Access to Care for Autism-Related Services.
Thomas, Kathleen C.; Ellis, Alan R.; McLaurin, Carolyn; Daniels, Julie; Morrissey, Joseph P.
[Article] Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders. 37(10):1902-1912, November 2007.

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This paper identifies family characteristics associated with use of autism-related services. A telephone or in-person survey was completed during 2003-2005 by 383 North Carolina families with a child 11 years old or younger with ASD. Access to care is limited for racial and ethnic minority families, with low parental education, living in nonmetropolitan areas, and not following a major treatment approach. Service use is more likely when parents have higher stress. Families use a broad array of services; the mix varies with child ASD diagnosis and age group. Disparities in service use associated with race, residence and education point to the need to develop policy, practice and family-level interventions that can address barriers to services for children with ASD.

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