http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Autism+guru+study+sabbatical+Montreal+
children/5331311/story.html




Autism guru's study sabbatical to pay off for Montreal children
 
 
 

Early Start Model can help toddlers
 
 
 
By CHARLIE FIDELMAN, The Gazette August 31, 2011 

 
 










 
 





After a year of study with the best minds in the field, autism guru Eric
Fombonne is returning to Montreal with plans to introduce the latest,
cutting-edge, intensive therapies to local toddlers.
 
Early studies suggest early intensive intervention therapy is capable of
"quite remarkable outcomes" as it changes the brains of those with the
condition, Fombonne, head of psychiatry at the Montreal Children's Hospital,
and a professor of psychiatry at McGill University, said.
 
UC Davis MIND Institute in California, where Fombonne has been on a
sabbatical, has applied a therapy called Early Start Denver Model to
toddlers with autism, as well as their siblings - some as young as 6 months
- who are also at risk of developing the disorder.
 
"It's very encouraging because we're showing a certain degree of brain
plasticity at an early age.
 
"We can reverse the trajectory of these children if we do the right things
at the right moment," Fombonne said.
 
He said he plans to introduce the program targeting children as young as 18
months at the Montreal Children's Hospital upon his return next month.
 
But health advocates note that Quebec can't meet current demands with
existing treatments. Current waiting lists for diagnostics and therapeutic
services are up to four years.
 
The Denver model targets young children and is similar to the Quebec-funded
behaviour therapy of up to 20 hours a week for children who have obtained an
official autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, explained Katherine Moxness,
director of professional services at West Montreal Readaptation Centre.
 
But getting a diagnosis can take up to two years followed by another
two-year wait for services, Moxness said.
 
The situation is "horrific" given that it's well known in the field that
early intervention is key to helping these children acquire important
skills, said Moxness, also adjunct professor in educational and counselling
psychology at McGill University.
 
One child in 110 in North America has a form of autism disorder. Autistic
children have problems communicating and interacting socially; the symptoms
usually are evident by the time the child is a toddler.
 
Identifying children with the disorder has improved thanks to a growing
awareness over the past 10 years.
 
Early behavioural intervention has been the standard autism therapy in North
America for years, Moxness said.
 
Studies show that toddlers who get four years of intensive therapy, about 40
hours a week, show leaps in their IQs, Moxness said.
 
Yet in Montreal, 400 children are awaiting an assessment in a hospital
setting, she said.
 
Many reach age 4 before they get services - and the governmentfunded therapy
is available only until age 5, Moxness added.
 
"Kids are waiting too long to get a diagnosis, and then they are waiting too
long to get into service," she said.
 
Quebec is far behind the rest of North America on this issue, said Moxness,
whose organization, in conjunction with other readaptation centres and
Quebec-based autism experts, has been actively lobbying for additional
funding.
 
For example, Quebec spends $33 million year on autism programs while Ontario
spends $186 million, she said.
 
Quebec provides early intervention to about 40 per cent of children who need
it, Moxness said.
 
"Is there room for another intervention program? Of course, but we haven't
been sufficiently funded to implement the one that we have."
 
Florent Tanlet, press attaché to Dominique Vien, the provincial minister for
social services, said Quebec has paid for intervention services at
readaptation centres for 1,197 children since the program was started in
2003.
 
The government could do more for children with pervasive developmental
disorders, Tanlet added. "We can always do better but we have done a lot
since 2003."
 
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