asd roadmap

Organizations serving people living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (or ASD) struggle to create expertise, generate capacity, and build the kinds of bridges across agencies and disciplines that are essential effectively address complex, lifelong issues. ASD Roadmaps seeks to fill these gaps through expert consultation and flexible support. For a variety of reasons, many organizations lack the resources, experience, and structure to undertake the kind of large-scale change needed to translate emerging scientific findings into new policy or programs of training or services. They might not have the expertise in research, knowledge of the full spectrum of services and support needed, or a full appreciation of the extent of the challenges faced by families. They might seek to identify new leaders to support these changes, only to discover that there is a dearth of leaders with the breadth of experience to undertake such change: most professionals have focused on developing a specific area of expertise, with a specific population (young/old, with/without intellectual disabilities), in a specific sector (health, education, advocacy), and/or a specific task (research, training, services, policy). University-based experts may struggle to provide the extensive guidance needed because they may lack practical experience in leading large agencies focused on delivering services, or because the kind of consultation provided does not contribute to advancing their academic career. Organizations fortunate to have leaders or professionals with such expertise often find that these leaders lack the flexibility to re-allocate the time needed to develop new initiatives. And too many organizations invest time in developing programs without learning lessons from similar programs already developed elsewhere. ASD Roadmap helps to identify areas of need and opportunity, improve and expand services, and shape leaders into experts, to improve the outcomes for everyone living with ASD.