Speaker: Ingrid Lin, M.D., FAAP
Title: Family Navigation for Children with Autism
Family Navigation (FN) is a promising approach to support families throughout the autism journey and improve outcomes. This session summarizes findings from a scoping review of FN models, alongside engagement results from a prospective cohort study of an FN program for children newly diagnosed with autism. Despite active outreach and offering FN at no cost, only 53% of eligible families enrolled, with substantial drop-off during recruitment and after initial interest. Among enrolled families, participants averaged 8.2 brief contacts and 3.4 structured sessions, and autism-specific service use increased from 12% at entry to 66% at exit. Caregivers who preferred a language other than English (primarily Spanish) were more likely to enroll and remain engaged. Findings suggest that both brief contacts and structured sessions support service access, informing scalable, cost-effective FN program design.