Project Summary
Treatment of autism spectrum disorder is typically disjointed, meaning that families often take their child to multiple therapy appointments (e.g., occupational therapy, speech therapy, tutoring, applied behavior analysis) each week at different locations, which can be financially draining on the family as well as physically taxing on the parent responsible for commuting. Families often are left to navigate finding all of these services by themselves. There is no service or agency that can help them locate the services they need, and there is no algorithm for determining how much of any one treatment a child should receive. Families are blindly seeking help for their children without the support of research to guide them. The mission of Autism FORCE is to bring together researchers, families, and community stakeholders in a partnership that will help answer the questions of “What works best for my child?” and “What should I do next/now?” By drawing on the expertise of members of our community we hope to provide families with the answers to these questions along with the peace of mind that they are doing exactly what they need to be doing for their child.