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Research
Autism likelihood in infants born to mothers with asthma is associated with blood inflammatory gene biomarkers in pregnancyMothers with asthma or atopy have a higher likelihood of having autistic children, with maternal immune activation in pregnancy implicated as a mechanism. This study aimed to determine, in a prospective cohort of mothers with asthma and their infants, whether inflammatory gene expression in pregnancy is associated with likelihood of future autism.
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Mothers of Children with Autism have Different Rates of Cancer According to the Presence of Intellectual Disability in Their ChildMothers of children with autism without ID had increased risk of cancer, which may relate to common genetic pathways
News & Events
Autism research innovator shortlisted for Eureka PrizeDr Andrew Whitehouse from Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research shortlisted as a finalist for the prestigious 2012 Australian Museum Eureka Prize
News & Events
Professor Andrew Whitehouse on ABC720Autism researcher Professor Andrew Whitehouse was on 720 ABC Perth yesterday taking questions on child health.
Research
Onset of maternal psychiatric disorders after the birth of a child with autism spectrum disorder: A retrospective cohort studyMothers of a child with autism spectrum disorder have more psychiatric disorders after the birth of their child.
Research
The increasing prevalence of reported diagnoses of childhood psychiatric disorders: a descriptive multinational comparisonThe objective of this study is to compare the time trend of reported diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, hyperkinetic disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and...
Research
Eye Gaze in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review of Neural Evidence for the Eye Avoidance HypothesisReduced eye contact early in life may play a role in the developmental pathways that culminate in a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. However, there are contradictory theories regarding the neural mechanisms involved. According to the amygdala theory of autism, reduced eye contact results from a hypoactive amygdala that fails to flag eyes as salient. However, the eye avoidance hypothesis proposes the opposite-that amygdala hyperactivity causes eye avoidance. This review evaluated studies that measured the relationship between eye gaze and activity in the 'social brain' when viewing facial stimuli.
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Parental perspectives of the everyday experiences of uncertainty among young children on the autism spectrumAnxiety commonly co-occurs in autism. Exploring and understanding potential underpinning mechanisms contributing to and maintaining anxiety in the early years is important in managing anxiety. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a tendency to find uncertainty difficult, is a transdiagnostic mechanism contributing to anxiety, but little is known about how IU may be experienced in young children on the autism spectrum. This study investigated parental perspectives of children's experiences of uncertainty.
Research
Continuity of temperament subgroup classifications from infancy to toddlerhood in the context of early autism traitsOur previous cross-sectional investigation (Chetcuti et al., 2020) showed that infants with autism traits could be divided into distinct subgroups based on temperament. This longitudinal study builds on this existing work by exploring the continuity of temperament subgroup classifications and their associations with behavioral/clinical phenotypic features from infancy to toddlerhood.
The Sibling Project focuses on children, adolescents and emerging adults who have a sibling with a disability, investigating their mental health, relationships and quality of life.