General Recommendations Regarding Research in Autism
- A conference similar to this one should be convened in two-to-three years to assess the efforts and progress made.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
first | previous | last