Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), a long-time advocate for autism-related issues in Congress and co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Coalition on Autism Research and Education (C.A.R.E.), gave the opening keynote address today at the 32^nd Annual Autism Conference held by the advocacy group Autism NJ at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

    “When I first got elected to Congress in 1980, the generally accepted prevalence rate for autism in America was approximately 3 in 10,000,” Smith told the audience of more the 1,000 parents, educators and caregivers of children and young adults with autism. “Today it’s 1 in 68; 1 in 45 in New Jersey. I’ve chaired three congressional hearings on global autism—no nation is immune.”

    “We have made serious progress.  The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Strategic Plan notes that ‘with major findings emerging nearly every week, autism research has become one of the hottest fields in biomedical science,’” Smith said. (Click here to read his keynote address.)

    “Work on early screening tools has accelerated and that’s good, but only 20 percent of children are being identified early—and that’s not good—by three years of age. That needs to improve. Not getting early diagnosis means those kids aren’t benefiting from early intervention,” he said.

    Smith focused on a bill he wrote that was signed into law in August 2014, the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support (CARES) Act, which will provide $1.3 billion for autism research over the next five years.

    A major requirement of Smith’s legislation is that the Secretary of Health and Human Services along with the Secretaries of Education, Transportation, Labor, Housing and Urban Development and the Attorney General study, analyze and report back to Congress on demographic characteristics of youth transitioning from school-based to community-based supports, all policies and programs relevant to young adults with ASD relating to post-secondary school transitional services, and proposals on establishing best practices to ensure interdisciplinary coordination between all service providers receiving Federal funding. It also promotes comprehensive approaches to transitioning from school-based services to those services available during adulthood including post-secondary education, employment, behavioral supports, housing, transportation, nutrition, health, recreational and social activities.

    Smith also told the audience that in July he chaired a congressional hearing on the challenges of aging-out including employment opportunities.

    Smith is the author of the 2011 law,The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (CARA)— (now Public Law 112-32) enacted in September 2011. CARA authorized autism-related programs for fiscal years 2012, 2013 and 2014 and included: $22 million for the Developmental Disabilities Surveillance and Research Program; $48 million for Autism Education, Early Detection, and Intervention, and; $161 million for hundreds of Research Grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and for the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. He is also the author of the landmark federal study and the enactment of legislation in 2000—the Autism Statistics, Surveillance, Research and Epidemiology Act (Title I, P.L. 106-310)—which created the first comprehensive federal program to combat autism. 

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