Considering Culture in Autism Screening & Systems of Care: State Peer-to-Peer Exchange

December 15, 2015

Since 2008, AMCHP's SPHARC has organized the Peer-to-Peer Exchange Programs as a mechanism for state grantees to learn from one other about building systems of care for children and youth with autism, share lessons learned and best practices, and develop plans of action for moving ahead. On June 16-17, the Massachusetts HRSA Autism Planning Grant team and Act Early State team hosted the 2015 SPHARC Peer-to-Peer, which brought together seven state teams (CT, IA, MA, ME, MN, NH, and VA) to brainstorm and problem solve educating parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds about healthy developmental milestones in young children and reducing early identification barriers for autism and other developmental disorders.

Held at the Boston Children's Museum, the meeting also included a training on the Considering Culture in Autism Screening curriculum, sharing strategies and models of intervention, and creating action plans inspired by the wisdom shared from the states' efforts. Resources and presentations from the meeting are posted here are the SPHARC website.