In the field of education and health care, researchers and educators attempt to close the diagnosis/identification and service gaps that persist for low-resourced, underrepresented families with children with autism. One group of families particularly difficult to engage in research and interventions is undocumented immigrant families. We know little about whether these families are obtaining a timely diagnosis or services for their children with autism. This study addresses how undocumented Mexican immigrant mothers of children with autism navigate the special education and health care systems, challenges they face in doing so, and the helpers who assist in navigating the process. Six undocumented Mexican immigrant mothers of children with autism participated in one-on-one interviews. Participants were interviewed in a semi-structured format and transcription, coding, and final analysis were conducted in Spanish using analytic software. Three broad themes emerged during the content analysis process: (1) immigration driving force and experience, (2) autism-specific challenges, and (3) autism-specific helpers. Additionally, a case study of each participant is presented and discussed.

在教育和医疗保健领域，研究人员和教育工作者试图缩小自闭症儿童在资源匮乏、代表性不足的家庭中持续存在的诊断/识别和服务差距。一组特别难以参与研究和干预的家庭是无证移民家庭。我们对这些家庭是否为他们的自闭症孩子获得及时的诊断或服务知之甚少。这项研究探讨了自闭症儿童的无证墨西哥移民母亲如何驾驭特殊教育和医疗保健系统，他们在此过程中面临的挑战，以及协助驾驭这一过程的帮助者。六名自闭症儿童的无证墨西哥移民母亲参加了一对一的访谈。参与者以半结构化的形式接受采访，并使用分析软件以西班牙语进行转录、编码和最终分析。在内容分析过程中出现了三个广泛的主题：（1）移民驱动力和经验，（2）自闭症特定的挑战，以及（3）自闭症特定的帮助者。此外，还介绍并讨论了每个参与者的案例研究。