Undocumented Mexican mothers of children with autism: navigating the health care and educational service systems

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Autism
• immigrant families
• undocumented
• community-based
• mothers
• Latinx

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Sam Odom, PhD and Rosalinda Larios, PhD who reviewed earlier versions of this manuscript and the University of California, Los Angeles Dissertation Year Fellowship.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Funding Agency #1) under grant number UA3 MC 11055 (AIR-B).