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Mental health seminar

Here you will find follow up information from our autism seminar on mental health and autism.

Video technology is helping researchers learn more about the earliest features of autism, and in turn is helping families gain access to better interventions.

Validation of a novel theory of mind measurement tool: The social robot video task

Social communication difficulties in autism spectrum disorder have been associated with poor Theory of Mind (ToM), an ability to attribute mental states to others. Interventions using humanoid robots could improve ToM that may generalize to human-human interactions. Traditionally, ToM has been measured using the Firth-Happe Animations (FHA) task which depicts interactions between two animated triangles.

Examining parent use of specific intervention techniques during a 12-week training program based on the Early Start Denver Model

This study included five mothers of young children with autism who participated in a 12-week parent training program based on the Early Start Denver Model

Marisa Di Lorenzo

Senior Speech Pathologist

Past research

Find out about many of our previous research studies and trials, and those that are ongoing but are no longer recruiting participants.

Register your interest for CliniSibs

We are currently taking expressions of interest for CliniSibs in 2024.

Characterizing the Nature of Alexithymia in Autistic Adults: Validation of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire

Alexithymia—a trait characterized by difficulties in emotion processing—is of high interest in the autism field. However, the lack of validated alexithymia measures for autistic individuals limits progress. This study aimed to address this gap by examining the psychometric properties of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) across autistic and non-autistic samples. Using the PAQ, we investigated how alexithymia manifests in autistic individuals and its links with poor mental health outcomes (anxiety).

Profiles of circumscribed interests in autistic youth

Circumscribed interests encompass a range of different interests and related behaviors that can be characterized by either a high intensity but otherwise usual topic [referred to as restricted interests] or by a focus on topics that are not salient outside of autism [referred to as unusual interests].

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.