December 2003

Report to Congress on Autism

This is the annual report to Congress on autism required by the Children's Health Act of 2000. It provides an overview of activities at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and elsewhere that constitute the implementation of each section of the Act. We have made substantial progress this past year, for example, in implementing the NIH centers program called for in the Act. We have now funded a total of eight centers under the Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment (STAART) Centers Program, exceeding the complement of five centers required by the Act. The report describes a wide variety of other NIH activities, including Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention and the expanded activities of the Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism. This report also summarizes CDC activities, such as the National Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program, including the establishment of an information clearinghouse as required by the Act. In addition, the report describes the ongoing functions of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) established by the Act.