Search
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.
On International Day for People with Disability this Sunday, The Kids Research Institute Australia celebrates the children and families we work with in our research, as we strive for better outcomes for kids with disability.
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).
Characterised by varying degrees of difficulties in communication skills and social abilities, one in every 100 individuals will have a diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition. While autism is known to run in families, the exact causes remain unknown.
The human gut microbiome has increasingly been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is a neurological developmental disorder, characterized by impairments to social interaction.
Despite being highly prevalent among people with autism, restricted and unusual interests remain under-researched and poorly understood. This article confirms that restricted interests are very frequent and varied among children and adolescents with autism. It also further extends current knowledge in this area by characterizing the relationship between the presence, number, and type of restricted interests with chronological age, sex, cognitive functioning, and social and communication symptoms.
Developmental theory and previous studies support the potential value of prodromal interventions for infants at elevated likelihood of developing autism. Past research has supported the efficacy of parent-mediated prodromal therapies with infants from as early as 7 months. We outline the rationale for implementing interventions following this model from even earlier in development and report on the feasibility of a novel intervention developed following this model of parent-mediated infant interventions.
Sensory modulation symptoms form a diagnostic criterion for autism spectrum disorder and are associated with significant daily functional limitations. Utilizing caregiver report on Short Sensory Profile-2 (SSP-2) for 919 autistic children (3–14.11 years), we examined the expression of sensory modulation symptoms by age and sex and investigated the existence of specific sensory modulation subtypes.
Young children who have developmental delay, autism, or other neurodevelopmental conditions can have difficulties doing things in different areas of their life. What they can and cannot do is called their level of functioning. There are lots of assessment measures that aim to assess functioning.
The broad autism phenotype commonly refers to sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behaviour and cognition presented in biological relatives of autistic people. In a recent study, we reported findings suggesting that the broad autism phenotype may also be expressed in facial morphology, specifically increased facial masculinity.