Many autistic adults remain undiagnosed until later

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the abstract and stated challenges and stated research gap of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2018 and 2026, spanning 3 journals. Those papers have been cited 53 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 3 representative gaps

• Assessing the generality and durability of interview‐informed functional analyses and treatment (2018) · Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis · cited 53× · doi

  Due to the limited research demonstrating socially valid outcomes of function-based treatments in ecologically relevant environments (Santiago, Hanley, Moore, & Jin, 2016), we replicated and extended the effects of the interview-informed functional analysis and skill-based treatment procedure described by Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, and Hanratty (2014) with two children diagnosed with autism in a home setting.

  generalabstractevidence 5/5
  Keywords: based hanley limited demonstrating socially valid outcomes function treatments ecologically relevant environments santiago moore replicated
• The Impact of a Neurocollaborative Theraplay®-Informed Intervention on the Presentations of Developmental Trauma and Attachment Difficulties in a Sub-Group of Autistic Looked after Children: a Retrospective Service Evaluation (2026) · Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma · doi

  The study identifies the challenge of evaluating the efficacy of a neuro-collaborative Theraplay-informed psychotherapeutic intervention for care-experienced autistic children. The study also identifies the challenge of measuring therapeutic outcomes in this population. The study notes the challenge of working with a smaller autistic group, which may not have shown statistically significant improvements due to the limited sample size.

  generalstated challengesevidence 5/5
  Keywords: study identifies challenge evaluating efficacy neuro-collaborative theraplay-informed psychotherapeutic
• Autistic Adults and Loved Ones’ Experiences of a Later Life Diagnosis (2026) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi

  Many autistic adults remain undiagnosed until later in life, leading to missed opportunities for support and increased mental health difficulties. Prior work has focused on childhood autism, with limited research on the experiences of autistic adults diagnosed later in life. The study aims to address this gap by exploring the experiences of autistic adults diagnosed later in life and their loved ones.

  generalstated research gapevidence 5/5
  Keywords: many autistic adults remain undiagnosed until later life

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