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Special Services at Home

SSAH funding: eligibility, expenses, deadlines, and review steps.

SSAH can reimburse approved respite and personal-development supports. Ontario does not publish a universal minimum, maximum, or standard monthly entitlement.

Open Ontario’s SSAH page

01

Check fit

The child and living arrangement must meet Ontario’s current disability, age, residency, and home-support rules.

  • Autism diagnosis alone does not set an amount
  • The ministry makes the decision

02

Describe support needs

Connect requested supports to daily activities, growth and development, respite, and caregiver circumstances.

  • Use specific examples
  • Attach requested evidence

03

Spend only after approval

The approval letter and current program rules decide what may be reimbursed.

  • Keep invoices and dates
  • Clinical therapy is not an SSAH substitute category

04

Track deadlines and review rights

Use the dates and review instructions in the decision and funding letters.

  • Submit expenses before the stated deadline
  • Request review in writing when applicable

Take the next step with the rule in front of you.

Open Ontario’s SSAH page

Direct answer

Ontario does not publish a fixed province-wide SSAH minimum, maximum, or standard monthly amount. SSAH is a discretionary program. The ministry assesses an eligible child’s needs and family circumstances, then determines funding according to available program resources.

Special Services at Home · Verified 2026-08-12

Where do I get the SSAH expense form?

Ontario’s SSAH page links two ways to submit an expense claim once you are managing your own funding: download the ministry’s SSAH expense form (PDF) directly, or use MyDirectPlan to submit and track expenses online.

  • Attach copies of your receipts or invoices as proof of payment.
  • Claiming respite services also needs your respite worker’s information and signature on the form.
  • Email the completed form to your ministry regional office (the office email addresses are listed in the form), or mail it to your regional office.
  • An incomplete expense form is returned to you, which can delay reimbursement.

What expenses does SSAH funding cover?

Approved supports
Special Services at Home (SSAH) reimburses approved costs in three categories: support for day-to-day activities, activities that build growth and development, and respite or caregiver support.
Funding amount
Ontario does not publish a fixed province-wide minimum, maximum, or standard monthly amount. The ministry sets funding case by case, based on an eligible child’s assessed needs and the regional office’s available resources.
Clinical therapy exclusions
SSAH does not pay for clinical therapy. Assessments, ABA, speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counselling, psychotherapy, and psycho-educational testing are all excluded.
Claims and deadline
Families claim eligible costs using Ontario’s SSAH expense form. Ontarioallows one year from the Funding End Date to submit them — a March 31, 2026 end date carries a March 31, 2027 deadline, and late expenses are not reimbursed.
Wait
Apply as early as possible. Ontario does not publish a standard province-wide wait time either.

Who is eligible for SSAH?

Age, residency and status
Special Services at Home is open to any child under 18 who lives in Ontario and meets the program’s current residency or immigration-status rules.
Support need and living arrangement
The child must also need more support than is typical for their age, because of a physical or developmental disability. The child must live at home with their main caregiver, or live separately without government-funded residential support.
Funded support areas
Ontario’s official SSAH page groups the program’s two funded support areas as personal development and growth, and family relief and support. That is why families describe SSAH as covering both skill-building and respite in the same application.
Relationship to OAP
SSAH does not require an autism diagnosis specifically — a documented developmental or physical disability that fits the assessment is enough. That makes SSAH a separate pool from the Ontario Autism Program, with its own eligibility review and its own funding decision. It is not an extension of an OAP registration.

How do I apply for SSAH?

  1. Families apply through Ontario’s online SSAH application, or by submitting the paper form to their local Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services regional office.
  2. An online application must be completed within 90 days of starting it, or the ministry will not process it.
  3. Do not submit a second, duplicate application for the same child while an earlier one is still under review. That can slow processing down rather than speed it up.
  4. MCCSS reviews eligibility, the child’s assessed needs, and available program resources. Then the regional office sends an approval or denial letter.
  5. If SSAH is denied, or the funding amount is lower than expected, families can ask for a first-level review.
  6. That request must be made in writing to the regional office director, or theirdesignate, within 20 business days of receiving the decision letter. The decision letter itself explains how to start that review.

How long is the SSAH funding wait?

Ontario does not publish a province-wide SSAH wait time. Waits are managed by each ministry regional office and vary significantly by region, demand, and available programresources. There is no single verified number this page can quote as of August 2026. Ask your regional office for the current local wait after you apply, and apply as early as possible. Decisions weigh need, not only the application date. Ontario Autism Program invitations follow registration date, but SSAH funding decisions work differently: they are assessed against family size, the severity of the child’s disability, and extraordinary disability-related costs. Two families who apply on the same day can be treated differently, because SSAH weighs need rather than processing applications strictly in the order they arrive. If your family is waiting on an SSAH decision, ask MCCSS or your regional office for a current estimate. Local conditions change, so do not rely on a figure another family reports.

Can I have SSAH and OAP funding at the same time?

