Autism service barriers for Latine children and their families: a participatory approach to adapting autism diagnostic care

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Latine children with limited English proficiency face significant barriers to timely autism diagnosis, leading to health inequities.
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Systemic barriers include language discordance, interpreter inaccuracies, cultural stigma, and long waitlists for autism services.
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Caregivers reported social isolation, mistrust of health systems, and emotional distress exacerbated by immigration-related stressors.
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Clinicians identified language and cultural differences as primary challenges in communicating with Spanish-speaking families.
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There is a critical need for adapted autism diagnostic care models for Spanish-speaking Latine families in the United States.

Frontiers In Psychiatry

by Ann Marie Martin, Gisela Perez, Elizabeth Frances Battle, Aaliyah Saunders, Stephanie Pozuelos, Mary Ciccarelli, Angela Paxton, Carrie Leathers, Rebecca McNally Keehn
July 9, 2026

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