The Indiana University School of Medicine is leading a program focused on expanding training for pediatric clinicians to evaluate children for autism.
The program, which partners with Vanderbilt University Medical Center and UMass Chan Medical School, has recently received a five-year $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
About one in 31 children ages 4-8 are identified with autism, according to the CDC. Children can wait months or even years for an autism evaluation because of a shortage of trained specialists, especially in rural areas.
Rebecca McNally Keane, an associate professor of pediatrics at Indiana University, says her team's program trains primary care providers to evaluate children closer to home.
“We know that the earlier that we intervene for children who are having developmental problems or differences, the greater the impact that we can have on their development,” McNally said.
McNally also says that an early diagnosis can help families and caregivers adapt their lives to a new path quicker, which her team believes can help children become more independent as adults.
“Since we started in 2012, over 8,500 young children have received evaluations in their local community primary care practices,” McNally said. “At this time, the clinicians across our state see over 1,200 children per year for evaluations.”
The training itself can take up to 30 hours and covers autism, screening, diagnostic procedures and helping families navigate care. Clinicians also receive coaching during evaluations before practicing independently.
McNally says that with the grant money, the research gathered through this program could reach beyond Indiana. She says it not only allows them to extend the level of training for autism diagnosis, but also other pediatric areas, like speech pathology.
McNally hopes that with this new funding, her team will be able to impact health approaches globally.
“Every child and their family deserve to have access to the healthcare that they need so that they can live their best life, and that is really what motivates our work,” McNally said.
