Abstract

PORTOLESE, Joana et al. Identifying services that provide assistance to individuals with autism spectrum disorder in Brazil. Cad. Pós-Grad. Distúrb. Desenvolv. [online]. 2017, vol.17, n.2, pp. 79-91. ISSN 1519-0307.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/cadernosdisturbios.v17n2p79-91.

INTRODUCTION: In Brazil, the Unified Health System-SUS is intended to cover the majority of assistance services for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder-ASD, but there is no supporting data. OBJECTIVE: to identify Brazilian institutions that provide assistance to individuals with ASD. METHOD: Information was collected through registries of the State Department of Health, Autistic Friends Associations-AMAs and internet searches. The institutions were contacted in order to gather information concerning target population and characteristics of the service. RESULTS: 650 institutions were identified, most of them located in the Southeast and South regions of the country. Most of the institutions are Associations of Parents and Friends of Exceptional Children-APAEs, Centers for Child and Youth Psychosocial Care-CAPSIs and AMAs. There is a predominance of assistance to children and adolescents. Multiprofessional services were more frequent and intervention approaches include TEACCH, Psychoeducation and ABA. CONCLUSIONS: There is an insufficient number of institutions assisting individuals with ASD, while those that do exist are geographically concentrated, therefore not reaching a large number of adolescents and adults. In addition, there is a large degree of variability in the characteristics of the services provided, revealing a lack of standardization of procedures. Knowledge of this information may help to promote the development of new evidence-based intervention proposals.

Keywords : autism; assistance services; multidisciplinary intervention; Brazil.

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