Yue Xu

Yue Xu

Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Illinois College of Medicine

[email protected]

Lessons Learned

• The fields of social work, special ed, rehab sciences (OT, ST, PT) are not equally educated on this intersectional issue, with some disciplines with much less awareness/training.
• Sometimes, child protection services are used as an institutional disciplinary tool against families that are different (language, cultural differences, parenting approaches).
• The field of social work needs more training on differentiating what is maltreatment, what is symptoms of developmental disabilities, and the power structure/struggles families of children with special needs are caught in.

Suggested Resources

• McDonnell, C. G., Boan, A. D., Bradley, C. C., Seay, K. D., Charles, J. M., & Carpenter, L. A. (2019). Child maltreatment in autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability: Results from a population‐based sample. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 60(5), 576-584.
• Bilaver, L. A., & Havlicek, J. (2013). Foster children with autism spectrum disorder: Prevalence, length of stay, and placement patterns. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 7(5), 496-519.
• https://www.the74million.org/article/they-stood-up-to-nyc-schools-for-t…;
   

Collaborative Areas of Interest

• Institutional betrayal: how child protection services is abused as a way of institutional retaliation to parents of children with special needs from marginalized communities
• Training social workers to become better aware of autism and developmental disabilities
• Intersection of immigration, culturally diverse parenting approaches and the scrutiny of child protection services