Despite being highly prevalent among people with autism, restricted and unusual interests remain under-researched and poorly understood. This article confirms that restricted interests are very frequent and varied among children and adolescents with autism. It also further extends current knowledge in this area by characterizing the relationship between the presence, number, and type of restricted interests with chronological age, sex, cognitive functioning, and social and communication symptoms. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• July 2022

Greater facial asymmetry has been consistently found in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to children without ASD. There is substantial evidence that both facial structure and the recurrence of ASD diagnosis are highly heritable within a nuclear family. Furthermore, sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behavioural characteristics have also been reported in first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD, commonly known as the 'broad autism phenotype'. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• November 2021

Credit: Chloe Yap from Mater Research and The University of Queensland A long-held belief linking gut bacteria to autism has been debunked by an ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Research Impact
• 2022
• Paradigm shift

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. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2024
• May 2024

Atypical facial morphology, particularly increased facial asymmetry, has been identified in some individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC). Many cognitive, behavioural and biological features associated with ASC also occur on a continuum in the general population. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• June 2021

In multi-cohort consortia, the problem often arises that a phenotype is measured using different questionnaires. This study aimed to harmonize scores based on the Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for anxiety/depression and ADHD. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• September 2022

Naturalistic developmental behavioural interventions are promising approaches for young children with, or suspected of having, autism spectrum disorder. Joint attention, symbolic play, engagement and regulation intervention (JASPER) is a well-researched naturalistic developmental behavioural intervention but, to date, no reviews have specifically evaluated its effects. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2021
• August 2021

Links between temperament and social-emotional difficulties are well-established in normative child development but remain poorly characterized in autism. We sought to characterize distinct temperament subgroups and their associations with concurrent internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a sample of 103 infants showing early signs of autism. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2020
• December 2020

Early supports to enhance social development in children with autism are widely promoted. While oxytocin has a crucial role in mammalian social development, its potential role as a medication to enhance social development in humans remains unclear. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• October 2022

Reading Disability is often characterized by difficulties in the phonology of the language. While the molecular mechanisms underlying it are largely undetermined, loci are being revealed by genome-wide association studies. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2022
• November 2022