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In 2024–2025, we listened to 40 siblings from across Australia share their experiences of family life and social connection. Most had a brother or sister with developmental disability, and others did not. Together, they offered open and thoughtful reflections on roles and responsibilities at home, friendships, fam
Amy Andrew Helen Jenny Martyn Melissa Videos Finlay-Jones Whitehouse Watch and listen to Andrew Leonard Downs Symons Licari BPsych(Hons), MPsych(
Helen Jenny Leonard Downs MBChB MPH BApplSci (physio) MSc PhD Principal Research Fellow Head, Child Disability +61 419 956 946 08 6319 1763
Globally, Indigenous peoples have incurred significant harm due to colonisation of their lands. Dispossession of culture, language, family and land, and the historical, systematic removal of children in Australia (the ‘Stolen Generation’), has resulted in evident ongoing negative outcomes in the contemporary lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Autistic adolescents are vulnerable to sleep difficulties, with up to 80 % experiencing sleep problems, most commonly insomnia. Little is known about how autistic adolescents are involved in their own sleep treatment, and their depth of knowledge about their sleep difficulties. The aims of this study were to investigate autistic adolescent and parent perspectives of experiencing and managing insomnia, and what factors influence the development of these perspectives on insomnia and treatment.
This study aims to describe the risk factors and trends in birth prevalence of septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) and gastroschisis between 1980 and 2023. This descriptive, population-based study of SOD and gastroschisis used Western Australian Register of Developmental Anomalies data from 1980 to 2023. Birth prevalence was calculated using Midwives Notification System data for all births after 20 weeks gestation.
Ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children removed from their families by child protection services remain connected to their kin, Country and culture is a priority to begin to redress the intergenerational trauma and harm caused by colonisation. This article describes the views of staff working in three mainstream out-of-home care organisations, where children are cared for by non-Indigenous foster carers.
Aim: To: (1) develop a core outcome set (COS) to assess chronic pain interference and impact on emotional functioning for children and young people with cerebral palsy (CP) with varying communication, cognitive, and functional abilities; (2) categorize the assessment tools according to reporting method or observer-reported outcome measures; and (3) categorize the content of tools in the COS according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).
To evaluate the associations between complex hip surgery and subsequent hospitalizations in children with intellectual disability, including a subset of children with cerebral palsy.
Information on the hospital service use among individuals with CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, an ultrarare developmental epileptic encephalopathy, is limited, evidence of which could assist with service planning. Therefore, using baseline and longitudinal data on 379 genetically verified individuals in the International CDKL5 Disorder Database, we aimed to investigate rates of seizure-related and other hospitalizations and associated length of stay in this cohort.