At Autism Speaks, our goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. We are dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder.

Health

Research/science: the programmatic goals of the science/research program strive to improve the lives of people affected by autism today, as well as improve their future by advancing scientific research. The research focuses on diagnosis, treatment, service delivery and prevention. In 2014, autism speaks launched mssng (pronounced "missing"), its historic collaboration with google to create the world's largest genomic database on autism. The ambitious project will sequence the whole genomes of 10,000 families affected by the disorder. The result will be an autism research open source database containing extensive diagnostic information as it pertains to environmental, behavioral, and medical factors associated with autism. This could uncover various forms of autism and lead to individualized treatment for people living across the autism spectrum. A study co-funded by autism speaks found autism rates doubled among children whose mothers were exposed to high levels of particulate air pollution (smog) during pregnancy. The findings suggest an urgent need to revisit public health policies on pollution limits. In addition, autism speaks funded two major research projects to advance understanding of autism's gut-brain connection. The first explores the role of the microbiome (intestinal bacteria) in driving or relieving autism symptoms. The second focuses on chronic constipation, a serious problem for many people with autism. Research launched with an autism speaks trailblazer grant provided new support for the theory that autism symptoms can result from inflammation and cell distress. Based on those findings, the study's authors are developing and testing new autism medicines. Researchers, also funded by autism speaks, successfully field-tested a simple, practical method that non-specialists can use to screen for autism among schoolchildren in poor regions around the world. Such reliable yet easily administered tests are urgently needed in developing countries. A landmark study funded by autism speaks produced a comprehensive estimate of autism's costs to individuals, families and society. The lifetime cost of care averages $1. 4 million to $2. 4 million, depending on whether an intellectual disability is involved, and includes medical care, lost income, special education and residential supports. The yearly cost to society in the united states is $236 billion a year. This information is crucial for guiding public policy and planning services across the lifespan. In 2014, autism speaks spent $ 14,369,900 in grants and awards for new and continuing projects in the following categories: a. Special projects ($6,684,854) -- autism speaks-initiated projects aimed at addressing specific needs within the autism research community. Autism speaks staff work in conjunction with investigators to develop projects that may include improvements to research infrastructure, rapid responses to new and highly visible public health initiatives, or facilitating collaborations between investigators to address complex research issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective. In 2014, special projects included the autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network (addm), the preclinical autism consortium for therapeutics (animal model development), dsm-5 (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition) comparisons, and projects around early intervention. B. Treatment, basic research and dissemination projects. These include the autism speaks autism treatment network ($2,138,915), basic & clinical studies ($3,199,364), gi and neurobehavior studies ($383,967), trailblazer award ($100,000), and treatment studies ($743,013). C. Training grants, including meixner translational postdoctoral fellowships ($594,477) and weatherstone predoctoral fellowships ($525,310). awareness, family services, advocacy: awareness is a cornerstone of the autism speaks mission. In its fifth year, autism speaks' global light it up blue awareness