“The Wrong Supports Are Worse than no Support”: Autistic Perspectives on Early-in-Life Infant Autism Supports

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. five authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Smith, J., Dwyer, P., O’Connor, E., Gurba, A. N., Aulich, A., Constantine, C., Fidock, E., Gore, K. E., Green, C. C., Harrington, L. T., Hudry, K., Jellett, R., Kennedy, L. J., Meera, S. S., Nowell, S. W., Rabba, A. S., Watson, L. R., Whitehouse, A., & Bent, C. (2026). “The Wrong Supports Are Worse than no Support”: Autistic Perspectives on Early-in-Life Infant Autism Supports. Autism in Adulthood. https://doi.org/10.1177/25739581251371874

Publication date: 2 Feb 2026 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
19
Publication authors identified as autistic
5 / 19 (26.3%)
  1. Jodie Smith
  2. Patrick Dwyer *
  3. Erin O’Connor
  4. Ava N. Gurba *
  5. Alexandra Aulich
  6. Christos Constantine *
  7. Esther Fidock
  1. Katherine E Gore *
  2. Cherie C. Green
  3. Lucas T. Harrington *
  4. Kristelle Hudry
  5. Rachel Jellett
  6. Lyndel J Kennedy
  7. Shoba S. Meera
  1. Sallie W. Nowell
  2. Aspasia Stacey Rabba
  3. Linda R. Watson
  4. Andrew Whitehouse
  5. Catherine Bent

Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests that the earlier supports are provided to young Autistic children, the better the overall outcomes. Supports have typically only been available after an autism diagnosis but with increased knowledge about early developmental trajectories, clinical supports can now be offered prediagnosis for infants showing early autism features and/or those with a family history of autism. Nevertheless, we currently know little about the Autistic community perspectives on the acceptability of prediagnostic supports, and without this information, we cannot be confident that these supports align with community preferences and priorities. Methods: In this study, we interviewed 16 Autistic adults—10 parents and 6 nonparents—about their views on very early-in-life (i.e., prediagnostic) infant autism supports. We analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Participants expressed that a range of supports should be available based on individual family needs, with design and delivery informed by meaningful input from the Autistic community. Participants strongly opposed supports that encouraged children to mask, camouflage, and/or comply with non-autistic norms. They endorsed supports where caregivers were aided to recognize and respond to infant attempts to communicate and interact, and which optimized infant quality of life and wellbeing. Beyond their perspectives on what very early supports should look like, participants also reflected on the challenges Autistic individuals—including themselves—faced trying to navigate neurotypical service systems, including often feeling unrecognized, judged, and unsupported, something that was especially difficult for Autistic adults of all genders who were new to the parenting experience. Conclusion: These findings can inform what future very early supports look like for neurodivergent infants/young children and how we can best support new parents who are themselves autistic.

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
54
With a DOI
52
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
2
22 / 54 (40.7%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 54 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
54 / 54 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
2
References with raw author names still to review
0
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
341
From DOI or external metadata
341
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
235 / 341 (68.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 106 / 341 (31.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
48 / 341 (14.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 48 / 235 (20.4%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 34 / 274 (12.4%).
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