Funding for Autism Research

In the January 28th, 2009, edition of Education Week, there was an article about the current state of the funding recommendations from the coordinating committee which advises the federal government about funding priorities. The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee is a federal committee charged with the duty of identifying funding priorities in relation to autism research. In January of 2009 the coordinating committee recommended that any and all vaccine-related research be referred to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee rather than be federally funded. This means that the $789 million budget will be available to fund the other 40+ research initiatives in relation to “early warning signs of autism, research into treatment and appropriate services, and research into environmental causes”.

Recently there has been a lot of research funds direct toward finding the causes of autism and searching for ways to prevent the onset of autism. I hope that the coordinating committee will begin listening to the multitude of advocacy agencies which are urging the federal government to pursue research and other endeavors in relation to the education of people with autism and the provision of services which will help those currently diagnosed and their families.

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