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Research

In the Australian disability context, the assessment of children with neurodevelopmental conditions’ functioning (across all domains) is of increasing importance, particularly since the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Currently, there is wide variability across assessment of functioning practices, including the choice and use of published tools for assessment.

Research

Many clinicians in New Zealand do not follow guidelines for best practice in autism diagnosis. In this study, we investigated the processes that health professionals in New Zealand follow when diagnosing autistic children and adults. We asked 117 health professionals from a range of services and regions in New Zealand, how they identify and diagnose autism.

Research

Several studies have explored relationships between parent broader autism phenotype and offspring communication, and have reported that autistic-like traits in parents are related to offspring communication difficulties and autism severity. However, past research has focused on studying such associations in childhood and we know very little about them in infancy. With accumulating evidence that interventions administered during infancy may be most effective in reducing ASD symptoms, it is imperative to examine whether relationships between parent autistic-like traits and child communication appear even earlier during this critical period of life.

Research

There are no well-established biomedical treatments for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A small number of studies suggest that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, may improve clinical and cognitive outcomes in ASD.

Research

Social communication difficulties in autism spectrum disorder have been associated with poor Theory of Mind (ToM), an ability to attribute mental states to others. Interventions using humanoid robots could improve ToM that may generalize to human-human interactions. Traditionally, ToM has been measured using the Firth-Happe Animations (FHA) task which depicts interactions between two animated triangles.

Research

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition whose biological basis is yet to be elucidated. The Australian Autism Biobank (AAB) is an initiative of the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) to establish an Australian resource of biospecimens, phenotypes and genomic data for research on autism.

Research

To investigate associations between functioning, community participation, and quality of life (QoL) and identify whether participation mediates the effects of functioning on QoL.

News & Events

Andrew Whitehouse has been listed in the WA Business News 40 under 40 awards recognising accomplished and dynamic young leaders in Western Australia.

News & Events

Hormone levels in the womb may determine how masculine or feminine your facial features are as an adult, The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers have found.

Research

The MINERvA Network will allow more accurate and precise determination of the contributions of familial and environmental factors to the etiology of autism.