Examination of racial/ethnic disproportionality of autism in California

Background Racial/Ethnic disparities continue to exist for minoritized communities. This study is an examination of the risk ratio analysis of racial/ethnic special education disproportionality in schools for the category of autism in the state of California. Method We extracted and analyzed state level risk ratio data. We used descriptive statistics and compared school districts with significant disproportionality in autism across multiple variables (demographics, enrollment, English Learners, socio-economic status). Additionally, a caregiver survey was sent to caregivers in one disproportionate school district as part of a root cause analysis. Results It was found that, in 2019, all districts in California with a racial/ethnic significant disproportionality in the autism category were for the overidentification of White students. Importantly, all the districts in the sample had strikingly similar student demographics; a large majority of Latinx/Hispanic students, a large percentage of English Language Learners and low-income students. Results revealed a significant discrepancy between caregiver identified early signs of delays, or red flags of disability by Spanish-speaking Latinx caregivers (14%) and English-speaking caregivers (77%). Conclusions Researchers and school districts aiming to address systemic disparities in special education need to capture caregiver perspectives in their root cause analyses. Importantly, these findings point to the duty of school systems to address the autism identification and service gaps for families whose primary language is other than English.