• Landmark Autism Legislation Reaches President’s Desk; Directs Nearly $1Billion to Research, Public Awareness
• Share With CEC How IDEA/Javits Program Have Impacted You, Your Students!

Landmark Autism Legislation Reaches President’s Desk; Directs Nearly $1Billion to Research, Public Awareness

After much political wrangling and maneuvering, the Combating Autism Act of 2006 was cleared for President Bush’s signature on Thursday, December 7. Although introduced by Senators Santorum (R-PA) and Dodd (D-CT) and Congresswomen Bono (R-CA) and DeGette (D-CO) back in 2005, the Autism legislation faced legislative hurdles -- including a prolonged compromise with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) -- but ultimately was passed as one of the 109th Congress’ last legislative agenda items.

The Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA) contains numerous provisions to increase attention to autism related research, public awareness and early detection. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in 166 children have an autism spectrum disorder and autism is now listed as the sixth most classified disability in the United States. In addition, the number of students with an autism spectrum disorder enrolled in special education has increased six-fold from 1994 to 2003. This increasing prevalence coupled with the limited knowledge on the causes and treatment of autism led to the initiation and passage of the CAA.

While the CAA enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the House and Senate -- and in fact was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate -- the legislation was feared dead when the House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) threatened to prevent the bill from emerging from the committee for a vote. However, Congressman Barton was able to come to a compromise by making a few changes to the Senate approved bill including, shifting authority to the Department of Health and Human Services rather than the National Institutes of Health and limiting specific vaccination related research.

CEC has numerous resources to help educators and advocates in assisting children with autism. Among these resources are articles providing general information , how to address classroom based challenges , and practical strategies for teaching children with autism.

Read the Combating Autism Act by accessing the Library of Congress (type 'Combating Autism Act' into the search area)

Read more of CEC’s Autism resources.

Share With CEC How IDEA/Javits Program Have Impacted You & Your Students!

As you may know, every year CEC publishes its Federal Outlook for Exceptional Children as a way to provide members of Congress, their staffs, officials at the Department of Education with CEC's funding recommendations for federal special and gifted education programs. To give these facts and figures a human touch, we include stories of children who have benefited from IDEA and the Javits program for students with gifts and talents. The Outlook is a vital grassroots tool that CEC staff and advocates use regularly on Capitol Hill.

Each year we put out a call for stories of students with disabilities, gifts and talents, or both who have benefited from IDEA or the Javits grant program. Please don't miss this chance to have a student you know be an advocate for increased federal funding for IDEA or Javits! The deadline for submitting stories is January 15, 2007.

Please consider submitting a story on how funding from IDEA and the Javits program have benefited students and/or educators. As Congress continues to drastically under fund special and gifted education, we are hoping stories can highlight the impact of federal funding (or lack thereof) on schools across the country.

Stories should be only 250 words long, and a template is available online to assist in writing these stories.

More information.

Submit a story today by emailing kimk@cec.sped.org !