Let’s first talk about Autism and define it appropriately. This is important because there can often be a misconception of what diagnoses are and how they are perceived. Autism is categorized as a neurodevelopment disorder focused primarily on communication that impacts social skills and behavior. Basically, children with Autism struggle to communicate based on societal norms. These communication norms may look like difficulty making eye contact when talking to someone, struggling to understand that people need personal space, knowing how to initiate conversations, making friends, understanding how to make friends or maintain a relationship. Overall, these children often do not understand the social dynamics of the world and feel like outsiders. In addition to the communication aspect, there is also an executive function portion to Autism, which includes transitioning, difficulty being cognitively flexible, hyper-focusing on topics of interest, and difficulty regulating their emotions.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has recently gained much attention based on the increase in diagnosis within the last 10 years (CDC, 2018). There is often a significant misunderstanding of what Autism Spectrum Disorder is due to the change in name within the DSM-5 in 2013. ASD was previously classified as multiple disorders that are under one umbrella now.
These included:
Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Asperger’s Syndrome
How is Autism Represented in the Black Community?
It is important to note that the rates among Black and Hispanic children are rising due to increased awareness. In 2018, the CDC has reported about 1 in 59 children of all races have been diagnosed with Autism, these rates have risen 15% within the last 2 years compared to previous studies that identified minorities being significantly under-diagnosed. Black children are more likely to be diagnosed with a behavior disorder before they are correctly diagnosed with Autism. Many families and doctors can easily mistake Autism for “bad behavior” and more likely in boys. This bad behavior can be aggression, low frustration tolerance, difficulty regulating their emotions, transitioning to various environments. Especially for littles, they may be seen hitting other children, banging their head on a table, not following directions, refusing to participate in group activities. Many Black children are not diagnosed until later in life and may experience more difficulty due to the lack of services during the preventative developmental years. Although prevention does not eliminate the diagnosis it can improve quality of life, a child’s overall sense of self, how they perceive the world, and how parents understand and relate to their child.
Several studies have indicated that Black parents were less likely to report key indicators such as delayed speech and repetitive behaviors even though when evaluated these children displayed greater severity than reported. For example, if a doctor were to ask about the child’s developmental progress, a parent may report that their child is speaking well for their age but in reality, that child’s development would be expected to be much further along given their age. Children with Autism have been reported to have delayed speech. This information would be an important indicator for a professional to further evaluate and provide appropriate services.
If you read the previous article related to ADHD in the Black community, you will notice some of these trends are similar or exactly the same, whereas, ASD is not accepted as well as an ADHD diagnosis. As Black families are frequently at a disadvantage for receiving academic and medical support, it is less likely that they would both know how to seek services but also want their child to have a label as this may give the impression that even fewer services will be available to their family. However, a label of Autism opens doors; but there is an understandable fear for many families that the opposite would be true.
Prevention is key. Dandelion is equipped with professionals that work with kiddos 3-14 to provide early preventative services and support for parents with children who have ASD or additional diagnoses such as ADHD, Sensory Processing, and Gifted children.
University of Colorado at Boulder. (2019, August 28). Autism rates increasing fastest among black, Hispanic youth: Rates among white children climbing again after mid-2000s plateau. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 26, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190828140055.htm
Dai YG, Porto KS, Skapek M, Barton ML, Dumont-Mathieu T, Fein DA, Robins DL.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2020 Mar 3:10.1007