Date of Award
1-20-2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
School Psychology
First Advisor
Pamela Fenning
Abstract
The shortage of autism specialists and lack of culturally sensitive autism assessment tools are helping to perpetuate racial and ethnic disparities in autism identification and treatment. Using DisCrit as a framework, this quantitative study examined the utility of one autism assessment tool, the Social Responsiveness Scale, second edition (SRS-2) for Black, Latine, and White students suspected of being autistic. Results suggest that there is low inter-rater agreement between parents and teachers on the SRS-2 and that the SRS-2 demonstrates low predictive validity across racial/ethnic groups. Implications for practice are provided highlighting the importance of culturally responsive approaches in addressing disparities in autism evaluation.
Recommended Citation
Healy, Emma, "The Utility Of The Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition for Children Suspected to have Autism: Examining the SRS-2 in Light of Children's Race and Ethnicity" (2025). Dissertations. 4153.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/4153
