The mission of the Disparity Reduction and Equity in Autism Services (DREAmS) Lab, led by Dr. Amber Angell, is to identify, measure, understand, and reduce disparities in autism diagnosis and services. The lab is composed of a multidisciplinary team of researchers, clinicians, students, and volunteers who use a range of health services and clinical informatics research methods, and a participatory, community-engaged research approach. Current projects focus on: 1) the autism ‘diagnostic odyssey’ for girls, 2) mental health services for autistic children and youth, and 3) gastrointestinal (GI) problems that co-occur with autism across the lifespan.
Gastrointestinal (GI) problems are among the most common concern reported by families of autistic children and youth, but efforts to understand the nuances of GI symptoms are stymied by a lack of longitudinal research using real-world clinical datasets. We will use a multimethod, participatory…
Autistic children and youth have high utilization of emergency department visits and inpatient stays for psychiatric indication. There is a need to understand who is at the greatest risk for adverse mental health outcomes in order to tailor prevention efforts. However, autism research to date has…
Delayed diagnosis and under-identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have significant personal, public health, and economic impacts; and girls and Latino children are disproportionately impacted by this problem, in part because clinicians are less likely to recognize ASD risk factors in them…
Autistic youth have high utilization of acute psychiatric healthcare, including psychiatric hospitalizations and using the emergency department for psychiatric reasons, which may indicate that they do not receive sufficient lower-level health services. Community-based therapeutic services like…
Girls and women are increasingly identified and diagnosed with autism; however, very little research has focused on their health and healthcare needs. Emerging research suggests that autistic women may face disparities in women’s healthcare access and utilization compared to neurotypical…
July 10, 2024
New article explores how occupational science might reconcile authentic belonging and autistic camouflaging among intersectional populations.
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