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Perceived Support Needs of School-Aged Young People on the Autism Spectrum and Their Caregivers

With increasing demands for health, disability and education services, innovative approaches can help distribute limited resources according to need. Despite an increased focus on support needs within the clinical pathway and policy landscape, the body of research knowledge on this topic is at a relatively early stage. However, there appears to be a sense of unmet support needs and dissatisfaction with the provision of required support following an autism diagnosis amongst caregivers of young people on the spectrum.

The Utility of Natural Language Samples for Assessing Communication and Language in Infants Referred with Early Signs of Autism

Natural Language Sampling (NLS) offers clear potential for communication and language assessment, where other data might be difficult to interpret. We leveraged existing primary data for 18-month-olds showing early signs of autism, to examine the reliability and concurrent construct validity of NLS-derived measures coded from video-of child language, parent linguistic input, and dyadic balance of communicative interaction-against standardised assessment scores. Using Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software and coding conventions, masked coders achieved good-to-excellent inter-rater agreement across all measures.

Parental perspectives of the everyday experiences of uncertainty among young children on the autism spectrum

Anxiety 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.

Diagnosis and the ADOS: The essentials parents and clinicians need to know

In this blog, you can read about one of the most common tools used in the autism diagnostic process – the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule.

Looking at autism through a social model

In​ this blog, Speech Pathologist Linda Arabi discusses the social model and how it influences the supports we provide to autistic children and their families.

Dressing - Steps to building independence

In​ this blog, Occupational Therapist Tarryn Culverhouse provides some tips to help your child increase their independence in dressing.

Service agreements

We are currently working through several clinical audits to ensure that we are meeting our service delivery standards and governance requirements. As part of this, we have audited our Service Agreements to ensure that we have a signed agreement on file for all our clients. This agreement is an NDIS

Developing a pencil grasp

In this blog, Senior Occupational Therapist Gayle Hillen explores the steps to developing a functional pencil grasp.