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News & Events

Western Australian babies and children with autism and developmental delay will be able to access world-first therapies and interventions backed by the latest research, thanks a unique clinical service developed by The Kids Research Institute Australia.

News & Events

Australia’s first draft national guideline for autism diagnosis has today been released for public consultation.

News & Events

Professor Andrew Whitehouse awarded the most prestigious award in the country for young researchers – the 3M Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science.

News & Events

A new study led by The Kids Research Institute Australia has found a link between masculine facial features and autism.

News & Events

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).

News & Events

The Kids Research Institute Australia has two researchers and an innovative science engagement initiative as finalists in the 2017 Premier’s Science Awards.

News & Events

Chloe recently decided to bake cupcakes to sell to her school friends and teachers and it was all for a cause very close to her heart - autism research.

Research

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which are more common in males. The 'prenatal sex steroid' hypothesis links excessive sex-steroid exposure during foetal life with the behavioural differences observed in ASD. However, the reason why sex steroid exposure may be excessive remains unclear. Epidemiological studies have identified several environmental risk factors associated with ASD, including developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency.

Research

The study of temperament in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has the potential to provide insight regarding variability in the onset, nature, and course of both core and co-morbid symptoms. The aim of this systematic review was to integrate existing findings concerning temperament in the context of ASD. Searches of Medline, PsychInfo and Scopus databases identified 64 relevant studies. As a group, children and adolescents with ASD appear to be temperamentally different from both typically developing and other clinical non-ASD groups, characterized by higher negative affectivity, lower surgency, and lower effortful control at a higher-order level.

Research

Cognitive and motor dysfunction are hallmark features of the psychosis continuum, and have been detected during late childhood and adolescence in youth who report psychotic experiences (PE). However, previous investigations have not explored infancy and early childhood development.