The SPDS was conducted in 2011 as a follow-up to the 2009/10 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN). Adding to the rich information available in the NS-CSHCN, the Pathways survey took a closer look at the emergence of symptoms and diagnosis, and the use of medication, health care and education services. The Pathways survey provides information about parental concerns and perceptions, the process by which the child was diagnosed, access to care, service needs and use, functional limitations, and strengths and difficulties for children with ASD, DD or ID. Pathways was a nationally representative survey of children with special health care needs age 6-17 years who were identified by the 2009/10 NS-CSHCN as ever being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental delay (DD), or intellectual disability (ID).

Although Native Hawaiian is a response option for the Race variable, the online data query tool collapses this value under "other". If any users request a download of the datafile, please let us know how Race is represented in that resource so we can update this information.