Child and Evaluation Characteristics Predicting Educational Eligibility of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Examining the Role of Race and Ethnicity

Abstract

Though there is evidence ASD is under-identified and identified late in populations who are culturally and linguistically diverse, there is limited research that explains the issue of disproportionality and factors contributing to its occurrence, especially within an educational setting. To explore contributors to disparity in ASD eligibility, with a focus on examining the role of race/ethnicity, the current investigation evaluated child and evaluation characteristics as they relate to the absence of ASD eligibility. Data were obtained from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network Study and included children with behavioral deficits consistent with ASD with educational evaluation records. Despite documented behavioral deficits, only two-thirds of the sample received educational services under ASD eligibility. To characterize those children without ASD eligibility, hierarchical logistic regression was used to evaluate factors documented in evaluation records predicting the absence of ASD eligibility. Significant predictors of lacking ASD eligibility included fewer autism discriminators, less comprehensive evaluations, no intellectual disability, no clinical diagnosis of ASD, and more associated features documented. There was no unique contribution of race/ethnicity in predicting lack of ASD eligibility when accounting for these previous predictors. All predictors of lacking ASD eligibility, however, differed by racial/ethnic group except total number of autism discriminators. Racial/ethnic differences in ASD eligibility may result from inequities in the evaluation process, including experiencing less comprehensive evaluations, and not receiving an ASD specific assessment.