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Characterised by varying degrees of difficulties in communication skills and social abilities, one in every 100 individuals will have a diagnosis of an autism spectrum condition. While autism is known to run in families, the exact causes remain unknown.
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).
Autism researchers from The Kids Research Institute Australia have called for the term ‘high functioning autism’ to be abandoned because of the misleading and potentially harmful expectations it creates around the abilities of children on the autism spectrum.
LiL' STEPS (Language development & Intervention Lab's SupporTing Early social-communication and language by Promoting caregiver Sensitive responsiveness) is a novel, manualized, caregiver-mediated early support program developed in India and delivered online for infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism. The program has been found to be feasible and acceptable. The preliminary efficacy of the LiL' STEPS program, which remains to be evaluated, was assessed in this study using a feasibility randomized controlled trial design.
Evidence suggests that the earlier supports are provided to young Autistic children, the better the overall outcomes. Supports have typically only been available after an autism diagnosis but with increased knowledge about early developmental trajectories, clinical supports can now be offered prediagnosis for infants showing early autism features and/or those with a family history of autism.
A world-first program for babies with delays in their social and communication skills has been launched in Western Australia, thanks to support from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Early life nutrition is associated with child behaviour; however, the interplay with genetic vulnerability is understudied. We hypothesised that psychiatric genetic risk interacted with early nutrition to predict behavioural problems in childhood and adolescence.
Thyroid hormones affect neurological development and function, but detailed studies of thyroid hormones and metabolites in autism are lacking. The objective was t characterize thyroid function and metabolism in autistic children.
While parenting self-efficacy and broader autism phenotype (BAP) have been linked to caregiver depression, anxiety and stress at specific points in time, their influence on longer-term mental health trajectories remains unknown, especially for caregivers who participate in support programs for their infants with very-early autistic features.
Young children diagnosed with autism experience high rates of co-occurring anxiety, with uncertainty-related concerns commonly reported. This randomized controlled trial investigated an 8-week parent-mediated group anxiety intervention, “Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations” (CUES-Junior©).