Associations Among Race, Ethnicity, and Clinical Profiles of Young Children Evaluated for Autism in the Primary Care Setting.
Ann Marie Martin, Brandon Keehn, Angela Paxton and 2 others
PMID 39023852WHAT IT FOUND
Latine children referred for autism evaluation were more likely to receive an autism diagnosis than non-Latine White children.
They also showed lower developmental and adaptive functioning scores. This suggests current referral pathways may miss less impaired children or reflect systemic biases in assessment.
Key findings
01A higher proportion of Latine children received an autism diagnosis compared to non-Latine White children.
02Latine children evidenced lower developmental functioning and greater adaptive impairment than non-Latine White children.
03There were no significant differences in caregiver-reported behavior problems across racial and ethnic groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was drawn from children who agreed to participate in a research study within a specific primary care network, which may not represent all children referred in the community. The sample sizes for Black and Latine groups were small, which limits the generalizability of the findings. All caregivers were predominantly English-speaking, excluding families who speak other languages. The study could not rule out racial and ethnic biases in the measurement of autism symptoms, even though validated tools were used. Information about insurance coverage was not collected, which is a known barrier to accessing care.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Latine children have more severe autism symptoms or lower innate cognitive ability. The differences in scores may reflect systemic biases in how these children are referred, assessed, or how standardized tools perform across different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.