By Dr Giacomo Vivanti, Drexel University, former OTARC staffer
A key question for science to explore in the twenty-first century concerns the mechanisms that underlie social behaviour. How do we understand other people’s thoughts, beliefs and intentions? To what extent can our mental states and feelings be shared with other people? And how do we incorporate other people’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs into our mental world?
Kristelle Hudry, La Trobe University and Andrew Whitehouse, University of Western Australia
Among the many available therapies and early interventions for children with autism, only a few are backed up with solid scientific evidence. But here’s some good news: recently, the quality of autism early intervention research has improved significantly.
Read more “Could early infant screening and intervention help prevent autism?”
David Trembath, Griffith University & OTARC Adjunct
Children with autism are often described as “visual learners” and said to “think in pictures”. Accordingly, teachers and therapists routinely prescribe picture-based communication systems in an effort to support their learning.
Read more “Children with autism aren’t necessarily visual learners”
Are Autism Assistance Dogs suitable for children of all ages?
When should an Autism Assistance Dog be introduced to a child with autism?
Dr Mirko Uljarevic talks about the prevalence of stress and anxiety amongst young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), how parents of children with ASDs cope with stress and anxiety, and what support should be in place. Read more “Stress and anxiety in adolescents with ASD”
By Jackie Maya, OTARC 2014 Honours student
Many mothers with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) report higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression than mothers with typically developing children and those rearing children with other disabilities. But we don’t know which factors contribute to or protect against these negative outcomes. Being from a migrant family, I wondered whether mothers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds would experience more or less stress, anxiety and depression in reaction to having a child with ASD than Australian mothers. Based on other research, we also thought that different coping skills may influence how mothers react. These are the questions I explored for my Honours project with Dr Kristelle Hudry and Dr Josephine Barbaro at OTARC. We were particularly interested in the reactions and coping skills of mothers whose child had recently been diagnosed with ASD.
Read more “Well-Being in Mothers after their Child’s Recent ASD Diagnosis”
By OTARC Master of Clinical Psychology candidate, Stephanie Mertins and Associate Professor Amanda Richdale
Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often report more child behavioural, gastrointestinal and sleep problems than do parents of typically developing (TD) children.
Read more “Investigating Behavioural, Gastrointestinal, Sleep and Diet”
Hi, I am running a home based 1:1 program for my 29 year old autistic son. I am especially interested to know if anyone anywhere has attempted to develop or modify ABA for use past early childhood, and if so, has such a program has been evaluated?
By Kristelle Hudry, La Trobe University
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; which now includes former diagnostic labels such as Autistic Disorder and Asperger syndrome) is a life-long neuro-developmental disorder. It first shows itself early in life, emerging across toddlerhood and into the preschool years.
Read more “How to spot an Autism Spectrum Disorder in school-age children”
Dr Giacomo Vivanti talks about his recent research on how children with autism learn and how we can improve the learning outcomes using innovative treatment approaches.
Autism more than any other neurodevelopmental disorder, impacts the ability of individuals to learn the communication skills, the socialisation skills and the daily living skills that are necessary to live an independent life, to find and maintain a job, to have friends and to have a social life.
Read more “Understanding and facilitating learning in children with Autism”