Health Care Transition Planning Among Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Walsh et al. (2017) asked parents of high-schoolers with autism about health-care transition planning. They used a big national survey to see who got the help they needed.

The team checked if race, income, or level of disability changed the results.

Less than one in ten youth with autism met basic health-care transition goals. Black teens, poorer families, and kids with more daily challenges were left behind most often.

The gap was huge. Most families simply did not get the planning support national guidelines say they should.

Chandroo et al. (2020) asked the students themselves and heard the same story. Kids want to help plan, but no one invites them. The two studies line up: parents report poor service, students feel left out.

Whaling et al. (2025) zoomed in on Latino families and found they know less about services than White families. Casey showed a race gap; M shows it is still there eight years later.

Hong et al. (2021) give hope. They tested college-based transition services and saw self-determination scores rise. Casey tells us the need; S et al. show one way to fill it.

If you serve teens with autism, expect most families to arrive with no health-care transition plan. Start early, use plain language, and double-check that Black, Latino, and low-income parents get equal time. Borrow the college-site model from S et al. or create a simple checklist that includes the youth’s own voice. One extra phone call or meeting can move a family from the under-10% into the prepared group.