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School readiness is more than just test resultsA new study by researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia has found there is a bigger picture to consider when determining whether a child is ready to start school.
News & Events
WA, Queensland leading nation’s improvements in early childhood outcomesWestern Australia and Queensland are leading the nation when it comes to ensuring children have a good start at school, according to a study by researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia.
News & Events
How to tell if your baby is meeting their social and developmental milestonesPaediatrician and researcher Dr Lana Bell shares some important milestones for social development to look out for in the first year of life.
News & Events
Brain & Behaviour community forumWe invite you to join us for a community forum on the future of research in our Brain & Behaviour Research Focus Area.
Research
Does late childbearing increase the risk for behavioural problems in children? a longitudinal cohort studyThis study aimed to examine the relationship between advanced parental age and behavioural outcomes in offspring in a longitudinal cohort of children in WA.
Research
Infant Diet Recommendations Reduce IgE-Mediated Egg, Peanut, and Cow's Milk AllergiesMeta-analyses of randomized controlled trials have found that introducing eggs and peanuts earlier during infancy reduced egg and peanut allergy risk. Hence, infant feeding advice has dramatically changed from previous recommendations of avoidance to current recommendations of inclusion of common food allergens in infant diets.
Research
Children arriving hungry in the first year of school: population trends in Australia from 2009 to 2021Access to adequate nutrition is a human right. In 2023, 23% of Australian households were severely food insecure, reducing food intake, skipping meals or days of eating. Food insecurity in early childhood is linked to poor health and development. Specifically, breakfast provides children with the necessary nutrients required for sustained attention, memory, and cognitive growth. Australian research has reported that one in three children aged 8–18 years regularly skip breakfast. However, there is little understanding of the prevalence of food insecurity among young children in Australia.
Research
‘Feeling like you can't do anything because you don't know where to start’—Parents' Perspectives of Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Early Detection for Children at Risk of CPEarly detection of cerebral palsy (CP) risk is possible from 12 weeks corrected gestational age (CGA) using standardised assessments; however, up to half of children at risk are not referred early, missing out on early intervention. We investigated the barriers and facilitators to accessing early intervention from the perspective of parents of children who did not receive services by 6 months CGA.
Research
How we measure language skills of children at scale: A call to move beyond domain-specific tests as a proxy for languageThe aim of this research note is to encourage child language researchers and clinicians to give careful consideration to the use of domain-specific tests as a proxy for language; particularly in the context of large-scale studies and for the identification of language disorder in clinical practice.
Research
Parent-infant interaction quality is related to preterm status and sensory processingParent-infant interactions provide the foundation for the development of infant socioemotional wellbeing. Preterm birth can have a substantial, and often detrimental, impact on the quality of early parent-infant interactions. Sensory processing difficulties, common in preterm infants, are further associated with poorer interaction quality.