Yes. SSAH and the Ontario Autism Program are separate programs, administered under different rules. Receiving one does not disqualify a family from the other. Families can apply to both at the same time and, if approved for both, use them together. OAP’s Core Funding Agreement pays for clinical autism services such as ABA, speech-language therapy, and occupational therapy. SSAH explicitly excludes those same clinical therapies. It pays for day-to-day support, growth and development activities, and respite or caregiver support instead. That split is why many families treat SSAH as the program that covers a support worker or a break for caregivers, while OAP covers the therapy team. Approval for one program is not conditional on the other, and applying to both does not reduce either family’s chance of approval.

SSAH and OAP Core Clinical Services comparison

SSAH vs OAP Core Clinical Services. Sources: Special Services at Home and Ontario Autism Program guidelines for Core Clinical Services and supports, retrieved 2026-08-12.
Comparison pointSSAHOAP Core Clinical ServicesSource
Who it is forChildren under 18 with a physical or developmental disability, no autism diagnosis requiredChildren and youth registered with the Ontario Autism ProgramSpecial Services at Home; Ontario Autism Program guidelines for Core Clinical Services and supports
What it fundsDay-to-day support, growth and development activities, respite and caregiver supportClinical autism services such as ABA, speech-language therapy, and occupational therapySpecial Services at Home; Ontario Autism Program guidelines for Core Clinical Services and supports
Who runs itMinistry of Children, Community and Social Services regional officesOntario Autism Program, administered through AccessOAPSpecial Services at Home; Ontario Autism Program guidelines for Core Clinical Services and supports
How to applyOnline SSAH application or paper form to your regional MCCSS officeRegister with AccessOAP, then wait for a Core Funding invitationSpecial Services at Home; Ontario Autism Program guidelines for Core Clinical Services and supports

Of the 24,417 children Ontario counts as enrolled in Core Clinical Services, 20,711 currently hold a signed, active Core Funding Agreement. That is a separate program from SSAH, run under separate rules. For current SSAH amounts, expense rules, or an application status, contact MCCSS or your regional office directly. Do not rely on another family’s figure — SSAH is discretionary, and Ontario does not publish a standard formula.

MCCSS Ontario Autism Program figures, May 13, 2026, obtained by the Ontario Autism Coalition under Freedom of Information · Updated May 13, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Ontario does not publish a fixed province-wide SSAH minimum, maximum, or standard monthly amount. SSAH is a discretionary program. The ministry assesses an eligible child’s needs and family circumstances, then determines funding according to available program resources.

A child must be under 18, live in Ontario and meet the program's current residency or immigration-status requirements, and need more support than is expected for their age because of a physical or developmental disability. The child must live at home with their main caregiver, or live separately without government-funded residential support.

SSAH can reimburse approved expenses in three categories: support for day-to-day activities, activities that support growth and development, and respite services or caregiver supports. The approval letter and program rules determine what an individual family may claim.

No. Ontario lists assessments and hands-on clinical therapy, including ABA, speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counselling, psychotherapy, and psycho-educational assessments, as expenses that SSAH does not reimburse.

Apply through Ontario’s online SSAH application or submit the paper form to your local Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services regional office. An online application must be completed within 90 days. Do not submit duplicate applications for the same child.

Ontario says families have one year from their Funding End Date to submit eligible expenses. For example, a March 31, 2026 Funding End Date has a March 31, 2027 expense deadline. Late expenses are not reimbursed.

Yes. The first-level review request must be made in writing to the Ministry regional office director or designate within 20 business days after receiving the decision letter. The decision letter explains the review process.

Ontario does not publish a province-wide SSAH wait time. Waits are set by each ministry regional office and vary significantly by region and available program resources, so the only reliable answer for your family is the one your regional office gives after you apply. Apply early; decisions weigh need, not only the application date.

Ontario does not publish a standard number of days for SSAH reimbursement processing. The program only says to contact the business services unit listed in your approval package once an invoice has been outstanding for more than 30 business days, so treat that as the point to follow up, not a guaranteed payment date.

Next steps

Put your SSAH plan together

  1. Review the plain-language SSAH answer
  2. Compare respite options for your family
  3. Estimate support across funding programs
See where the waitlist stands
Updated:

Evidence for this guide

Sources on this page

The source chain stays visible.

Key claims are paired with their source, evidence tier, and verification date so readers can inspect the public record directly.

Facts3
Sources2

22.5%

Only 20,711 children have active funding agreements (22.5%), less than one in four

Primary sourceMCCSS FOI via OAC · May 2026Verified 2026-08-10

WHO recommends accessible, community-based early interventions for children with autism. Timely evidence-based psychosocial interventions improve communication and social engagement

Primary sourceWorld Health Organization (2025)Verified 2025-09-17
Last system verification: 2026-08-10. Next scheduled update: 2026-11-05.
View methodologyBrowse every source

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Founder & Autism Advocate

Lived experience: Parent of autistic child navigating OAP system

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