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News & Events

In this blog, Speech Pathology Lead Aria May explores how to talk to your child about a recent autism diagnosis.

News & Events

In this new blog, Speech Pathology Lead Aria May looks at the importance of Autism Acceptance Month and what you can do to move towards a truly inclusive community.

News & Events

In this new blog, Occupational Therapist and Clinical Lead (OT) Marie Rodatz offers families advice on how to cope with home isolation with a child on the autism spectrum.

News & Events

In this blog, Clinical Psychology Lead Dr Mei’en Lim offers families advice on how to navigate COVID-19 with an autistic child.

News & Events

We know many autistic children may be more sensitive to transitions so may need some extra supports at this time.

Research

Evidence suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder have increased rates of co-occurring psychosis and/or bipolar disorder. Considering the peak age of onset for psychosis and bipolar disorder occurs in adulthood, we investigated the co-occurrence of these disorders in adults with autism.

Research

Birth order effects have been linked to variability in intelligence, educational attainment and sexual orientation. First- and later-born children have been linked to an increased likelihood of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis, with a smaller body of evidence implicating decreases in cognitive functioning with increased birth order.

Research

The clinical process for being evaluated for an autism diagnosis is often time consuming and stressful for individuals and their caregivers. While experience of and satisfaction with the diagnostic process has been reviewed in the literature, few studies have directly investigated the viewpoints of individuals diagnosed with autism and caregivers of autistic individuals about what is important in the autism diagnostic process.

Research

Despite education about the risks of excessive sun exposure, teenagers in Australia are sun-seeking, with sunburn common in summer. Conversely, some regular (time-limited) exposure to sunlight (that avoids sunburn) is necessary for vitamin D and healthy bones and other molecules important for immune and metabolic health. New interventions are thus required to better support teenagers to make healthy and balanced decisions about their sun behaviors.

Research

The breadth of available non-pharmacological interventions for autistic children, with varying evidence for efficacy summarised in multiple systematic reviews, creates challenges for parents, practitioners, and policymakers in navigating the research evidence. In this article, we report the findings of an umbrella review of 58 systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions for autistic children (aged 0–12 years).