1. A conference similar to this one should be convened in two-to-three years to assess the efforts and progress made.
    
2. The four funding agencies are strongly encouraged to coordinate support for autism research to help promote large-scale projects that would be difficult to fund within a particular institute.
    
3. To ensure a fair review of clinical research on developmental topics, at least one study section focused on the value and special needs of clinical research is needed.
    
4. Although coordinated, multisite investigations are clearly needed when large samples or immediate replicability is required, support for hypothesis-driven smaller studies by individual investigators should also continue to be encouraged.
    
5. Ethical issues of informed consent, withholding treatment in placebo/control designs, random assignment to different treatments, and impact of intrusive research and clinical procedures on this vulnerable population merit serious discussion with scientists, parents, self-advocates, and legal advisers.

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