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Access to behavioural sleep intervention is beneficial for autistic children, yet many families face barriers to access associated with location and time. Preliminary evidence supports telehealth-delivered sleep intervention. However, no studies have evaluated brief telehealth sleep intervention.
Manifestations of insistence on sameness and circumscribed interests are complex, with individuals varying considerably, not only in the types of behaviours they express, but also in terms of a behaviour's frequency, intensity, trajectory, adaptive benefits, and impacts.
We tested the potential for Gazefinder eye-tracking to support early autism identification, including feasible use with infants, and preliminary concurrent validity of trial-level gaze data against clinical assessment scores. We embedded the ~ 2-min 'Scene 1S4' protocol within a comprehensive clinical assessment for 54 consecutively-referred, clinically-indicated infants (prematurity-corrected age 9-14 months).
Individuals exhibiting pronounced autistic traits (e.g., social differences and specialised interests) may struggle with cognitive empathy (i.e., the ability to infer others' emotions), although the relationship with affective empathy (i.e., the ability to share others' emotions) is less clear in that higher levels of autistic traits may be linked with increased affective empathy for negative emotions but reduced affective empathy for positive emotions. The current study investigates this empathy profile and whether alexithymia and emotion dysregulation help to explain it.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed to manage anxiety in adults with an autism diagnosis. However, their effectiveness and adverse effect profile in the autistic population are not well known. This trial aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the SSRI sertraline in reducing symptoms of anxiety and improving quality of life in adults with a diagnosis of autism compared with placebo and to quantify any adverse effects.
The growing global prevalence of autism spectrum disorder is associated with increasing costs for support services. Ascertaining the effects of a successful preemptive intervention for infants showing early behavioral signs of autism on human services budgets is highly policy relevant.
The Repetitive Behaviours Questionnaire for Adults (RBQ-2A) measures two factors of restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRBs) associated with autism. However, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) provides four criteria for RRBs: repetitive motor behaviours, insistence on sameness, restricted interests, and interest in sensory aspects of the environment (or atypical sensitivity).
Autism omics research has historically been reductionist and diagnosis centric, with little attention paid to common co-occurring conditions (for example, sleep and feeding disorders) and the complex interplay between molecular profiles and neurodevelopment, genetics, environmental factors and health. Here we explored the plasma lipidome in 765 children (485 diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)) within the Australian Autism Biobank.
Motor features of autism have long been acknowledged by clinicians, researchers, and community stakeholders. Current DSM-5 and ICD-11 guidelines allow clinicians to assign a co-occurring diagnosis of developmental [motor] coordination disorder for autistic individuals with significant motor problems.
Andrew Videos Whitehouse Watch and listen to Andrew PhD Deputy Director (Research); Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research at The Kids