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This series aims to provide some practical and evidence-based ideas to support your child and family.

Research

Researchers do not know much about what autistic adults, parents and professionals think about support goals for young autistic children. People's views of support goals might also be influenced by their beliefs about early support more generally. This survey involved 87 autistic adults, 159 parents of autistic children and 80 clinical professionals living in New Zealand and Australia.

Research

The current study used a transdiagnostic approach to explore experiences of consumers and professionals on how the process of assessing and diagnosing neurodevelopmental conditions can be improved.

Research

In the Australian disability context, the assessment of children with neurodevelopmental conditions’ functioning (across all domains) is of increasing importance, particularly since the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Currently, there is wide variability across assessment of functioning practices, including the choice and use of published tools for assessment.

News & Events

Five The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers working across diverse and highly impactful areas of child health research have been named as finalists for the 2023 Premier’s Science Awards.

Research

Emerging evidence suggests that observers tend to form less favorable first impressions toward autistic people than toward non-autistic people. These negative impressions may be associated with immediate behavioral responses, as well as long-lasting attitudes toward those being observed that may negatively impact their psychosocial wellbeing. 

Research

The measurement of quality of life (QOL) in children with intellectual disability often relies upon proxy report via caregivers. The current study investigated whether caregiver psychological distress mediates or moderates the effects of impairment on their ratings of QOL in children with intellectual disability.

Research

Although autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the most heritable of all neuropsychiatric syndromes, most affected children are born to unaffected parents. Recently, we reported an average increase of 3-5% over general population risk of ASD among offspring of adults who have first-degree relatives with ASD in a large epidemiologic family sample.

Research

The importance of supporting parent-child interactions has been noted in the context of prodromal autism, but little consideration has been given to the possible contributing role of parental characteristics, such as psychological distress. This cross-sectional study tested models in which parent-child interaction variables mediated relations between parent characteristics and child autistic behaviour in a sample of families whose infant demonstrated early signs of autism.

Research

This study aimed to explore the rates of motor difficulties in children from the Australian Autism Biobank, and how early motor concerns impacted on children functionally.