Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

, Volume 37, Issue 10, pp 1902–1912

Access to Care for Autism-Related Services

  • Kathleen C. Thomas
  • Alan R. Ellis
  • Carolyn McLaurin
  • Julie Daniels
  • Joseph P. Morrissey
Original paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Autism Services Access 

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kathleen C. Thomas
    • 1
  • Alan R. Ellis
    • 1
  • Carolyn McLaurin
    • 1
  • Julie Daniels
    • 2
  • Joseph P. Morrissey
    • 1
    • 3
  1. 1.Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services ResearchUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUSA
  2. 2.Department of Epidemiology, School of Public HealthUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUSA
  3. 3.Department of Health Policy and Administration, School of Public HealthUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel HillUSA

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