DeLauro on the Opening of the Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders

Thank you for inviting me to the opening of the Center today. I am so sorry that I was not able to join you.

And congratulations to Southern Connecticut State University on the opening of the Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders today. I am sure this Center will help to improve radically the lives of Connecticut children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or a related condition. And I am exceedingly glad that I, along with Senators Dodd and Lieberman, were able to secure $300,000 funding for this project in the 2010 budget.

I am also particularly grateful for the philanthropy of the late Dorothy Weisbauer Goodwin, who has given $1 million to create an endowed chair in special education here at the university. With this grant, the Center here at Southern Connecticut State will have the resources at their disposal to attract national talent to conduct practical autism research here. That is good news for Connecticut, and great news for the families dealing with this illness in our state.

Autism spectrum disorder is a condition we are only beginning to understand. And I know that for the parents of the one in 150 children diagnosed as such, the answers cannot come soon enough. That is part of the reason why I secured $3 million in funding last year to establish a central clearinghouse at the Department of Health and Human Services for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. With more information, more resources, and more research, we can find ways to better diagnose and treat this condition, and improve the lives of children who suffer from it.

Today, with the help of Dorothy Goodwin, Southern Connecticut State has taken a big step down that road with the opening of this Center. Congratulations on this achievement today, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of the Center's efforts in due course.