Culturally-Responsive Curriculum for Caregivers With Children at Autism Likelihood

Access to early, evidence-based autism-specific treatment can profoundly improve long-term outcomes for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, current estimates reveal an eight-month to three-year gap between caregiver first concerns about their child's ASD-related behaviors and receipt of ASD-specific services. This prolonged time-period between caregiver first concerns and receipt of ASD-specific services is characterized by elevated parenting stress, increased child behavioral challenges, and reduced quality of life, even compared to families of children with non-ASD developmental concerns. Unfortunately, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities experience lengthier time-periods between first concerns and receipt of services, report increased difficulty accessing timely diagnostic and treatment services, and ultimately experience worse health outcomes compared to White communities. The investigators will partner with Mother Africa, a local non-profit organization, to 1) co-design culturally-responsive caregiver-focused educational materials to support CALD families with young children who have social communication delays or ASD and 2) develop a novel route for dissemination of information and materials within non-profit organizations, which are often the preferred entry-point for accessing healthcare information and services for underserved populations, rather than traditional medical facilities. The educational materials will support caregiver and child well-being by increasing caregiver knowledge and use of ASD specific parenting strategies as well as increasing caregiver awareness and use of local ASD resources. This planned research has the potential to effect programmatic changes in the services and settings available to support CALD communities during the early years of a child's ASD condition and thereby improve child and caregiver outcomes.