Leaders with the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) recently held their quarterly meeting to exchange new information and discuss how to improve support for adults and college students, among other issues.
The group offered updated support for adults as well as new approaches for handling inflexible behavior, anxiety, severe self-injury and similar disabling behaviors. During the public comment session, there was a strong urge for more research concerning a variety of autism concerns.
As part of the Autism CARES Act, the IACC plans all of the research and service activities dedicated to autism. The goal is to guarantee that many ideas and perspectives are included in the meeting, emphasizing the nature of autism.
The meeting included an introduction from IACC Chair Bruce Cuthbert. The latest member, Stuart Shapira, was included in the meeting, as well; he is a chief medical officer at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
One speaker from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Samantha Crane, presented information about the progress that Tennessee has made in creating and applying policies for autistic adults.
“Tennessee conducted extensive site assessments, communicated with broad array of stakeholders, partnered with other agencies like managed care organizations and created strong accountability guidelines,” Crane said.
The IACC has posted links to the written remarks and materials that were part of the meeting. Additionally, the organization has created an archived webcast of the meeting, which is available on the group’s multimedia page.
