Disparities in Supports for Autism in Latino Families

Racial and ethnic health disparities have been heavy on our hearts over the past few years—and they should be.

We have much to reckon with, not only in terms of our own personal biases, but also regarding the structural inequities within healthcare.

In this one-hour, podcast-based CE course, we’ll look at how the Latino community is impacted by disparities around the diagnosis and care of autistic children. We’ll start by exploring some of the latest research on the topic with Catherine R. Hoyt, PhD, OTD, OTR/L and Cristina Reyes Smith, OTD, OTR/L. Then, we’ll discuss practical implications for caring for our autistic clients, including how we can work step-by-step to dismantle the disparities in our healthcare systems.

This course is designed to meet the OT ethics CEU requirements for several states.

Supplemental Materials

• Updated guidance on reporting race and ethnicity from JAMA

• National CLAS Standards

• Health Equity Framework

• COTAD: Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity

1. You will be able to identify barriers to autism supports that disproportionately impact Latino families.

2. You will be able to recognize how unmet needs for autistic patients vary by ethnicity and English proficiency.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

  • An introduction to racial disparities in autism care

  • Why was this paper written?

  • What methods did the authors use?

  • What were the results?

  • Authors’ conclusion and recommendations

  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with guests Cristina Smith & Catherine Hoyt)

  1. What were your initial impressions of the article?

  2. Do you have examples of racial and ethnic healthcare disparities in the OT world, based on your own practice?

  3. What can we be doing, as occupational therapy professionals, to support early diagnosis of autism for our Latino clients?

  4. What are some strategies individuals can use to root out their own biases that might contribute to health disparities?

  5. What are the most important steps our clinics/departments should be taking to address racial and ethnic health disparities?

  6. What are the most important steps our profession should be collectively taking to address health disparities?

Primary

• Disparities in diagnosis and treatment of autism in latino and non-latino white families

Additional

• Current landscape of teaching diversity in occupational therapy education: A scoping review

• Estimation and comparison of current and FUTURE RACIAL/ETHNIC representation in the US health Care Workforce

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Cristina Reyes Smith has no financial interest in this topic to disclose. She serves on the Board of Directors of the American Occupational Therapy Association.

Catherine R. Hoyt has no financial interest in this topic to disclose. She is founding director of the Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity (COTAD), which is listed in this course's supplemental materials.