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Research

The increasing prevalence of reported diagnoses of childhood psychiatric disorders: a descriptive multinational comparison

The objective of this study is to compare the time trend of reported diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, hyperkinetic disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and...

Research

Onset of maternal psychiatric disorders after the birth of a child with autism spectrum disorder: A retrospective cohort study

Mothers of a child with autism spectrum disorder have more psychiatric disorders after the birth of their child.

News & Events

Fundraising star: Chloe (11) Bakes for Autism Research

Chloe recently decided to bake cupcakes to sell to her school friends and teachers and it was all for a cause very close to her heart - autism research.

Research

Autism likelihood in infants born to mothers with asthma is associated with blood inflammatory gene biomarkers in pregnancy

Mothers 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. 

News & Events

Frankie and Friends app

Researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia and University of Western Australia have recently published data describing the use of an attention training game designed for school-aged children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

News & Events

Renowned Autism Researcher named Western Australian of the Year

Autism researcher Professor Andrew Whitehouse has been named this year’s Western Australian of the Year in the HBF Professions category.

Research

Utilising Behavioural and Sensory Profiles and Associated Perinatal Factors to Identify Meaningful Subgroups in Autism Spectrum Disorder

The heterogeneity of autism spectrum disorder clinically and aetiologically hinders intervention matching and prediction of outcomes. This study investigated if the behavioural, sensory, and perinatal factor profiles of autistic children could be used to identify distinct subgroups. Participants on the autism spectrum aged 2 to 17 years and their families were sourced via the Australian Autism Biobank.

Research

The valence-specific empathy imbalance hypothesis of autism: The role of autistic traits, alexithymia, emotion dysregulation, and gender differences

Individuals exhibiting pronounced autistic traits (e.g., social differences and specialised interests) may struggle with cognitive empathy (i.e., the ability to infer others' emotions), although the relationship with affective empathy (i.e., the ability to share others' emotions) is less clear in that higher levels of autistic traits may be linked with increased affective empathy for negative emotions but reduced affective empathy for positive emotions. The current study investigates this empathy profile and whether alexithymia and emotion dysregulation help to explain it.

Research

Support Preferences and Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) in the Clinical Care of Autistic Children: Stakeholder Perspectives

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are increasingly utilised within healthcare settings to enhance decision making. However, few studies have investigated their application in the context of clinical services for autistic people, with no research to date exploring the perspectives of the key stakeholders who are, or in the future may be, impacted by their use.

News & Events

Australia’s first Autism Biobank to help improve early diagnoses

A world leading Autism biobank has been officially launched in Australia today by the Minister for Health, the Hon Sussan Ley.