Families who are caring for a child with a developmental and/or physical disability can apply to receive funding through Special Services at Home, also known as “SSAH”. This funding provides support in covering costs for primary caregiver relief and for activities of personal growth or development.

The program can support you in paying for special services in or outside of your home, as long as your child does not receive support from a residential program.

For example, SSAH can be used to offset the costs of:

• mainstream camp and recreation programs
• specialized camp and recreation programs
• advertising for recruitment of a special services worker
• special services or a support worker to provide respite and/or personal development
• travel costs associated with transporting special needs child for the worker
• basic supplies to implement a program for the special needs child (for example, flash cards)
• membership fees for special needs associations (for example, Special Olympics, Down Syndrome Association)
• 1 on 1 support worker at camp or recreational program
• training for a family member or worker that enhances the understanding of the child with a disability’s needs
• extraordinary cost of childcare (for children aged 12 and above)
• nursing for medically fragile children
• routine homemaking tasks – light housecleaning, meal preparation, laundry, grass cutting, and snow removal
• gym membership fees for the special needs child
• daycare and nursery school as respite or if recommended for socialization

• tutoring and academic programs
• camp fees for siblings
• basic care (for example, clothing, food, diapers, routine medical costs)
• one-time admission costs (for example, movies, amusement parks, museums)
• regular child care fees for children under 12 years
• fees and tuition costs for education and employment
• assistive devices, specialized equipment, home modifications
• dental services
• 1 on 1 support in a school setting
• professional services: junior and senior therapists (for example, Intensive Behavioural Intervention, Applied Behaviour Analysis, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy)
• sports equipment (some items might be eligible during the COVID-19covid 19 pandemic; please refer to the temporary expanded list of eligible expenses)
• electronics, including phones, computers, tablets (some items might be eligible during the COVID-19covid 19 pandemic; please refer to the temporary expanded list of eligible expenses)

Families are eligible and can apply if your child:

• Has a developmental and/or physical disability
• Lives in Ontario
• Is under the age of 18
• Needs more support than you can provide
• Lives at home with you

There is no income criteria to receive this funding, however, the amount of funding you receive depends on:

• The type and amount of service your child needs
• What other help is available in your community
• What kind of support you already receive

1. Download the application form

2. Attach a medical statement or psychological assessment to your application (it should include a description of the disability, an explanation of why you need services, and how much it will cost)

3. Submit a completed application form and medical assessment via mail to your nearest regional office or email to faxops-ssah-acsd-mississauga@ontario.ca

Watch a tutorial provided by Surrey Place but clicking the button to the right, “Online Tutorial”.

You can choose to administer your funding in two ways:

• Self-administered funding: you get your own funding, purchase services and supports on your own and submit expense claims directly to regional offices for reimbursement
• Agency administered funding: an agency administers your funding on your behalf. Please contact your local regional office to get more information on the list of agencies in your area that can support families who get SSAH funding.

If using the self-administered funding model, you must send your invoices for eligible services to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services for reimbursement. To do this, you can:

• use the 2021/2022 invoices that you received with your SSAH 2021/2022 approval package to e-mailed, faxed, mailed or dropped off
• submit your invoices electronically through MyDirectPlan

On behalf of the A.S.D. Peel Group, we would like to welcome you to Peel’s Autism Web Site.

We want to get information to you as easily as possible. Staff and families want to know what specific programmes are being offered and where. This type of information changes often so it is not possible to keep up with it in print. However, our web site features ongoing updates, with links to the appropriate service providers.

We hope that you will find it helpful. If you have any questions or information to add, please call the organization that is overseeing the web site, Child Development Resource Connection Peel, at 905-507-9360. We would like to sincerely thank the Ministry of Community and Social Services and Ministry of Children’s Services which supported the start up of this site. Better communication will lead to better services, a goal we can all support!

A.S.D. Peel Group (subcommittee of the Peel Planning Group)

Autism Overview
Services Provided
Individuals You May Meet
Special Needs Funding
Autism Acronyms