The NIH has a committee called the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. Their main goal has been to create a “Strategic Plan”. That’s basically a roadmap for where research should concentrate efforts for the next few years.

They want your input. The official request for information is here.

It boils down to this: send an email to the iacc@mail.nih.gov. The draft of the Strategic Plan is here for you to read.

It looks like a a good document, and shows the care that the IACC put into it. The autism communities tend to be focused on what is not going right that sometimes we forget that when a government agency does a good job, it’s worth letting them know. But, if there are things you would like to have included, let them know.

If you are pressed for time, here’s a hint–you don’t even have to read the Strategic Plan. Just let them know what subjects you think are important.

Also, consider letting them know if you think any subject should not be mentioned. For example, vaccines are mentioned in a “monitor the literature mode”. Of course they are monitoring the literature for everything having to do with autism. The inclusion of this statement in the Plan looks to be more of a political statement than a research-driven statement.

This has already been blogged by ASAN of Southwest Ohio, and LeftBrainRightBrain.