SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL FOR GAO-24-106446: Strengthening Coordination and Monitoring of Autism Activities in the Federal Government

This supplement is a companion to GAO's report entitled Autism Research and Support Services: Federal Interagency Coordination and Monitoring Efforts Could Be Further Strengthened, GAO-24-106446. The purpose of this supplement is to provide an "Easy Read" version of the report. Easy Read is a way some groups make their written information easier to understand. For example, Easy Read documents use short sentences and plain language.

In its report, GAO found that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) works with 18 federal agencies that have activities to help people with autism. NIH has followed several key actions to coordinate these activities, through the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and the National Autism Coordinator. But more action could be taken. For example, NIH could find other ways to track progress on the Committee's autism goals and to identify problems reaching goals. This would help make sure agencies and other entities with autism activities understand the types of steps being taken on Committee goals. This would also help show where there may be gaps. Also, NIH could write down the steps that its Office of National Autism Coordination uses to check for possible duplication among autism activities.

GAO made two recommendations in its report: The Department of Health and Human Services should (1) develop a process to clearly track and report progress toward the Committee's goals; and (2) ensure that NIH writes down the steps its Office of National Autism Coordination uses to make sure federal autism activities are not unnecessarily duplicative. The Department of Health and Human Services concurred with the recommendations.

For more information, contact John E. Dicken at (202) 512-7114 or [email protected].