This report was published in 2012.
For over 35 years, Autism Ontario has worked with the Government of Ontario towards a vision of “acceptance and opportunities for all individuals with ASD”. One initiative of Autism Ontario was to develop a program that would provide direct financial support to families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to enable them to participate in community-based activities/programs throughout the Summer and March Break vacations from school, such as camps and recreational programs. Financial support for Summer funding was first provided by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in 2007. Funding could be used by families in a variety of ways. The funding could be used by families to pay for
community recreational/camps programs or one-to-one support over March Break or one-to-one support
during summer holidays.
The direct goals of this program were: (1) to provide families with respite; (2) to support community and recreational participation of children with ASD; (3) to provide high-quality programing opportunities; and (4) to help provide continuity of care during vacation periods defined by the school calendar. Through these four primary goals, it was hoped that several secondary objectives may be achieved: (1) lower parental stress; (2) improvement in skills of the children; and (3) modest improvement in ASD symptomatology. An evaluation component of the program was initiated by Autism Ontario to measure the effective and ineffective elements of the program. This paper will provide an overview of the process involved in the
evaluation of the March Break and Summer Funding program, along with a review of the results of the evaluation. First, a very brief overview of some research supporting the importance of the identified program goals will be reviewed. Next, the evaluation process will be described, followed by a review of the results from the program evaluation. Finally, an executive summary will provide a concise overview of key messages of this evaluation.