This project created a interactive digital website to explain the value of early intervention for children with ASD. The project created a comprehensive and original synthesis of the literature on early intervention for ASD, by age of first intervention and severity of diagnosis. We estimated the total lifetime costs of direct services for children, as well as the indirect services needed by the family. We designed interactive tools to explain these costs and outcomes to a lay audience, intended for GA legislative staff and lawmakers. In addition to the costs, we also leveraged Medicaid data from GA Tech to produce an interactive map by county in GA with an estimated gap in diagnosis, based on the Medicaid population and CDC prevalence rates. After user testing and piloting the tool with legislative staff, we added a fourth visualization that compared how GA was doing with neighboring states. The artefact is available at www.autism.gatech.edu.
