From Early Childhood to Adulthood: Implementing Neuroaffirming Health Care for Autistic Individuals

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Acharya, K., Bauer, S. C., & Rottier, H. (2026). From Early Childhood to Adulthood: Implementing Neuroaffirming Health Care for Autistic Individuals. Pediatric Annals, 55(7), e246-e251. https://doi.org/10.3928/19382359-20260317-01

Publication date: 1 Jul 2026 Added to AutiHub: 24 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Kruti Acharya
  2. Sarah C. Bauer
  3. Helen Rottier *

Abstract

In health care, autism is viewed through the medical model. This approach may lead to adverse health care experiences and outcomes for autistic individuals. In contrast, integrating neurodiversity into care can improve the health care experiences and outcomes of autistic individuals. The authors combine scientific literature, the health care perspectives of autistic people, and clinical experiences to highlight the barriers and needs of individuals who are neurodivergent in health care. The authors present tangible neuroaffirming practices for pediatric medicine, from screening and diagnosis to transition to adulthood. Physicians play a crucial role in advancing accessible, neuroaffirming care. Even small changes in practice meaningfully improve health care experiences for autistic individuals from early childhood to adulthood.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 01:40.

Cited references
27
With a DOI
20
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
7
6 / 27 (22.2%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
4 / 27 (14.8%)
References with detected author names
23 / 27 (85.2%)
Without detected author names
4
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
7
References with raw author names still to review
3
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
98
From DOI or external metadata
98
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
48 / 98 (49.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 50 / 98 (51.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
13 / 98 (13.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 13 / 48 (27.1%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 12 / 97 (12.4%).
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