News
Current projects

Baseline assessment for the pilot project of the National framework for screening and diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children aged 0-7

Current projects

 MAP is conducting for UNICEF Country Office Croatia a complex baseline assessment before the start of forthcoming piloting of the National framework for screening and diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in children aged 0-7

Recent studies and data from relevant national registries suggest there is significantly higher prevalence rates of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than in Croatia, indicating lower levels of capacity for detecting and diagnosing PSA, as well as limited availability of early intervention services in Croatia.

 From December 2018 – April 2019, MAP is conducting for UNICEF Country Office Croatia a complex baseline assessment before the start of forthcoming piloting of the National framework for screening and diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in children aged 0-7.

From 2014-2016, UNICEF CO Croatia provided relevant ministries in the area of health, social policy and education with technical assistance related to the development of an early screening and early intervention framework for children with ASD. The development of the pilot project in the selected county represents the next phase to further inform the process and to gain practical experience of implementing the National Framework through collecting lessons learnt.

The requested service being performed by MAP contains elements of both ex-ante assessment of the institutional setup of a policy yet to be developed in Croatia, the capacity assessment and mapping of existing services for screening and diagnosis of ASD, including early intervention as well as developing an M&E plan (set of indicators) and collection of data to monitor implementation of the pilot project.

Based on a decision by relevant ministries, Osijek-Baranja county has been selected for a pilot county in Croatia. Besides desk analysis, primary data collection includes primary care pediatricians, home care nurses, centers for social work, pedagogue, defectologists and psychologists at the level of pre-primary education, secondary care pediatricians at KBC Osijek, county and city representatives, current and potential early intervention providers and parents of children with ASD.