Expanding the autism evidence base: Strategies to increase participant representation.
Partner with trusted local groups and use bilingual, culturally matched materials to recruit Latinx families who are usually left out.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tafolla et al. (2025) wanted more Latinx families in autism research. They teamed up with churches, Head Start, and food banks. Together they signed up 94 Spanish-English families who live on low incomes. Every flyer, survey, and consent form was in both languages and showed pictures of local families.
What they found
The plan worked. Families said yes. Parents shared worries, filled out forms, and brought their kids for assessments. Recruitment stayed high from start to finish. The study proved you can reach this group when you meet them where they already trust people.
How this fits with other research
Blacher et al. (2019) looked at the same community and saw a darker picture. Latino children already in the system got fewer therapy hours than Anglo kids with the same symptoms. Spanish-speaking moms even reported fewer concerns. The two papers seem opposite, but they are not. Maira shows how to pull families in; Jan shows what happens once they are inside. The gap lives in the service system, not in the families.
Luelmo et al. (2021) took the next step. After Latinx parents joined, they gave them a short advocacy class. Knowledge went up, yet parents still felt powerless. The lesson: recruitment is only round one. You also need coaching so families can push for what the system still denies them.
Vela et al. (2025) kept the ball rolling. They trained Latinx parents to run their own support groups. Graduates felt pride, purpose, and stronger community ties. Maira’s open door makes these later programs possible.
Why it matters
You can copy the playbook today. Ask parents where they already go: church, WIC office, soccer league. Bring bilingual flyers that show kids who look like theirs. Let community leaders speak first. Once families enroll, keep going: teach advocacy skills, share Spanish ABA handouts, and schedule around shift work. More Latinx voices in your data now means fairer, stronger interventions later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is a lack of representation of racially diverse individuals who are multilingual from low-income households in autism research. This calls into question the generalizability of research findings derived from predominantly White, English-speaking samples. In this article, we bring forth an important argument about why we as an autism field should work to expand representation in research samples. We also discuss strategies that can be used to work toward this goal. We detail the recruitment and retention of 94 Spanish-English bilingual Latinx (primarily Mexican and Central American) families from low-income households across a large urban city and its surrounding communities in the United States for an assessment validation study. We use the method of this study as an example of how to engage and include underrepresented populations in autism research, describing the efforts that were implemented to engage families and community-based organizations serving this population. We conclude the report by summarizing culturally sensitive strategies researchers can use to engage populations of different races and ethnicities from low-income households in their own research studies, in hopes of increasing representation in the autism science field and ensuring that research findings are applicable across populations, including those who have been historically underrepresented.Lay AbstractIndividuals of different races and identities from low-income households and their families are not adequately represented in research. This makes it difficult to know whether autism research findings apply to traditionally underserved individuals of color, since participants included in studies are usually White and speak English. We use our own study, where we successfully recruited 94 Spanish-English bilingual participants who are from Mexico and Central America but are currently living in the United States in low-income households for an assessment study, as an example to describe the strategies that were helpful to recruit participants with these sociodemographic characteristics. We end the article by discussing strategies that are culturally appropriate for researchers to consider when working with autistic populations of color who are from predominantly low-income households and their families.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2025 · doi:10.1177/13623613251393505