The federal government committed tens of millions of dollars to promote research and services for people with autism.
The United States Senate Committee on Appropriations recently approved $84 million in total funding for programs dedicated to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodivergent conditions.
“While significant progress has been made in the understanding of autism, large gaps remain in the ability to improve outcomes and access to services for autistic individuals across their lifespan,” the bill read. “As such, the Committee encourages [National Institute of Mental Health] to work collaboratively with [National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities] to support research on the socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic health disparities associated with ASD, and … to support research on the impact of neurological, social and environmental factors leading to co-occurring health conditions.”
The bill allocated over $56 million for the Autism and Other Developmental Disorders program. The program, reauthorized by the Autism Collaboration, Accountability,
Research, Education and Support Act of 2019 (Autism CARES Act), supports surveillance, education, interventions and early detection of autism.
The Autism CARES Act has been the primary source of federal funding for autism research and training programs since 2006. The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions recently voted to reauthorize the legislation, which would authorize $2 billion in federal funding for autism research and training programs.
Early diagnosis is crucial to improving developmental outcomes and quality of life for people with autism.
Several autism therapy companies have increased their focus on early detection or raised money to fund early detection research and technology in recent months, including Floreo and EarliTec.
The Senate committee also allocated over $28 million to the Autism Developmental Disabilities Monitoring [ADDM] Network. The program collects information and improves understanding of autism, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities.
Specifically, the program works to identify the number of children with these conditions, find patterns in how common the conditions are in different regions of the country and understand progress in early autism identification, among other goals.
The bill also encouraged NIH to increase investment in autism research, including into disparities among racial, ethnic and socioeconomic demographics, co-occurring physical and mental health conditions and increasing costs of medical utilization.
