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Hormones in utero influence facial structureHormone levels in the womb may determine how masculine or feminine your facial features are as an adult, The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers have found.
Research
Community perspectives on the appropriateness and importance of support goals for young autistic childrenResearchers 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.
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Potential role for immune-related genes in autism spectrum disorders: Evidence from genome-wide association meta-analysis of autistic traitsAutism spectrum disorders are complex, with a strong genetic basis. Genetic research in autism spectrum disorders is limited by the fact that these disorders are largely heterogeneous so that patients are variable in their clinical presentations. To address this limitation, we investigated the genetics of individual dimensions of the autism spectrum disorder phenotypes, or autistic-like traits. These autistic-like traits are continuous variations in autistic behaviours that occur in the general population.
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Australian Clinicians’ Considerations When Choosing an Assessment of Functioning Tool for Children with Neurodevelopmental ConditionsIn 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.
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Caregiver Psychological Distress Predicts Temperament and Social-Emotional Outcomes in Infants with Autism TraitsChild temperament and caregiver psychological distress have been independently associated with social-emotional difficulties among individuals with autism. However, the interrelationship among these risk factors has rarely been investigated.
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Functioning, participation, and quality of life in children with intellectual disability: an observational studyTo investigate associations between functioning, community participation, and quality of life (QoL) and identify whether participation mediates the effects of functioning on QoL.
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Analysis of common genetic variation and rare CNVs in the Australian Autism BiobankAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition whose biological basis is yet to be elucidated. The Australian Autism Biobank (AAB) is an initiative of the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) to establish an Australian resource of biospecimens, phenotypes and genomic data for research on autism.
Research
Validation of a novel theory of mind measurement tool: The social robot video taskSocial communication difficulties in autism spectrum disorder have been associated with poor Theory of Mind (ToM), an ability to attribute mental states to others. Interventions using humanoid robots could improve ToM that may generalize to human-human interactions. Traditionally, ToM has been measured using the Firth-Happe Animations (FHA) task which depicts interactions between two animated triangles.

News & Events
The Kids researcher among Top 5 Under 40Congratulations to Gail Alvares from our Autism research team who has been named as one the ABC's Top 5 Under 40 scientists in residence.
News & Events
New study shows fetal head size could link to autismResearch has found a link between children with larger head measurements in-utero and a subsequent diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as toddlers.