Little Tots program for kids with autism gets permanent status

The Saskatchewan government's newly released budget includes a plan to make an intensive Saskatoon autism therapy program permanent.

Little Tots is a program for eight preschool-aged kids through Autism Services of Saskatoon. It's the only intensive autism therapy available for preschool-aged children in the province.

The program began as a provincial government pilot project. It was set to run for three years, but the deadline was March 2015.

Parents were worried the services would end because the government had talked about cuts to balance the budget.

Kelly Caruk's four-year-old daughter Reece has received therapy at Little Tots for about a year. She was so worried about the fate of the program, she started a petition and wrote to nine MLAs.

The province revealed Wednesday it will pay $550,000 per year, indefinitely, to keep it running.

Funding a surprise

Kelly said she was surprised and relieved the government came through, especially with permanent funding. She credits the parents of children with autism who signed the petition and spoke to the government.

"Without the help and the rallying behind us as parents, that certainly did help the government see how important this program is to the people of Saskatchewan," Kelly said.

Kelly said Reece has benefited from the program. Reece has two sisters and before beginning therapy, it was difficult for her to relate to them. 

"For young children, that's how they develop interpersonal relationships," Kelly said. "Through this program she learned how to play with them and how to interact with them. That has made invaluable gains to our family and it just has increased our family cohesiveness."

Caruk hopes the program will expand to serve more families in more places around Saskatchewan.