Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee adopts new strategic plan

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) has voted to adopt a new strategic plan, marking the first comprehensive update to the agency’s agenda in over three years. The plan recommends that the federal government increase annual autism funding to over $747.4 million, nearly doubling the current allocation of $390.4 million.

The new 330-page document shifts focus away from previous structures and genetic research emphasis, instead prioritizing initiatives such as studying neurodevelopmental regression, autism surveillance monitoring, and the National Autism Precision Therapeutics Initiative. It also proposes a new resource portal at autism.gov to assist families.

However, the adoption has faced criticism from advocacy groups. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and several other organizations expressed concern that the IACC failed to properly review public input before the vote. These groups alleged that thousands of pages of community comments submitted by the August 20 deadline were not distributed to committee members until after the deadline and were not included in the revised draft, potentially violating Federal Advisory Committee Act requirements.