The Reduce The Wait Project | The Early Intervention Research Group (EIRG)

The Reduce the Wait project is a federally funded research study that will provide autism evaluations to over 1,000 children enrolled in the Illinois Early Intervention program.

The Problem

Long waitlists for autism evaluations for children enrolled in EI.

Our Goal

To find new and quicker ways to diagnose autism in young children. We want to make the autism diagnostic process efficient, accurate, and supportive for families of children enrolled in Early intervention (EI).

Our Approach

Increase the number of people qualified to provide an autism diagnosis (for example, early intervention clinicians, like speech and developmental therapists).

Join the Team

We’re recruiting caregivers and EI providers in Illinois!

We’ll give you all the information you need to make an informed decision about whether or not participating in RTW is right for you! We try to make participation in all our research studies as easy as possible.

Caregivers:

If your is child enrolled in Early Intervention in Illinois and you are interested in learning if your child is autistic, you may be eligible to participate in a home-based virtual autism evaluation through Northwestern University and RTW!

If you are eligible for RTW, your child will participate in an evaluation conducted by two Illinois Early Intervention providers. Each visit will be video recorded and watched by our expert diagnostic team to confirm the diagnosis. The research team will determine if your child is autistic, not autistic, or needs a referral for further evaluation. If your child receives an autism diagnosis, it will be recognized by insurance. You will also receive a report detailing the results of the evaluation.

For more information, view the our caregiver overview video, read our caregiver flyer, or complete our interest form.

View More Information for Caregivers

View More Information for Caregivers - En Español

Complete the Caregiver Interest Form

Watch: RTW Overview for Caregivers & Families

Watch: RTW Overview for EI Providers

Early Intervention Providers:

We are launching a 4-year research study (outside of EI services) to train 100 Developmental Therapists and 100 Speech-Language Pathologists already working within the Illinois EI program to provide virtual autism diagnostic evaluations to families enrolled in EI across the state.

In addition to training EI providers on the virtual diagnostic process, an expert team with years of experience diagnosing autism will also review all evaluations. Teams will then come to a joint decision as to whether the child is autistic, is not autistic, or needs further testing.

For more information, view the our provider overview video, read our provider guide, or complete our interest form.

View More Information for EI Providers

Complete the Provider Interest Form

RTW in the News

Dr. Meg Roberts has recently made appearances on TV and radio in Chicago to discuss RTW and autism diagnosis. View the video from NBC5 on this page or follow the links below to listen to her interviews:

WBBM Newsradio: New program aims to ‘Reduce the Wait’ for autism diagnoses for young kids

NBC5: Northwestern Researchers Hope to End Extensive Wait Lists for Autism Diagnosis

WBEZ/Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons: Expanding access to early intervention for Illinois children with autism

Watch: Dr. Meg Roberts interviewed on NBC5

Quarterly Project Update

Each quarter, we’ll be reporting our RTW results to date, including participant demographics, evaluation outcomes, and process feedback. The current quarterly report includes data from our first, second, and third RTW cohorts.

Primary Outcomes

86% diagnostic agreement across 200 children evaluated

Diagnostic agreement is between participating EI providers (SLPs/DTs) with 20 hours of autism diagnostic training from our RTW training course and the RTW expert evaluation team (clinical psychologist, SLP, DT) with a collective 10+ years of autism diagnostic experience.

Average Evaluation Wait Times

Non-RTW Evaluations:

15 Months

For RTW Appointments:

1.5 Months

Provider Feedback:

93%: Agree that the RTW approach is a good way to diagnose autism

93%: Agree that the RTW assessments are effective for diagnosing autism

87%: Agree that the use of these assessments is consistent with the Illinois EI mission

Providers At-A-Glance

67% of providers had no previous experience with autism screening tools.

RTW EI providers to date had an average of 14 years of experience working in EI and an average caseload size of 16 children. 97% of EI providers were female.

Caregivers At-A-Glance

47% of RTW families receive government assistance.

To date, children participating in RTW are 68% male. Ages range from 14 to 36 months old.

The majority of RTW children are White (45%) or Black (37%). 33% identify as Hispanic.

Caregiver Feedback:

98%: Would recommend participating in RTW to a friend in need of similar help.

95%: Agree with the diagnosis that was given for their child.

79%: Would be willing to use telehealth to complete a diagnostic assessment even if in-person assessments were available, based on the RTW experience.

Participant Recruitment

Families participating in RTW represent 84% of the Illinois EI’s Child & Family Connections (CFCs) regional intake agencies.

Participants in RTW have come from all but four of Illinois EI’s CFCs. Click on each location in the map to view the percentage of participants coming from that CFC as of the current quarterly report.

For more information about RTW Project progress, download the PDF quarterly RTW Project Update below:

Download the PDF RTW Project Update

What RTW Participants are Saying

“I appreciated that after I was informed, the evaluators took a step back and asked how I was feeling about the diagnosis. The evaluators made a point of noting [our child]’s strengths, as well as the strengths of our relationship, which was highly validating. I was extremely satisfied with our experience with the study.”

RTW Caregiver

“The EI providers connect with you on a personal level. I loved how they made sure to tell you that “autism isn’t your fault” …because that is something I’ve struggled with.”

RTW Caregiver

“I think this was the best possible way for this family to access the diagnostic process due to geographic, mobility, and childcare challenges. I’m glad we could do it!”

Speech-Language Pathologist

Azure Addison, MAT, DT

Developmental Therapist

Pawn Scarpelli, BS, DT

Angelita Johnson, DT

Developmental Therapist

Barbara Spears, DT

Participate in Reduce the Wait

The EIRG is currently recruiting caregivers and providers for the Reduce the Wait Project!

If you are a caregiver with a child enrolled in Early Intervention (EI) in Illinois who is interested in learning if your child is autistic, you may be eligible to participate in RTW’s home-based virtual autism evaluation program. Developmental therapists and speech-language pathologists already working with EI in Illinois can apply to receive free CEU-eligible training and provide virtual autism diagnostic evaluations to families enrolled in EI.

Complete one of the interest surveys below to see if you are eligible to participate in RTW!

Complete the Provider Interest Form

Complete the Caregiver Interest Form