National Autism Center Acknowledges UK Efforts to Establish a National Clinical Guideline for Autism

The National Autism Center today recognized the efforts of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), which recently published a national clinical guideline entitled “Assessment, Diagnosis, and Clinical Interventions for Children and Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders.”

This reference guide for the United Kingdom represents an important step forward in evidence-based practice for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

The National Autism Center, through its leadership of a multi-year initiative called the National Standards Project, is now paving new ground in the search for comprehensive standards by creating validated practice guidelines for educating children with autism.

“Critical, in-depth information regarding the treatment of this growing population cannot come quickly enough,” said Susan M. Wilczynski, Ph.D., BCBA, Executive Director of the National Autism Center. “We have undertaken the National Standards Project in response to the urgent need for universally accepted, evidence-based practices for ASD.”

As part of this initiative, the Center has organized a group of national experts in autism and educational services who are conducting an exhaustive review of the educational and behavioral literature for all school-aged individuals with ASD.

The resulting body of work will be the most comprehensive review of educational and behavioral research undertaken to date. It will be widely disseminated to families, practitioners, educators, organizations, and policy-makers. It is slated for completion in late 2007.