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A co-designed digital tool to address anxiety concerns for children on the autism spectrum is set to be developed and trialled in Western Australia.
The Kids Research Institute Australia has welcomed the recommendations to come out of the State Government’s inquiry into support for autistic children and young people in schools, released last week.
Researchers have shown that the so called 'autism epidemic' is due to an increase in the diagnosis of children with less severe behavioural symptoms.
This study aims to investigate the cellular and molecular profiles of the immune system in infants at high/low risk for Autism, as determined through clinical assessment.
Autism researcher, Professor Andrew Whitehouse from The Kids has been named a finalist in the Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science
Deputy Director (Research); Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research at The Kids Research Institute Australia; Director, CliniKids
Past research has highlighted the importance of early identification of developmental differences to improve targeted access to early interventions or supports. As such, it is of particular importance in the context of children at elevated likelihood of autism (such as where an older sibling has a diagnosis of autism), to better understand when and which early concerns are important as predictors of which children will benefit from pre-diagnostic supports.
The identification of reproducible subtypes within autistic populations is a priority research area in the context of neurodevelopment, to pave the way for identification of biomarkers and targeted treatment recommendations. Few previous studies have considered medical comorbidity alongside behavioural, cognitive, and psychiatric data in subgrouping analyses.
A broad range of interests characterized by unusual content and/or intensity, labeled as circumscribed interests are a core diagnostic feature of autism. Recent evidence suggests that a distinction can be drawn between interests that, although characterized by unusually high intensity and/or inflexibility, are otherwise common in terms of their content (e.g., an interest in movies or animals), labeled as restricted interests and interests that are generally not salient outside of autism (e.g., an interest in traffic lights or categorization), labeled as unusual interests.
Circumscribed interests encompass a range of different interests and related behaviors that can be characterized by either a high intensity but otherwise usual topic [referred to as restricted interests] or by a focus on topics that are not salient outside of autism [referred to as unusual interests].