National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Disabil Health J. 2012 Jan;5(1):55-9. doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2011.10.001.
Increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and the merits of early intervention support the importance of early identification and detection. The Act Early Initiative attempts to address the states' capacity to support this process of early identification and early intervention.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) collaborated with the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) to develop strategies that will address state capacity for responding to the increasing demand for earlier identification, earlier diagnoses, and coordination of service systems for children with ASDs and other developmental disabilities (DD).
Act Early regional summits were held to engage stakeholders from the early detection and intervention community including parents, state agencies, provider groups, autism and related disability organizations, and academia. The stakeholders then used the Logic Model to facilitate the teams' planning process. The Logic Model enables teams to understand the strengths and gaps within their state resources and plan specific activities to achieve concrete outcomes.
States identified opportunities and challenges in early identification of children with delay. One of the particular challenges identified were low income, rural and non-English speaking populations encountering more challenges than others in accessing diagnosis and early intervention services.
The Summits are a unique model that demonstrates the importance of developing comprehensive state plans to advance the collaboration and coordination of early detection and intervention service systems for children with ASDs and related DDs from all racial, ethnic, geographical, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的患病率不断增加，以及早期干预的优势，都支持早期识别和检测的重要性。“Act Early 倡议”试图解决各州支持早期识别和早期干预这一过程的能力。
疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）健康资源与服务管理局（HRSA）与大学残疾中心协会（AUCD）合作，制定战略，以解决各州应对日益增长的需求的能力，包括对自闭症谱系障碍和其他发育障碍（DD）儿童进行更早识别、更早诊断以及协调服务系统。
举行了“Act Early”区域峰会，让早期检测和干预领域的利益相关者参与，包括家长、州机构、服务提供商团体、自闭症和相关残疾组织以及学术界。然后，利益相关者使用逻辑模型来促进团队的规划过程。逻辑模型使团队能够了解其州资源的优势和差距，并计划具体活动以实现具体成果。
各州确定了在儿童发育迟缓的早期识别方面的机会和挑战。其中一个特别的挑战是，低收入、农村和非英语为母语的人群在获得诊断和早期干预服务方面遇到的挑战比其他人更多。
这些峰会是一种独特的模式，它表明制定全面的州计划对于推进自闭症谱系障碍和相关 DD 儿童的早期检测和干预服务系统的协作和协调具有重要意义，这些儿童来自各种种族、族裔、地理和社会经济背景。
