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Abstract
Research suggests early intervention services lead to better outcomes for children with a range of disabilities (e.g., Dawson, 2010; Perry et al., 2011; Zwaigenbaum et al.,
2015). Children with disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), benefit most
when intervention services are provided as early as possible but unfortunately, children
from sociodemographic minority groups do not equitably receive services at the same age
(i.e., Latino, African American). Although prior research has addresses broad disparities
in assessing or not accessing certain intervention services, limited studies have
documented the extent of the disparity by examining differences in the total number of
hours of services families are utilizing across a broad range of services for children with
ASD ages 2 to 12-years-old. Using a nationally representative data set (Simons Simplex
Collection (SFARI)), the current study investigates variability across sociodemographic
groups (i.e., race, ethnicity, household income, occupation, and education) on total
number of hours of intervention types, including intensive therapy, occupational therapy,
speech therapy, and psychotropic medications. Results revealed the underutilization of
services in racial minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations across two
different age ranges (i.e., 2 to 5 years and 6 to 12 years). In addition, psychotropic
medication use was observed at higher rates by Whites than Asian, African American, or
Other racial groups. Implications for practice and future directions are discussed.