Yes, it is age discrimination
July 7, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
According to a ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal reported in today’s Canada.com, the Ontario government is not discriminating against older autistic children by limiting intensive treatment in the form of intensive behavioral intervention (IBI; also known as applied behavior analysis or ABA) to children aged two to five.
The decision is a victory for the government, which was appealing a lower court decision, according to which six-year-old children who were entering school and who were denied treatment were found to be victims of discrimination, based on their age and their disability. The government argued that IBI works best for children under the age of six, after which other forms of treatment work better, as noted in today’s CNews.
“Exclusion of (older autistic children) because of their age from a program so particularly designed to assist another disadvantaged group does not deny their human dignity or devalue their worth as members of Canadian society,” the ruling stated.
What?
My son Charlie is nine years old as of this May. He started to do intensive ABA when he was two; it was only when he was not in an intensive ABA eduational setting that his learning stopped. Charlie was just under 8 1/2 years old when he again started to do ABA intensively and, thanks to it, a child who had so many aggressive and self-injurious behaviors that his learning in all areas had come to a halt is learning to read, is happy and smiles and can barely wait to ride the “yellow schoolbus.” I am not sure what Charlie would be like today without the intensive ABA.
So yes, I think that that Ontario government is discriminating against autistic children on the basis of age—-not that my “older” autistic child has not suffered age disrimination here in the USA. As I wrote on July 5th:
In Autismland, I’m afraid we pay too much attention to children of a very young age. Charlie, as I have written on Autismland, has already (when he was at the ripe old age of eight) been the victim of age discrimination. Charlie learns best in certain highly-structured school settings that use a methodology called ABA (applied behavior analysis) and there are some schools (all very small) in New Jersey that specialize in this sort of autism education. We were not able to get three-year-old Charlie into one of these schools as we were living then in the Midwest and—-despite ample proof that Charlie thrives in an ABA setting—we have too often been told that “only three-year-olds” or “only children under the age of five” would be accepted.
And, as I have tried to write on Autismland, Charlie’s life is an example of how you can never, ever, give up. You never know at what age a child—an adult—may say that first word, be able to read five sight words, ride a bike, fall in love, or tie his shoes. You never can know and you can never stop trying and hoping.
Who gives up on a five year old child? On an eight and a half year old one? On a twenty-one year old?
Yes, it’s age discrimination, but there would be more of a problem if there was literally nothing in the way of services for autistic kids over the age of six.
I am of the opinion that if it really and truly works, then it should be funded. The problem with these lawsuits is that they seem to be geared towards making ABA the only funded treatment, and that is, to put it plainly, WRONG.
Good point. What I wanted especially to highlight was the sense in one of the articles that after a certain age (5 or 6), there’s a tendency to “give up” regarding some expectations for kids. I have seen this already in regard to Charlie.
Here I can wholeheartedly agree.
I look at it this way:
Our brains do the most developing and learning when we’re infants and toddlers. We grow new connections. This happens again during adolescence, and there is a theory that it occurs once more in midlife. (The speaker who I heard talking about this, Gail Gillingham, said, “Of course your 16-year old is acting like a small child! He is one!”)
The thing is, after all of that big burst of growth in the brain is finished, we send children to school and expect them to learn. Likewise, after the big burst in adolescence is done, we send young adults to college and university – and expect them to learn.
Autistic brains may be different in structure from non-autistic brains, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean they have different growth stages. So, sure, that time in early childhood is important, but if they’re going to push it then the should not only continue a more intense schedule during childhood, they should really focus on adolescents, since that’s when there are more new connections being made!
Then again, what do I know? I’m not a scientist or a parent or even a professional in the field. Just a lowly line worker who doesn’t even do ABA anymore…
But from your posts (the “babysitting series”) you’ve been there “in the trenches.” That’s invaluable. My latest post Sads on Autismland somewhat refers to your comment….
Hrm.
Yes, I suppose.
I have a lot of trouble acknowledging my own “expertise”. It’s difficult to say, “Yes, I’m good at this.”
You can expect a future blog post on this topic…