Creating Digital Support for Service Navigators and Families of Autistic Children from Low-Resourced Backgrounds (Preprint)

Abstract

Limited digital supports exist for families of children with autism especially with respect to increasing access to services. Further, most of the extant research overlooks families of autistic children from low-resourced backgrounds who face greater barriers in accessing services.

Using human-centered design, our objective was to create an app for families of autistic children from low-resourced backgrounds to access services.

We collected qualitative and quantitative data in an iterative design to develop and test the app.

The app appears to be feasible and useful for families of children with autism from low-resourced backgrounds.

Collecting diverse types of data from different stakeholders in multiple languages can help develop a digital tool especially for individuals who are often marginalized.