Use of early intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder across Europe.
A child’s zip code and parents’ schooling decide early autism help more than the child’s needs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked the families across Europe about their preschoolers with autism.
They wanted to know who gets early help and who does not.
Parents filled out a short survey about services their child used.
What they found
More than one in five kids in some countries got zero early help.
Where you live and how much school the parents finished mattered more than the child’s traits.
A toddler in one country might start therapy at age two, while a similar child next door waits until five.
How this fits with other research
Pye et al. (2024) asked the same questions in Australia after a new insurance plan. They found more kids now get two or more therapies, but money and distance still decide who gets left out.
Byiers et al. (2025) looked only at the Netherlands and saw the same patchy picture: guidelines exist, yet families still hit long waits.
Vivanti et al. (2025) explain why: even good science sits on the shelf unless policies pay for it and schools welcome it.
These studies do not clash; they show the same problem in new places and times.
Why it matters
If you work in Europe, expect wide gaps in what families can access. Push for clear referral paths and team up with local schools. Track each child’s start date and share the data—your notes can help show where the system still fails.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Little is known about use of early interventions for autism spectrum disorder in Europe. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder aged 7 years or younger (N = 1680) were recruited through parent organisations in 18 European countries and completed an online survey about the interventions their child received. There was considerable variation in use of interventions, and in some countries more than 20% of children received no intervention at all. The most frequently reported interventions were speech and language therapy (64%) and behavioural, developmental and relationship-based interventions (55%). In some parts of Europe, use of behavioural, developmental and relationship-based interventions was associated with higher parental educational level and time passed since diagnosis, rather than with child characteristics. These findings highlight the need to monitor use of intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder in Europe in order to contrast inequalities.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2016 · doi:10.1177/1362361315577218