Lily Wagner, Ph.D.
Clinical Associate Professor
Director, Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic
Waisman Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Strengthening Systems of Care for Children Through Community-Driven Collaboration
Strengthening systems of care for children with autism and their families requires innovative, community-driven approaches that reduce disparities and increase timely access to services. This talk will highlight three current initiatives aimed at building more responsive, coordinated systems across settings. First, I will describe the implementation of a novel tele-assessment model in partnership with statewide early intervention (Part C) programs, which has demonstrated early evidence of reducing wait times for autism evaluations in rural and underserved communities. Second, I will discuss a collaboration with Out-of-Home Care systems to co-design an implementation plan for autism screening and care navigation within foster and kinship care, addressing multilevel barriers faced by social workers, caregivers, and children. Finally, I will introduce a new federally funded project that seeks to integrate autism family navigation into outpatient healthcare, using co-design with families and providers to strengthen service coordination and ensure that family priorities guide implementation strategies. Together, these efforts underscore the importance of participatory partnerships, implementation science frameworks, and scalable strategies for reducing disparities and supporting children with autism and their families across the lifespan.
This work is supported by:
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) (1 UM4MC54992‐01‐00; Wagner, PI)
- Department of Defense (AR220098; Warren, PI)
- ICTR Dissemination & Implementation (D&I) Research Pilot Award; University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (UW ICTR) and the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP)