There is greater identification of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and, as a result, more attention to specialty services to address the challenges children with ASD face. Along with the growth in identification of ASD is a growth in the population of Latino children, yet there is some evidence that disparities exist in diagnosis and services between Latino and non-Latino White children. This study further documents these disparities and investigates the mechanisms that may contribute to them. Diagnosis and specialty services were compared between 48 Latino and 56 non-Latino White children diagnosed with ASD, and factors that contribute to differences are explored. Results show that Latino children were diagnosed almost one year later than White children, received fewer specialty services, and had higher unmet service needs. Factors that accounted for differences in the number of services received were maternal level of education and the number of sources of knowledge about autism. Findings suggest that service providers need to work to provide greater awareness and knowledge about autism, and make services more accessible to Latino families.

This article examined the emotional well-being of 108 Latina and non-Latina White mothers who were coresiding with a youth or adult with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was hypothesized that Latina mothers would be more satisfied with coresidence than non-Latina White mothers, and that satisfaction with coresidence would mediate the relationship between ethnicity and outcomes. When controlling for demographic characteristics, non-Latina White mothers were more distressed and had lower levels of psychological well-being than Latina mothers. As hypothesized, satisfaction with coresidence mediated this difference. Qualitative analysis revealed that both groups of mothers valued family cohesion as a positive aspect of coresidence. However, Latina mothers were less likely to report negative aspects of coresidence than non-Latina White mothers.

Racial and ethnic health disparities are a pervasive public health problem. Emerging research finds similar health disparities among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) compared to nondisabled adults. However, few studies have examined racial and ethnic health disparities among adults with IDD. Using national data, we examined racial and ethnic disparities in health status among adults with IDD, and investigated differences in health status between adults with IDD and nondisabled adults within each racial and ethnic group. We found that Latino and Black adults with IDD had worse health outcomes compared to White adults with IDD, and Latino and Black adults with IDD had worse health outcomes than nondisabled adults from the same racial and ethnic group.

The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised has been validated as a tool to aid in the diagnosis of Autism; however, given the growing diversity in the United States, the ADI-R must be validated for different languages and cultures. This study evaluates the validity of the ADI-R in a U.S.-based Latino, Spanish-speaking population of 50 children and adolescents with ASD and developmental disability. Sensitivity and specificity of the ADI-R as a diagnostic tool were moderate, but lower than previously reported values. Validity of the social reciprocity and restrictive and repetitive behaviors domains was high, but low in the communication domain. Findings suggest that language discordance between caregiver and child may influence reporting of communication symptoms and contribute to lower sensitivity and specificity.

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