Abstract

Special education service delivery may vary, in part, by geographic location of the school districts. This variation may be especially important to understand for students who require comprehensive evaluations and specialized services, such as students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Much of the existing literature focuses on geographic locations in isolation, rather than examining differences between contexts. Better understanding these differences may improve identification processes and lead to improved long-term outcomes for students with ASD. The authors examined difference in ASD identification practices relative to geographic location in one U.S. state by surveying school-based practitioners about their practices in identifying ASD in students. No significant differences were found between geographic location (rural, small city, midsize city, large city, and suburban), the number of sources of information about ASD symptoms (evaluation tools), and the number of collaborations in the ASD identification process. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

摘要

特殊教育服务的提供可能部分取决于学区的地理位置。对于需要综合评估和专门服务的学生（例如自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的学生）来说，这种变化对于理解尤为重要。现有的许多文献都将重点放在孤立的地理位置上，而不是研究上下文之间的差异。更好地理解这些差异可能会改善识别过程，并改善ASD学生的长期结果。作者通过调查学校从业人员在学生中识别ASD的实践，调查了美国一个州相对于地理位置的ASD识别实践的差异。地理位置之间（农村，小城市，中型城市，大城市和郊区），有关ASD症状的信息源（评估工具）的数量以及ASD识别过程中的协作数量。讨论了对研究和实践的意义。