A new study published this week in the journal JAMA Pediatrics put a price tag on the services for individuals with autism across their lifespan: from $1.4 million for those without intellectual disability to $2.4 million for those with both autism and intellectual disability.

Those numbers are staggeringly large. But Drexel researchers Paul Shattuck, PhD and Anne M. Roux note in an accompanying editorial in the journal that we don’t know nearly enough about how well it’s being spent on facilitating good outcomes and lifelong functioning and quality of life for adults on the autism spectrum.

Paul Shattuck, PhD, leads the research program area in life course outcomes at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute.

Shattuck and Roux therefore call for a new conversation about innovation and investment in autism services and research.

As they detail both in their editorial and in more layman-friendly terms today in a guest post at…