Characterizing service receipt among families of young autistic children from low-resourced communities.

When young autistic children (aged 3-5) receive appropriate services, they experience long-term developmental benefits, along with positive impacts on their families and society. However, families of autistic children from low-resourced communities often face compounded barriers to accessing needed services. It is important to characterize service receipt, including current services and unmet service needs, to identify which unmet service needs should be targeted for intervention among families from low-resourced communities. In this study, 52 parents of 3-5-year-olds with autism from low-resourced communities completed a survey characterizing their service receipt. On average, children received 8.84 services. The most frequently received services were health-related, including pediatric care, health insurance, and dental services. Most participants (66%) reported being satisfied with the services, with the highest satisfaction found in health services. The most frequently unmet services were speech therapy, developmental pediatric care, and recreational services. Barriers to accessing services included participants reporting that they have not looked for relevant services and a lack of knowledge about available services. Implications for research and practice are discussed.