Chapter 6: An Innovative Community-Based Clinic that Serves Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

There has been a noticeable increase in the prevalence and presence of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in society and it has become the fastest growing disability (Autism Society of America, 2010). This increase is related to a number of factors such as: the provisions of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (1990) which added autism as a specific disability category that necessitates that public school districts provide students with ASD a school program that meets their individual education needs; the advances in and earlier diagnosing of individuals with ASD (see Deisinger, 2008a); a growing public awareness of ASD due to popular press and media coverage (Gargiulo, 2012); and the inclusive philosophy of educating, treating, and training of individuals with ASD in the community rather than institutional and residential centers (Rotatori, Obiakor, & Burkhardt, 2008). While this increase has lead to challenges in meeting the needs of individuals with ASD, it has also resulted in numerous advances in: diagnosing and identification; psychological functioning (sensory-perceptual, cognitive, sociocognitive parameters); genetics and brain functioning aspects; best practice treatment approaches; educational implications; implications of ASD through the life span; and the effect of ASD on family functioning (see Boutot & Myles, 2011; Deisinger, 2010; Deisinger 2011; Roth, 2010; Tantam, 2011). These advances were spearheaded by major medical and university clinic research programs. However, this growing increase of individuals with ASD has challenged the service capacity of these medical and university clinic research based providers to meet the needs of these individuals. What is critically needed today is the development of community-based services for individuals with ASD that are accessible, accountable, comprehensive, inclusive, family focused and utilize best practice and evidence based procedures. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to describe a community based facility that is meeting this need.