Call for comment: On 20 July, the U.S. Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee released a working draft of its 2026-2028 strategic plan. The plan is intended to lay out priorities for autism research, services and policy. This week, the committee agreed to extend its comment period from 4 days to 30, after multiple advocacy groups requested more time to review the 336-page document. The deadline for weighing in on this draft is now 20 August 2026.

Autism research spotted this week:

• “Genomic landscape of rare variants in a Chinese autism cohort and discovery of novel risk genes” Molecular Psychiatry
• “Astrocytic FMRP regulates the function of spinal parvalbumin-expressing neurons in fragile X syndrome” bioRxiv