On January 17, the main conclusions of the report “The Autism Dividend: Reaping the Rewards of Better Investment” was presented in the framework of the “National Autism Project” at the British House of Lords.
The UK’s failure to base support for autistic people on the best available evidence comes at an unacceptable human and unsustainable financial cost. The challenges are exacerbated by the limited investment in research to fill the many gaps in that evidence. Implementing practices of proven value and increasing investment in research will improve outcomes for autistic people with less waste of scarce resources.
These are the main conclusions of the report, the most comprehensive on current autism practice ever undertaken in the UK. The report, written by Valentina Iemmi, Martin Knapp and Ian Ragan on behalf of the National Autism Project, is endorsed by leading charities and experts in the field.
It calls for national governments to implement our recommendations on evidence-based practice, and for research funders to commit to a substantial increase in autism research spending focused on building a stronger evidence base on what works.