Description

Upon completion of this conference, participants will be able to:

1. Describe key drivers of autism diagnostic delays and the downstream impacts on children, caregivers, and equity in access to services.
2. Explain the “Waiting Room Framework” and how it reframes diagnostic wait time as a structured window for support and intervention.
3.  Identify ethically bounded social work functions that reduce delay, including Level 2 screening for triage, navigation, caregiver coaching, and coordinated handoffs.

Presenter Bio

Ashley Lynn Early, MSW, LISW-CP-S, is a Doctoral Candidate in the Doctor of Social Work program at the University of Kentucky. She is a licensed independent clinical social worker and approved clinical supervisor in South Carolina. Ms. Early serves as a developmental specialist and behavioral health provider within an academic medical center in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, where she works with children and families affected by autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, early childhood developmental concerns, learning disabilities, and complex medical conditions.
Her professional roles span clinical assessment and intervention, interdisciplinary care and coordination, program development, faculty teaching, and quality improvement initiatives. She is the creator and facilitator of the Working Alongside Voices of Experience Series, a professional training model that integrates caregiver lived experience into provider education, and a co-creator of Collaborative and Supportive Education for Behavioral and Mental Health, a community-based didactic series for pediatric and behavioral health clinicians.
Ms. Early’s research interests center on reducing delays in autism diagnosis and improving access to early intervention through expanded social work roles in screening, family navigation, and health systems coordination. Her capstone project examines how social workers can intervene during the diagnostic waiting period to promote earlier service access and caregiver support and proposes a practice model to operationalize pre-diagnostic intervention within healthcare and early childhood systems.
Her scholarly contributions include national and international conference presentations related to autism screening and service access, institutional clinical resources for families and providers, and contributions to federal policy reports addressing healthcare access and equity.

Delivery Method: Live Interactive Training via Zoom Video Conferencing

Credit Hours: 1.0 (ACE)

Target Audience: This conference is intended for social workers and students.

Accreditation: University of Kentucky College of Social Work, Provider # 1377, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 9/29/25-9/29/28. Social workers participating in this conference will receive up to 15 general continuing education credits.

Claiming CE Credit: Instructions for claiming CE credit will be disseminated at the beginning of each session.

Questions: If you have any questions regarding CE credit or to report a grievance, please contact Christina Krantz at Christina.Krantz@uky.edu. For technical assistance, please contact lmshelp@uky.edu.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these presentations are those of the individual presenters and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of the University of Kentucky or the College of Social Work. The inclusion of any topics, perspectives, or discussions is intended for academic engagement and does not constitute endorsement by the institution.