Working with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Medical Setting: Insights from Certified Child Life Specialists.

Child Life Specialists (CCLS) filled out a survey. They work in hospitals with kids who have autism.

They rated how ready doctors and nurses are to treat these children. They also listed what helps or hurts care.

Staff feel lost. CCLS say most workers do not know how to calm, talk to, or examine kids with ASD.

The fix: pull parents onto the care team and give staff autism-only training.

Granillo et al. (2022) looked at 17 studies and found autism training does boost doctor skill and confidence. That seems opposite to our target paper, but the gap is real-world use. Training exists; hospitals just are not requiring it.

Marrus et al. (2014) saw the same hole years earlier. Child psychiatry fellows got only 3–4 hours of autism class. The new survey shows the hole is still there in hospitals.

Arsham et al. (2025) built a Qatar clinic that does what the CCLS ask: team care plus parent voice. Parents loved it, proving the idea works outside the U.S.

You can hand Lauren’s review to your medical partner and say, “Train here.” Push for short, autism-only modules. Offer to co-teach. Also, tell nurses to ask parents first: “What calms her?” That one step cuts meltdowns and builds trust fast.