In the recent decade, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased as have the choices of management. However, challenges remain regarding issues associated with assessment, identification, description, and differentiation. Thus, contributing factors linked to identifying CLD children with ASD depend on the socioeconomic and ethnic settings within which they are developing. For example, depending on the family setting, the identification of ASD in children can be affected by low-income factors, differences in parents’ education, the availability of knowledge on the issue of autism, unmet service needs and poor access, and others.
When conducting an assessment, there is a need to consider the cultural characteristics of households, as it was found that there was an increased risk of an ASD diagnosis if children’s mothers were foreign-born and diverse ethnically, patterns of service access and care delivery, levels of education, and others. It is expected that assessments may be limited by the lack of a target population’s understanding of the impact of ASD diagnosis and the need for its management. In addition, it is essential that healthcare professionals understand whether the family of the target patient has the resources to meet the needs associated with the ASD diagnosis.
Since the growth in research in speech therapy services in the 1960s and 1970s, new models of understanding autism emerged. ASD was no longer considered a ‘mental defect’ but rather a subject of diagnostic practice required of psychiatric epidemiology. In addition, this led to better diagnosis and recognition of children’s needs and problems and the spectrum of the disorder that can range from one individual to another. New treatment methods targeted the need for children to adapt to a society based on their own needs and capabilities instead of making them adhere to rigid, socially established norms.