Happy 2009!
We’re leaving tonight on the red-eye to go back from the Bay Area to New Jersey so, in the interest of being able to spend more time in the California sunshine with my guys and my parents, and since it is, indeed, 2009, a few more highlights from 2008.
August means one thing in my household—-two weeks at the beach, at the Jersey Shore. Not surprisingly, it was still impossible to avoid talk about vaccines. A new clinical trial of the GFCF diet was announced. While people have strong disagreements about the “right” of parents to vaccinate or not, …read more

Discussion continues about autism legislation, and is going to continue here in the US under a new administration. One piece of federal autism legislation that has been passed here is the 2006 Combating Autism Act (CAA), under which the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) was charged to create a Strategic Plan for research in autism spectrum disorders. (Regarding how the CAA was voted on and passed, and on its unfortunate name, go here.)
Over the past year-plus, the IACC has been developing a draft of the Strategic Plan. This draft was reviewed at the IACC’s November 21st meeting and, as …read more

Earlier this week, mega-autism-organization Autism Speaks announced the appointment of three new board members, Artie Kempner, lead director for the NFL and NASCAR on FOX; Billy Mann, President of International A & R – Labels and President of Global Artist Management, EMI Music; and Jack Schneider, managing director of Allen & Co.. Kempner and Mann are both fathers of autistic children.
It’s been noted (by Lisa Jo Rudy at About.com) that the new board members include no one who’s autistic. With the rise of self-advocacy organizations like ASAN, and also GRASP and many others, the absence of an autistic member on …read more

Next Wednesday, on December 10, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET, there will be a meeting of the Services Subcommittee of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), to review public comments received in response to a completed Request for Information. When I attended the November 21st IACC meeting, a good part of the agenda was devoted to discussing services and the many needs of adults.
You can view the meeting agenda and also see who is on the committee. The meeting is being held here:
National Institutes of Health
9000 Rockville Pike
Building 31
Conference Room 7
Bethesda, MD 20852
You can attend the meeting …read more

Made it through Thanksgiving; did some holiday shopping from the comfort of home (and here’s some gift suggestions); time to get back on the school bus!

Autism and Schizophrenia: The Same “Disease”?
According to the latest theory, “an evolutionary tug of war between genes from the father’s sperm and the mother’s egg can, in effect, tip brain development in one of two ways.”
Girls and Getting a Diagnosis
Are girls and women sometimes not diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum because they do not have the same symptoms as boys and men do?
Denis Leary Tries (Tries) to Defend Himself
Contrary to …read more

If you weren’t able to listen in to yesterday’s meeting of the IACC meeting, this is a brief summary:
In the morning, the committee members reviewed the draft of the Strategic Plan and “wordsmithed” various additions and revisions suggested by various members of the IACC. These revisions included:
• the use of “may” or “can” in regard to describing the effects of Early Intervention
• mention of “comorbid” and “co-occurring” (medical) conditions
• a lengthy discussion about vaccines and about what science and evidence there is to refute or support a link (it was decided to include the statement “the weight of the available …read more

I’m on the train to Washington D.C., to attend a meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which coordinates efforts concerning autism within the US Department of Health and Human Research. There’s a list of the federal and non-federal members of the IACC here; the committee has been overseeing the writing of the Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Research. Over the past year, there have been numerous calls for input from “stakeholders”—from anyone concerned about autism—and other meetings of the IACC and of workgroups concerning various parts of the plan.
I went to an IACC meeting just about a …read more

Tomorrow, September 30th, is the deadline to submit a comment regarding the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)’s Draft Strategic Plan for ASD Research. Feedback is sought from ASD stakeholders which means—as you’re reading this blog—you: individuals with ASD and their families, scientists, health professionals, therapists, educators, officials of state and local programs for ASD, and the public at large. The draft Strategic Plan can be accessed via this webpage (scroll down for a link to a PDF file). (The draft Strategic Plan does not include cost estimates for implementation; a workgroup has been formed to advise about the IACC budgetary …read more

At the risk of being repetitive: Be sure to get your feedback in to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC). Send in what you think about comments about autism services by September 19, and also your comments about the draft of the Strategic Plan for ASD Research by September 30.
Also, you can go here to review the NIH’s Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Portfolio. Last year (FY 2007), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) devoted $127 million to research autism spectrum disorders through “grants, contracts, research projects conducted as part of the NIH Intramural Research Program, and other mechanisms of …read more

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) coordinates research and efforts pertaining to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). On August 11th, the National Institute of Mental Health issued a Request for Information (RFI): Priorities for the IACC Services Subcommittee for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD):
The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to seek input from Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) stakeholders including individuals with ASD and their families, autism advocates, State officials, scientists, health professionals, therapists, educators, and the public at large about what they consider to be high-priority issues and concerns …read more