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. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2023
• April 2023

Intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically commences after diagnosis. No trial of an intervention administered to infants before diagnosis has shown an effect on diagnostic outcomes to date. ...

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

The clinical process for being evaluated for an autism diagnosis is often time consuming and stressful for individuals and their caregivers. While experience of and satisfaction with the diagnostic process has been reviewed in the literature, few studies have directly investigated the viewpoints of individuals diagnosed with autism and caregivers of autistic individuals about what is important in the autism diagnostic process. ...

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

Evidence suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder have increased rates of co-occurring psychosis and/or bipolar disorder. Considering the peak age of onset for psychosis and bipolar disorder occurs in adulthood, we investigated the co-occurrence of these disorders in adults with autism. ...

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

We investigated whether a commonly used research assessment - the Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) - accurately measures autism behaviours among infants showing early signs of autism identified within the community. The AOSI is often included in studies tracking the development of infants at increased likelihood of autism, such as the infant siblings of diagnosed children. However, the suitability of this measure has not previously been tested with community-referred infants. ...

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

Several researchers have hypothesised that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show encoding delays in their obligatory event-related potentials (ERPs)/ event-related fields (ERFs) for low-level auditory information compared to neurotypical (NT) samples. However, empirical research has yielded varied findings, such as low-level auditory processing in ASD samples being unimpaired, superior, or impaired compared to NT samples. Diverse outcomes have also been reported for studies investigating ASD-NT differences in functional lateralisation of delays. ...

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

Performance on neuropsychological measures may be useful for predicting persisting post-concussion symptoms ...

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

Social attention can be acutely modified in children with ASD, with an increased tendency to orient attention toward faces after brief social attention training ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2019
• March 2019

Using a novel methodological approach, these findings provide evidence for the contention that affective processing underlies rapid facial mimicry reactions ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
• Our research
• Reports and Findings
• 2019
• October 2019