- Delayed identification and assessment, workforce shortages, and long waiting times produce fragmented care pathways and impede timely support.
- Unequal access across regions and systems increases caregiver burden, complicates school participation, and undermines continuity during adolescence and transition to adulthood.
- Earlier recognition, equitable multidisciplinary services, stronger family and school support, and improved coordination across health, education, and social care are required.
Front Public Health. 2026 Sep 11;14:1840171. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1840171. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition that often requires long-term support across healthcare, education, and social care systems. Despite increasing recognition, many children and adolescents continue to experience delayed identification, fragmented care pathways, and unequal access to services. This narrative review synthesizes recent evidence on care pathways, service access, and psychosocial support needs in children and adolescents with ASD, drawing on literature published from 2020 onward, with emphasis on recognition, barriers to diagnosis and post-diagnostic support, service access, family burden, school participation, and transition-related needs. Recent evidence indicates that ASD-related care remains uneven across regions and systems. Delays in referral and assessment, workforce shortages, long waiting times, socioeconomic and geographic disparities, and poor coordination across healthcare, education, and social care remain major barriers to timely support. These structural constraints increase caregiver burden, complicate school participation, and weaken continuity of care during adolescence and transition to adulthood. Families frequently report difficulties navigating complex systems, while schools function as both a major site of support and a major source of unmet need. Improving outcomes requires earlier recognition, more equitable access to multidisciplinary services, stronger family and school support, and better coordination across healthcare, education, and social care sectors. A developmental and systems-oriented approach is likely to better address the changing needs of children and adolescents with ASD.
PMID:42799165 | PMC:PMC13614117 | DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2026.1840171
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