A First Look at Applied Behavior Analysis Service Delivery to Latino American Families Raising a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Rosales and her team talked with 20 Latino parents who had a child with autism. They asked open questions about how families found, started, and stayed in ABA programs.

The interviews were done in Spanish or English, whichever the parent liked. All families lived in the United States and most had low incomes.

Parents said three big things got in the way: no Spanish-speaking staff, hard paperwork, and not knowing ABA even existed. One mom said she waited a year because no one told her therapy could happen at home.

When clinics did offer an interpreter, families felt more welcome and came to more sessions. Without clear Spanish info, parents trusted the doctor less and quit sooner.

Brynskov et al. (2017) saw the same wait problem in Venezuela. Kids there were diagnosed three years after parents first worried, matching the long U.S. delays Rosales heard about.

Casey et al. (2009) already showed a fix: their Spanish parent class CUIDAR boosted attendance for low-income Latino preschoolers. Rosales adds fresh voices saying language help is still missing.

Straiton-Webster et al. (2025) looked at Medicaid claims and found no Latino versus White gap in ABA hours. That seems opposite to Rosales, but claims only count families who get past the front-door barriers Rosales describes. The studies fit together: once enrolled, dosage is equal; getting enrolled is the hard part.

You can lower early dropout tomorrow by adding one step: ask every new family what language they prefer for forms, calls, and parent training. Offer a free phone interpreter or translated videos at intake. Small moves like this turn the cultural values Baires et al. (2023) talk about—familismo and personalismo—into real practice, not nice-sounding buzzwords.