General practice encounters for young patients with autism spectrum disorder in Australia.
Australian GPs are swamped with complex autism visits, so BCBAs must step in as partners, not just clinic therapists.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kitty-Rose and team counted every GP visit made by autistic youth in Australia.
They compared 2000-2013 records for kids and young adults with and without autism.
Each visit was tagged as preventive, acute, or psychosocial.
What they found
Autism-related GP visits jumped four-fold over the 13 years.
These visits were less about sore throats or shots.
Instead, families brought mood, sleep, and behavior worries.
How this fits with other research
Bao et al. (2017) saw autism diagnoses slow after DSM-5 tightened rules.
Yet Kitty-Rose still found more kids in GP offices.
The gap shows today’s autistic youth have trickier needs even if they are fewer on paper.
Marshall et al. (2023) add that some BCBAs now drift to non-ABA methods.
Together the papers warn: demand for autism-smart care is rising while evidence-based supply may shrink.
Why it matters
Your next client may arrive with a long GP print-out of anxiety, GI, or sleep issues.
Use that list to pick first-priority targets and teach medical staff how ABA can help.
When you share quick data sheets with GPs, you shorten the loop between medical concern and behavior plan.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study compared the patient demographics and reasons for encounter in general practice for patients <25 years with and without an autism spectrum disorder identified as a reason for encounter and/or problem managed. The Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health programme collected information about clinical activities in Australian general practice. Each year, the programme recruited a random sample of 1000 general practitioners, each of whom collected data for 100 consecutive consultations (encounters). Encounters with patients <25 years, where at least one autism spectrum disorder was recorded as a reason for encounter and/or a problem managed (n = 579), were compared with all other encounters (n = 281,473) from April 2000 to March 2014 inclusive. Data were age-sex standardised. Patients at autism spectrum disorder encounters (compared to non-autism spectrum disorder encounters) were more likely to be younger and male. There was a dramatic rise in the number of general practitioner consultations at autism spectrum disorder encounters from 2000 to 2013. More reasons for encounter were recorded at autism spectrum disorder encounters than at non-autism spectrum disorder encounters (156.4 (95% confidence interval: 144.0-168.8) and 140.5 (95% confidence interval: 140.0-141.0), respectively). At autism spectrum disorder (vs non-autism spectrum disorder) encounters, there were more psychological, general and unspecified, and social reasons for encounter and fewer preventive and acute health reasons for encounter. People with an autism spectrum disorder have complex health care needs that require a skilled general practice workforce.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018 · doi:10.1177/1362361317702560