A – 65 Access to Services and Resources for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Needs Assessment

Objective Identify barriers to accessing services for families with children diagnosed with autism (ASD). This needs assessment survey evaluated access to services: diagnostic testing, ABA therapy, OT/PT/SLT, etc. It included a novel assessment of the need for sexual education. The data presented are preliminary. Method Participants were recruited via social media, flyers, and postings by the Seaver Autism Center. A total of 249 caregivers of children ages 18 months-18 years with ASD completed a Qualtrics survey. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze frequencies. Results Caregivers indicated primary concern about educating their daughter on sexual health and sexuality was lack of resources specifically created for girls with ASD (48.8%, n = 21). Specifically, 34.9% (n = 15) of participants indicated that their primary concern was their child’s difficulty with comprehension of important sexual education information and 13.9% (n = 6) indicated they experience discomfort talking to their child about this topic. Of the respondents, 13.5% were still seeking ASD evaluation and screening services, 14.1% early intervention, 16.1% special education, 10.8% ABA therapy, 5.6% parent training/consultation, and 2% still seeking psychotherapy for their child. Reported barriers included limited hours of operation for ABA (10%), social skills training (7.2%), and speech therapy (7.2%). Finally, 7.6% reported difficulty accessing physical therapy and 8% faced challenges obtaining diagnostic evaluations due to a shortage of autism specialists and long waitlists. Conclusion The data provides insights into various unmet needs, offering a foundation for clinicians and researchers to address these gaps.