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News & Events

Back to school anxiety: How to help your child transition into the new school year

As we count down to the end of the long summer holidays, it’s natural for children to feel anxious about what the new school year will bring.

Research

“We Need Community-Centred, Strongly Ethical Genetic Research”: A Qualitative Investigation of Community Attitudes Toward Autism Genetics

Autism genetics has historically attracted a substantial proportion of autism research funding internationally. However, more recently, several controversies centered on ethical conduct and lack of community consultation have emerged. This has triggered Autistic-led protests for the functional and meaningful inclusion of Autistic voices in the research design.

Research

“I Just Feel Like the Teacher Understood Me, and She Knew What I Needed”: School Experiences of Autistic Students from Diverse Backgrounds

Gathering Autistic young people's testimony is critical for understanding their lived experience of education and designing settings in which these students can thrive. Despite increasing knowledge in this field, we lack perspectives from a broad range of Autistic students which necessarily limits our ability to build inclusive, supportive environments for all. This study explored the educational experiences of preschool and school-aged Autistic students from diverse age groups, backgrounds, and educational settings.

Research

Investigating the impact of autistic children's feeding difficulties on caregivers

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of children's autism characteristics, sensory profiles and feeding difficulties on caregiver-reported impact at mealtimes.

Research

Arcuate fasciculus and pre-reading language development in children with prenatal alcohol exposure

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) contributes to widespread neurodevelopmental challenges, including reading, and has been associated with altered white matter. Here, we aimed to investigate whether arcuate fasciculus development is associated with pre-reading language skills in young children with PAE.

Research

Parsing the heterogeneity of social motivation in autism

Social motivation is posited as a key factor in the expression of the autism phenotype. However, lack of precision in both conceptualization and measurement has impeded a thorough understanding of its diverse presentation and associated outcomes. This study addresses this gap by identifying subgroups of autism characterized by deficits in distinct facets of social motivation, relative to normative benchmarks.

News & Events

Get cracking: Why eggs are a healthy choice for pregnant women

Not only are cooked eggs perfectly safe to eat during pregnancy, they are also a great way to boost nutrient intake for both mums and bubs.

Research

Caregiver sensitivity predicts infant language use, and infant language complexity predicts caregiver language complexity, in the context of possible emerging autism

While theory supports bidirectional effects between caregiver sensitivity and language use, and infant language acquisition-both caregiver-to-infant and also infant-to-caregiver effects-empirical research has chiefly explored the former unidirectional path. In the context of infants showing early signs of autism, we investigated prospective bidirectional associations with 6-min free-play interaction samples collected for 103 caregivers and their infants (mean age 12-months; and followed up 6-months later).

News & Events

Video: Why you're wasting your money on bottled water

The Kids Research Institute Australia nutritionist Dr Roslyn Giglia says Australians are spending over $500 million a year on bottled water, when tap water is healthier.

Research

The effects of prenatal bisphenol A exposure on brain volume of children and young mice

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic chemical used for the manufacturing of plastics, epoxy resin, and many personal care products. This ubiquitous endocrine disruptor is detectable in the urine of over 80% of North Americans.

Research

Study protocol for the Australian autism biobank: an international resource to advance autism discovery research

The Australian Autism Biobank was initiated to establish a large-scale repository of biological samples and detailed clinical information about children diagnosed with ASD

Research

Measuring the capacity of active video games for social interaction: The Social Interaction Potential Assessment tool

The Social Interaction Potential Assessment tool can assess Active Video Games potential to facilitate social interaction among players

News & Events

Australian first study looks at energy drink harm in young people

Researchers at the Telethon Kids Institute will study the health impacts of energy drinks on young people and develop guidelines for reducing consumption.

News & Events

Western diet link to ADHD

A new study from Perth's The Kids for Child Health Research shows an association between ADHD and a 'Western-style' diet in adolescents.

News & Events

Folate commitment will protect babies

Child health expert Professor Fiona Stanley has welcomed today's commitment to proceed with mandatory fortification of food with folate.

Research

Identification of a dietary pattern prospectively associated with bone mass in Australian young adults

Relatively little is known about the relations between dietary patterns and bone health in adolescence, which is a period of substantial bone mass accrual.

Research

Blood micronutrients and DNA damage in children

This is the first study to examine the associations between a range of blood micronutrient levels and DNA damage in healthy children.

Research

Regular fat and reduced fat dairy products show similar associations with markers of adolescent cardiometabolic health

Intakes of both regular fat and reduced fat dairy products were associated with similar cardiometabolic associations in adolescents