In 2008, Somali parents and others in the Twin Cities area raised concerns about disproportionately high participation rates of Somali children in a preschool program for children receiving Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) special education services. The preschool program in which the Somali children were participating was the Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) Citywide ASD Classroom Program, operated by the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS). A particular source of concern was the high percentage of children participating in this program who were Somali, compared with the overall percentage of children who were Somali in the city\\\'s public schools. In 2009, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) shared the community\\\'s concerns about a possible elevation in ASD rates in Somali children, and agreed to assess the occurrence of ASD among preschool-age Somali children in Minneapolis.

The purpose of this project is to determine the ASD prevalence among a defined group of children in Minneapolis and whether some children, such as Somali children, have a higher ASD prevalence than children of other racial and ethnic groups. The grant recipient is encouraged to consider ADDM surveillance methods for this project. We prefer the project involve a clinical evaluation of a sample of children identified for ASD surveillance to verify final case status. Thus, this project is intended to accomplish the following outcomes:

• Define a population of Minneapolis children feasible to ascertain ASD prevalence,
• Estimate the prevalence of ASDs among children in the Minneapolis population,
• Determine whether Somali children have a higher estimated ASD prevalence than children from other racial and ethnic groups, and
• Verify final case status in a sample of children identified from ASD surveillance activities.