You're absolutely right, that situation is unacceptable. We hear that story from families across the province on a daily basis, and they despair. To have a number like 700, or whatever, just says that child is not going to receive the best intervention we have to help him or her at this stage in their life, and to know that window is closing at a time when the plasticity of the brain is at a stage when it can accept lots of information and change. We know, in fact, that this treatment can have a significant influence on how that child develops for the rest of its life.
First of all, my heart goes out to those families. They should not feel that they're competing with another family whose kid did get on that list. All of those children should have access—all of them, not only the ones who are eligible for the service—to that early assessment and intervention at a time when it makes the most difference in their lives.
It is at least, in part, a funding matter, but it's also a policy matter and thinking about some ways to adjust the system, so that there is fairness for more families to have access to that. Also, it takes training, not only in those early years.... One of the biggest fears families have is exiting that system and moving into the school system—where the training for the professionals is not as it should be—so that families can feel confident that those same strong evidence-based practices are being implemented in the school years, and into adult life as well.