The Employment Panel included presentations from the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and employers with autism outreach programs, including SAP’s Autism at Work, Yes She Can Inc., and Extraordinary Ventures. In addition to employment resources, ODEP has resources specifically tailored towards people on the spectrum. Earlier this year Microsoft hosted the third annual Autism at Work Summit, which grew out of SAP’s program.

Matthew Siegel, M.D., from the Maine Medical Center Research Institute, presented on aggression and self-injury in autism. Dr. Siegel is the director of the center’s Autism & Developmental Disorders Inpatient Research Collaborative (ADDIRC), where he cares for children and adolescents with serious behavioral issues and works to understand the underlying reasons for these behaviors in order to develop effective treatments.

The INSAR Summer Institute is a series of free weekly seminars titled Stakeholder Perspectives and Participation: Building Successful Collaborations for Research. This year, each seminar will be co-presented by a team of researchers and stakeholders from the autism community who have developed successful partnerships.

In August 2018, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is hosting the 24th Mental Health Services Research (MHSR) Conference with the theme: What’s the Next Big Thing?

September 27, 2018: IACC Workshop on Addressing the Health Needs of Individuals with ASD

October 17, 2018: IACC Full Committee Meeting

Noncoding portions of DNA have functions other than carrying messages for cell function. Researchers found an association with autism when fathers passed on structural variations in noncoding genes to their children. This association was not found when the variants were passed on by mothers. Researchers studied over 800 families, including 880 individuals with autism, who did not have genetic mutations that had been previously linked to autism.

For the first time, researchers, supported through The BRAIN Initiative, have developed a wearable brain scanner that allows them to track neural activity in people in real time as they perform ordinary tasks. The magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain scanner is a helmet with specialized sensors that can generate 3D images of brain activity. The MEG scanner can be used to capture brain activity in children with autism spectrum disorders as they interact with others.

Congress passed a bipartisan bill, known as Kevin and Avonte’s Law, which amends an existing bill to help locate missing individuals with Alzheimer’s disease to include individuals with autism and related conditions. This bill supports the use of tracking technology as well as resources and training for caregivers.

A new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, shows that government spending on home and community-based services (HCBS) has significantly increased while funding for institutions has decreased. Growth in HCBS spending from 2015 to 2016 increased by 10 percent, which is twice the average growth seen between FY 2011 and 2015. Additionally, HCBS accounted for over half of long-term services and supports spending in FY 2016.

The Community Report from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network revealed that the overall prevalence of ASD was 16.8 in 1,000 (1 in 59) for children aged 8-years-old among the 11 ADDM sites. The gap in the identification of white children compared to both black and Hispanic children has decreased. View full report.

The 2015-16 Civil Rights Data Collection includes self-reported data from over 17,000 public school districts as well as over 96,000 public schools and educational programs. The data show that students with disabilities are disproportionately disciplined, including referrals to law enforcement or school-related arrests. These students made up the majority of the cases of restraint and seclusion. Additionally, approximately one-tenth of harassment or bullying allegations were based on a disability. View report highlights.

Led by NICHD, PregSource seeks to improve understanding of pregnancy by gathering information directly from pregnant women, including those with autism and other disabilities.

The NIH All of Us Research Program is now open for enrollment. The program seeks to gather data from one million or more people to accelerate research and improve health. Individuals with disabilities are welcome to participate.

There are multiple opportunities available to participate in studies at NIMH, including studies related to autism and other disabilities.

There are several autism related grant opportunities available for researchers. This includes grants from NIH and the Department of Education.