The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Sept. 18 announced more than $14 million in FY 2008 grants to improve the health and well-being of children and youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
"Autism is a condition that presents special challenges for many families and the providers who treat these special children," said HRSA Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke. "These grants, funded by HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau, demonstrate our commitment to improving the care of children with autism spectrum disorders."
Today's funds are awarded from six HRSA programs:
- Twenty-one universities and research organizations will receive grants worth almost $5.6 million, as part of HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (LEND) program. Four are new grantees and seventeen are existing LEND grants. LEND trains future leaders in a variety of disciplines to improve the health of children who have or are at risk of developing neurodevelopmental disabilities or other similar conditions such as autism.
- Six states will receive grants totaling almost $1.8 million to improve access to health care and related services for children and youth with ASD and other developmental disabilities. Grantees will implement existing state plans to improve services for these young people.
- The Association of University Centers on Disabilities in Silver Spring, Md., will receive a grant worth almost $500,000 for the National Interdisciplinary Training Resource Center. The grant will provide technical assistance, build and sustain partnerships with other organizations and service systems already serving children with ASD and other developmental disabilities, translate research into evidence-based practice and utilize existing and develop new data systems to capture and report project outcomes.
- The General Hospital Corporation of Boston will receive an award of almost $4 million to conduct research on interventions to improve the physical health and well-being of children and adolescents with ASD and other developmental disabilities.
- The Regents of the University of California at Los Angeles will receive $2 million to conduct research on the behavioral, mental, social, and/or cognitive health and well-being of children and adolescents with ASD and other developmental disabilities.
- The Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs will receive a $250,000 award to develop the State Public Health Coordinating Center for Autism. Funds will develop a strategy for defining, supporting, and monitoring the role of state Public Health agencies in assuring that children and youth with ASD and other developmental disabilities receive early and timely identification, diagnosis, and intervention.
The release also has tables listing grant recipients in the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental & Related Disorders Training Program.
