The Autism and Developmental Screening Learning Collaborative

The Autism and Developmental Screening Learning Collaborative (ADSLC) is a collaborative initiative among the Ohio chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, and the Center for Health Care Quality at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati. 

The ADSLC mission is to measurably improve developmental outcomes for young children in Ohio through the appropriate identification, assessment, and referral of young children with or at risk for delays in practice settings that care for young children.

This pilot project involves 5 Ohio communities (Belmont, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Warren and Wood).  Teams from 28 pediatric, family medicine, and academic medical center practices from 16 counties and surrounding areas attended a 1.5 day learning session in fall 2008 to learn about implementing office systems for developmental and autism screening, linkages for effective referral and evaluation services, and how to use improvement science methods to make changes to their current delivery care system.  The teams will be supported through conference calls for 6 months through spring 2009 to help them incorporate the changes they learned and to spread these within their practice.

The goals of the ADSLC are:

1.    90% of children have a documented screening for autism at 18 and 24 (or 30) month well child visits

2.    90% of children have a documented developmental screening at 9, 18, and 24 (or 30) month well child visits

3.    90% of children identified as at risk or with delay are referred for diagnosis and treatment

4.    90% of families report practice receptive to developmental concerns