Francis in the Woods in West Vancouver. A map is available on the web at https://featbc.org/downloads/map.pdf

New parents are welcome — please pass on the information.

[Sabrina Freeman]

BC Supreme Court Advisory
_________________________

Hello everyone,

This message is to advise that the next phase of the autism legal action against the Government of BC will take place in BC Supreme court on the following dates:

– Tuesday, November 14
– Wednesday, November 15

The proceedings will take place in the Supreme Court section of the Vancouver Law Courts. The address is: 800 Smithe St., Vancouver. Parking is available underground. The court room number will be posted on a board in the main lobby — Look for “Auton vs. AGBC”.

Court is in session from 10:00 am to 12:30 PM and 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Everyone should arrive by 9:45 am to allow enough time to settle in — it is very important that everyone is seated and quiet by precisely 10:00 am when the Judge enters.

As in the 11-day April hearings, there are a few important court rules we need to keep in mind:

– tape recorders, cell phones and pagers are not permitted in the courtroom.
– jeans are not permitted in the courtroom
– no comments, moans or groans are permitted. The judge may ask a person to leave the courtroom for these reasons. Government lawyers may say things that you vehemently disagree with. However, it’s very important for everyone in the courtroom to stay calm and in control.

Lawyers representing the parents have informed me that they will not be available for questions during the breaks or during lunch since they will be working on the case during these times. The lawyers have instructed
the steering committee to take all questions anyone has regarding the case — we will make sure they receive the questions after proceedings conclude that day.

I very much look forward to seeing you in the courtroom!

Sabrina

[Sabrina Freeman]

Hi all!

There are a couple of interesting conferences coming up for those of you who are prepared to travel. Info. follows:

1. Eden Institute Foundation Princeton Lecture Series
A day of ideas and ideals, to promote advances in research and service provision for individuals with autism and their families. Dr. Ivar Lovaas and others will present.
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton University
June 8
members.aol.com/EdenSvcs or (609)987-0099

2. Conference 2001: International Conference on Science in Autism Treatment Designed for parents, professionals, physicians, educators and anyone who has an interest in scientifically sound information about autism and treatment options:
Edwin Cook, M.D., Tristram Smith, Ph.D., Richard Foxx, Ph.D., Bridget Taylor, Psy. D., James Mulick, Ph.D., and many more.
San Diego, California
March 8-9, 2001
Location: Hyatt Islandia
ASAT@autism-treatment.org or 516-466-4400.

The second conference is particularly appealing.

Sabrina
(Miki's mom)

[Sabrina Freeman]

Just a reminder … this Wednesday (Oct. 18) at 7:30 is our monthly parent group meeting. This meeting is particularly valuable for new parents. We encourage experienced parents to come out and share your wisdom and advice with new parents.

For a map of the location please go to https://featbc.org … click on Feat Events.

Sabrina

[Sabrina Freeman]

For Alberta contacts, phone FEAT BC at 534-6956.

Regarding consultants, I've heard Wisconsin Early Autism Project has availability.

FeatBC Discussion Board wrote:
>
> ————————————————————
> FeatBC Discussion Board: Room Two: Behavioural Treatment
> Topics
> ————————————————————
>
> By Anonymous on Friday, September 22, 2000 – 05:58 pm:
>
> We are contemplating a move to Alberta because supposedly
> Loovaas is paid for at the pre-school level. Has anyone
> heard the process to apply for these funded programs in
> Alberta. We are worried that we will move there, only to
> find out we are put on a waiting list for a program.
> Also, has anyone heard of any good consultants that are
> currently accepting newly diagnosed kids. We phoned a
> couple of supposedly good consultants, but after 5 phone
> calls in 3 weeks, no one has called us back. Any
> information would be aprreciated. Thanks.
>

[Sabrina Freeman]

Dee Dee's post about the Georgia Straight's Best of Vancouver 2000 Readers Poll just made my day!!!!

I think our message has finally been heard.

Sabrina

[Sabrina Freeman]

A quick reminder note about the FEAT BC parent group meeting on Wednesday 09/20/00

-> 7:30PM at St. Francis in the Woods in West Vancouver. A map is available via
fax-on-demand at Ph. 513-7233 or on the web at https://featbc.org/downloads/map.pdf

New parents are welcome — please pass on the information.

[Sabrina Freeman]

Early Autism Intervention Workshop Advisory
_____________________________________________

Regarding the FEAT BC Early Autism Intervention Workshop at SFU on September 16 & 17, for those travelling to the workshop from East of the Port Mann Bridge, please be advised there will only be one lane of Westbound traffic available over the Weekend due to construction work.

This may cause considerable delays in getting to the workshop — please allow extra travel time or use alternate routes.

Thank you.

Sabrina

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