New CDC funding will expand knowledge about children with autism spectrum disorder
CDC has launched a new phase of funding for the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, the only collaborative network to monitor the number and characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities in multiple communities throughout the United States. Over the next four years, CDC will invest more than $16 million to enhance tracking at nine sites previously included in the ADDM Network, and to launch one new site. All 10 sites will track ASD among 4-year-old and 8-year-old children. Three sites will complete a follow-up of 16-year-old adolescents who were included in the ADDM Network in surveillance years 2010 and 2012, when they were 8 years old.
Since 2000, the ADDM Network has conducted ASD surveillance among 8-year-old children; a supplemental surveillance program among 4-year-old children in select sites was added in 2010. ASD surveillance among 4-year-olds can inform public health strategies to improve early identification of ASD by providing timely information on evaluation and diagnostic patterns. Additionally, to allow for comparisons of ASD prevalence and characteristics at different ages among children in a single birth cohort, ASD surveillance among 4-year-olds can be linked to subsequent ASD surveillance among 8-year-olds. Follow-up of 16-year-olds is a new activity for the ADDM Network, and will help inform public health strategies to improve identification of and services for children with ASD. Tracking 16-year-old adolescents with ASD can also provide valuable information on transition planning in special education services and the planned trajectory for post-high school years.
This is the fifth funding cycle announcement for the ADDM Network. In addition to tracking, sites will conduct analyses of the data to better understand increases over time in the number of children identified with ASD, and carry out education and outreach activities in their local communities.
Recipients
- Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona
- Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
- Johns Hopkins University
- Regents of the University of California at San Diego*
- Regents of the University of Minnesota
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- University of Arkansas System
- University of Utah
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Washington University in St. Louis
*New Site
In addition to these external ADDM Network sites, CDC will continue to oversee the Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program (MADDSP). MADDSP represents the ADDM Network site located in Georgia.
More Information
- To learn more about the ADDM Network, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/addm.html.
- To access the most recent data from the ADDM Network, please visit the 2018 scientific report or the 2018 Community Report on Autism.
- To learn more about ASD, please visit https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/index.html.
