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Manifestations of insistence on sameness and circumscribed interests are complex, with individuals varying considerably, not only in the types of behaviours they express, but also in terms of a behaviour's frequency, intensity, trajectory, adaptive benefits, and impacts.
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.
We tested the potential for Gazefinder eye-tracking to support early autism identification, including feasible use with infants, and preliminary concurrent validity of trial-level gaze data against clinical assessment scores. We embedded the ~ 2-min 'Scene 1S4' protocol within a comprehensive clinical assessment for 54 consecutively-referred, clinically-indicated infants (prematurity-corrected age 9-14 months).
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.
The CliniKids team has reimagined how allied health services for children with autism spectrum disorder or developmental delays are delivered.
Video technology is helping researchers learn more about the early communication style of infants with a family history of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability.
In October 2018, the Autism CRC released A National Guideline for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Australia.
A unique new model developed by the The Kids autism research team marries cutting-edge research with clinical practice to offer families innovative, evidence-based interventions designed to help kids reach their full potential.
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).
Autism researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have called for the term ‘high functioning autism’ to be abandoned because of the misleading and potentially harmful expectations it creates around the abilities of children on the autism spectrum.