Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA) successfully submitted amendments to the House Energy and Commerce Committee as part of the comprehensive health care legislation currently being considered by Congress. The amendment better provides training for professionals working with children and adults with autism.

The Engel/Doyle amendment would enable the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) network to provide and distribute the training to the care professionals. UCEDDs are part of an existing network of 67 Centers in every state and territory, which have extensive knowledge and expertise in a wide range of developmental disabilities, including ASD. They are uniquely positioned to work as a network with the existing structure to share exemplary practices, collect data and provide services in a consistent, high-quality manner with little lost time to start-up and planning.

“By directly funding the UCEDD network, we will be building upon the existing infrastructure so the vast majority of resources will go to the training and technical assistance, thus providing a more rapid improvement in care for autistic patients and their families. It would also result in an immediate collection and analysis of data so we can see a tangible result from the federal investment,” said Rep. Engel, a senior member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, and member of the Subcommittee on Health. “Statistics from www.fightingautism.org have shown that one in 169 students in New York State public schools has a form of autism. Those numbers are unacceptable and I will continue working with my colleagues, such as Rep. Doyle, to stop the rise of autism in our state and in our nation.”

“There’s a critical shortage of people trained to diagnose, treat, and support individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” Congressman Doyle observed. “That’s why I offered an amendment to create a national training initiative on autism and a technical assistance center to develop and expand interdisciplinary training and continuing education on autism spectrum disorders. These steps are essential if we want to provide individuals with autism spectrum disorders with the treatment and support they will need throughout their lives.”

The amendment was based on a provision in H.R. 2413, the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act, which Rep. Doyle and Rep. Engel introduced with Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) earlier this year. Rep. Doyle and Rep. Smith are co-chairs of the Coalition on Autism Research and Education, also known as the Congressional Autism Caucus.