Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I would just underscore points that I tried to make and that Dr. Mottron has made as well. I believe it's very important that we think about neurological conditions of children very broadly, of which autism is an important group but by no means the only group. That's number one.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I don't know that autism research is different, so I can't respond to that comment. I will tell you that every one of the grants that I've had funded was an excellent grant, and all the ones that weren't funded were excellent, and how the hell did somebody not recognize that? Th

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I'll start with a brief comment. I'm aware that CIHR is concerned that among the four pillars of research—basic biological studies, clinical studies, health services research, and population health—health services research is the least funded, but that's partly a function of who'

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I would just add that the same can be said for virtually all the other neurodevelopmental disabilities that affect children. We do not have precise numbers for anything in Canada. There are some numbers we could get, like how many children were born with Down's syndrome last year

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I'm not an expert in autism, but part of what I would say is what Dr. Mottron has said: the one-size-fits-all approach is not sensible and doesn't work. What we don't know is what works for whom. We haven't looked at this question in the way we have looked at cerebral palsy, and

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Let me make a very brief comment. Arguing by analogy with cerebral palsy, there is a surveillance system in Europe called SCPE, the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe, which has been operating for more than 10 years and which involves several countries, and it involves some

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  A quick comment that follows on Dr. Mottron's remarks about autism spectrum disorder is that what we do not have in autism is a way of classifying levels of function, as we do in cancer or in cerebral palsy. We don't know who might benefit from what treatment, because we lump eve

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I'll answer in English, because my French is not as fluent as my English. I think what we're hearing about is very much a model of social integration, which presumably, if I understood correctly, is not diagnosis specific. It fits very much with some of the things I said earlier

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  CanChild was developed in 1989 as one of the Ontario government's health-system-linked research units. A small group of people were empowered to develop a five-year research plan in childhood disability, and we received infrastructure funding, which allowed us to hire and retain

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  In three minutes?

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  I think the main theme I would underscore is the one the other witnesses have commented on, particularly parents and grandparents. It is that we recognize that childhood disability affects families, and that services and policies reflect that reality. I think a number of things

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  That's fine. I was finished at that point.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Thank you. It's a pleasure and an honour to be able to talk with you. My remarks will be rather broader than being just about autism, because I'm addressing the issue of neurological diseases as they affect children. Most of what I'll talk to you about is research-based. I want