Campbell's expensive autism center is money misspent, advocates say
Cathi Atmadjaja
Nov 9th, 2010
Vancouver Observer

In the weeks leading up to the premier's resignation, the Ministry of Health and Education was urgently fast-tracking construction on a 20 million dollar building for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), according to Dawn Steele, an advocate for children with ASD. "The project was Campbell's personal baby," she told VO in a recent phone interview….

Steele believes that the money could be better spent on other strategies. It could be used as extra funding for an autism support program in the form of speech language pathologists (SLP) and behavioural inteventionists (BI). These professionals can provide one-to-one intervention in the family’s home or community to help the child or adult adapt better to society.  

“It's about going to where they are and when they need it,” Steele said.

The new building will not solve the financial costs of addressing the health and education of children with developmental disabilities like autism, she said….

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