Hillary Clinton unveiled her plan to help children and families affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders, commonly known as autism, which are complex neurobiological conditions. The number of children with autism has grown from 1 in 10,000 in 1993 to 1 in 150 in 2007 . About 25,000 children are diagnosed with autism each year, and 1.5 million Americans and their families are affected by autism today. Autism affects people from all racial, ethnic, and social groups though it is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. This national health crisis is costing the United States at least $35 billion each year.

Hillary has long been a strong advocate for individuals and families impacted by autism. As Senator, she cosponsored the Combating Autism Act and introduced the Expanding the Promise for Individuals with Autism Act, in order to ensure that Americans living with autism could have access as quickly as possible to evidence-based treatments, interventions, and services. She has a record of supporting full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, through which children with autism and other disabilities are eligible to receive special education services.

As President, Hillary Clinton will provide approximately $700 million a year to address autism through the following initiatives:

Expanding Research – As President, Hillary will increase funding to help families affected by autism through research, surveillance, awareness, and early identification. She will fully fund the Combating Autism Act, which became law in 2006 but has not been funded by President Bush. The major elements of that law are:

Ø Identifying the causes of autism – Hillary will double investments in the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) efforts to identify the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes. Hillary has long been a supporter of increased research to determine the links between environmental factors and diseases, and she believes we should increase the NIH’s ability to engage in this type of research. Hillary has an initiative to increase the NIH budget by 50 percent over five years and to double it over 10 years.

Ø Providing funds for surveillance – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds an Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network to determine the prevalence of autism in the United States. Hillary would expand this network and create Centers of Excellence in Autism Spectrum Disorder Epidemiology. Hillary wants to ensure that we have the best data possible on the prevalence and impact of autism in different groups of children, in different areas of the country.

Ø Increasing autism education, early detection, and intervention – Hillary will require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to disseminate information about signs of autism, early screening, and training for professionals who deal with young children through federal programs that reach children and families – such as the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Head Start, the Children’s Health Insurance Program – and will disseminate this information to pediatricians. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently called for universal autism screening for all children under age two, an initiative that will improve early detection.

Creating an Autism Task Force Charged with Investigating Evidence-Based Treatments, Interventions, and Services – The limited amount of credible evidence-based research on treatments, interventions, and services for children and adults with autism is a major impediment to the development and delivery of quality care. Without this base of research, parents may not know what services and supports for autism are most helpful for their family members impacted by autism. As President, Hillary will create a task force that would include significant representation from the autism community and would be charged with identifying gaps in evidence-based biomedical research, behavioral treatments, and services for children and adults with autism. This task force would present these findings to Congress and the Executive Branch and would make recommendations on how to make evidence-based treatments, interventions, and services available at the state and local levels. Once the task force has completed its work, Hillary will provide funding to establish state-based demonstration grants to provide evidence-based autism treatments, interventions, and services, as identified by the task force.

Providing Planning and Demonstration Grants for Services for Adults – Many individuals with autism need assistance in the areas of education, employment, transportation, housing, health, and recreation. Hillary will provide funding for a one-time, single year planning grant for states and a multi-year service provision demonstration grant program to increase access to appropriate services to adults living with autism, including job training, housing, and transition services for young people leaving school. With access to these types of services and supports, individuals with autism can live full, rich, productive lives. With the autism prevalence rate among children now at 1 in 150, the need to identify and provide services for adults with autism will grow rapidly over the next few years.

Expanding Access to Post-diagnosis Care – Hillary will expand access to treatments, interventions, and services to children with autism, with the goal of providing and coordinating multi-agency, intensive, comprehensive, and evidence-based treatments, interventions and services so that no child will experience a delay in receiving services that can improve his or her quality of life. There is strong consensus within the research community that intensive intervention started as soon as possible following diagnosis yields the most positive outcomes for children with autism. Yet too often, children have to wait for months after receiving a diagnosis in order to receive care.

Providing Teacher Training – Hillary will provide funding for school districts to ensure that teachers responsible for educating children with autism receive specialized teacher training, including ways to engage in appropriate interventions. The number of children with autism in public schools has soared nationally, doubling in just three or four years in some states. Many teachers are unable to access the specialized training and information to help them meet the special needs to individuals along the spectrum. As a result, there is an ever-increasing need for teachers with expertise in this area.

Creating a National Technical Assistance Center – Hillary will establish and maintain a national technical assistance center to gather and disseminate information about autism treatments, interventions, and services, and provide technical assistance. The information would accessible to the public through the Internet.

Guaranteeing Access to Quality, Affordable Health Care – Hillary will ensure guaranteed, affordable, quality health care for all Americans, including those with autism. Her American Health Choices Plan would enable individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities to have access to quality, affordable health care for their conditions. It would ensure that no American is denied coverage, refused renewal, unfairly priced out of the market, or forced to pay excessive insurance company premiums, and it would improve coordinated care services for people with autism and other chronic diseases.