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Autism Month!

April is Autism Month and to mark the occasion, we’re transforming our reception desk in the clinic to an AMAZING wall for our families to contribute to.

Client support at CliniKids

Nicki, Leah, Tracy, and Amy make up our wonderful Client Support team at CliniKids. The team was established in mid-2021 as services began to grow.

Frangipani Family Day a huge success!

CliniKids held its inaugural Frangipani Family Day recently – an event organised to honour the wonderful contribution of its much loved and dearly missed colleague, the late Kate Sorensen.

Meet the Client Support Team

The Client Support Team at CliniKids has some new faces! Nicki and Amy join our lovely Tracy.

Welcome to the team Leah!

Meet Leah – the latest addition to the CliniKids team. We asked Leah, our new Operations Manager, a couple of questions to get to know her.

Maternal immune-related conditions during pregnancy may be a risk factor for neuropsychiatric problems in offspring throughout childhood and adolescence

Emerging research suggests that maternal immune activation (MIA) may be associated with an increased risk of adverse neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes in offspring. Using data from the Raine Study, we investigated whether MIA during pregnancy was associated with increased behavioral and emotional problems in offspring longitudinally across development.

The course and prognostic capability of motor difficulties in infants showing early signs of autism

Delays within the motor domain are often overlooked as an early surveillance marker for autism. The present study evaluated motor difficulties and its potential as an early predictive marker for later autism likelihood in a cohort of infants showing early behavioral signs of autism aged 9-14 months. The motor domain was evaluated using the motor subscales of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning at baseline, and at a 6-month follow-up.

Assessing functioning for individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions: Current clinical practice in Australia

In the disability sector globally, and specifically in Australia, assessments of functioning have become key to diagnostic processes, and accessing therapy and funding. Over half of all individuals accessing support through Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme have a neurodevelopmental condition diagnosis.

Toward better characterization of restricted and unusual interests in youth with autism

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.

Facial asymmetry in parents of children on the autism spectrum

Greater facial asymmetry has been consistently found in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to children without ASD. There is substantial evidence that both facial structure and the recurrence of ASD diagnosis are highly heritable within a nuclear family. Furthermore, sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behavioural characteristics have also been reported in first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD, commonly known as the 'broad autism phenotype'.