Access to early support for children with developmental disabilities and their families

Early support constitutes a range of support provided during early childhood (0-6 years), including specific interventions and programmes to improve child and family outcomes, and contact with services across education, health, and social care. While it is important to ensure families of children with suspected or diagnosed developmental disabilities (e.g., developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism) are able to access early support, research indicates disparities in access. This thesis sought to examine access to early support for children with developmental disabilities and their families. In Chapter 2, a conceptual framework mapping the process of access to early support across three key phases (recognition of potential need, identification or diagnosis, and early support receipt) was proposed. A narrative review identified several factors that affect access to early support for each phase across multiple factor levels (family, service, intersection, and contextual). In Chapter 3, data from a UK survey of parental caregivers (N = 673) of children with developmental disabilities was presented, providing a comprehensive description of participants' access to early support (professionals, services, intervention programmes), in addition to perceived of ease of access to early support, unmet need for early support, and barriers and facilitators of access to early support. In Chapter 4, multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of access to (and perceived unmet need for) early support. Cumulatively, this research has led to substantial increased understanding of the complex multifactorial nature of access to early support for families of children with developmental disabilities. Key selected factors include family socioeconomic status, nature and severity of need, formal identification of need, service coordination and collaboration, and the nature of service delivery in relation to family factors. The contribution of this research is invaluable for identifying potential policy and practice investments and directions for future research to improve access to early support.