Strengthening Service Access for Children of Color With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Proposed Conceptual Framework

Racial/ethnic minority and poor children with autism spectrum disorders seem to be at increased risk for poorer outcomes in comparison to their White, more affluent peers. Worse outcomes may occur for these children because they get access to lower quality and less effective services. In other fields, including medicine and public health, conceptual frameworks have been put forth and validated in order to identify barriers to healthcare access and utilization. We build upon such prior conceptual frameworks in order to the propose the Model of School-Based Service Access for Children of Color with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The goal is for this model to guide future research aimed at understanding why disparities in access to school-based services exist for this group, with the ultimate goal of eliminating those disparities.