Canada is "a developing country" when it comes to government funding for treatment of Asperger's syndrome, a spokeswoman for the illness said on May 30.

Margot Nelles, who has three children with Asperger's, said she would like to see the Ontario government put the same funding effort into Asperger's as it does for autism. More research was needed to understand Asperger's, which affects nearly 200,000 Canadians, said Nelles, the founder of the Aspergers Society of Ontario.

"I see Asperger's as the mother of all neurological disorders," Nelles said in an interview at the society's national conference. "And there are no reliable statistics about it in Canada. None."

Asperger's syndrome is believed by many to be a milder form of autism characterised by poor social and communication skills, especially the inability to pick up on body language and social cues. Hypersensitivity and anxiety are also common, as well as an obsessive focus on detail.

The province of Ontario funds intensive behavioural intervention therapy for autistic children at a cost of about Canadian$50,000 per child per year, but there is no such funding for Asperger.

Earlier this week, the parents of a six-year-old autistic boy in central Ontario praised a court order requiring the province to continue funding the child's therapy. The government's policy has been to cut off funding once the child turns six.

"I can't imagine who made up the rule that at age six, you're cured," Nelles said, adding that it costs about $40,000 a year per child to provide all the necessary occupational therapy and other treatment for Asperger's.

Nelles founded the non-profit-making Aspergers Society of Ontario three years ago after her middle child was diagnosed with the disorder. It has received $70,000 in private donations since its inception, which Nelles says is not nearly enough to fund its work, including providing resources for parents of children with the syndrome.

Francoise, a society volunteer who refused to give her last name, said she was married 15 years to someone she didn't know had Asperger's syndrome. The couple spent thousands of dollars on therapists and marriage counsellors because they needed help communicating.
It was only after the couple separated that Francoise discovered her husband - who tended to fixate on things and needed explicit instructions to perform tasks - probably had Asperger's.

Kevin Stoddart, a family therapist who counsels adults with the syndrome, said that parents of children with autism and Asperger's were 10 times more stressed than average parents.
A lack of resources adds to that stress, Stoddart added.

"Typically, the government is not interested in funding research," he said. "Overall, the state of research into autism-like disorders in Canada is severely lacking."

Nelles said it was possible for Ontario parents to receive funding for Asperger's through a special application to the province, but the waiting-list is lengthy.

She said she had applied three years ago for financial help, but said it had made her children out "to be like monsters" in the application form. Nelles finally received a total of $12,000 for two of her children, but for only one year, and she must re-apply in November.

Asperger's syndrome was identified by Dr Hans Asperger in Austria in 1944, but it did not appear in medical literature in North America until 1994. Although many people with Asperger's have a higher than average IQ, about 20 per cent of children with the syndrome develop psychological disorders like depression, mood anxiety and suicidal tendencies in adulthood.