Andrew Gail Whitehouse Watch and listen to Andrew Alvares AJ GA PhD PhD Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research at Telethon Kids Institute; Director, CliniKids Senior Research Fellow 08 6319 1698 Andrew.Whitehouse@telethonkids.org.au ...

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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. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
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• 2024
• February 2024

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which are more common in males. The 'prenatal sex steroid' hypothesis links excessive sex-steroid exposure during foetal life with the behavioural differences observed in ASD. However, the reason why sex steroid exposure may be excessive remains unclear. Epidemiological studies have identified several environmental risk factors associated with ASD, including developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency. ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
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• 2020
• December 2020

The study of temperament in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has the potential to provide insight regarding variability in the onset, nature, and course of both core and co-morbid symptoms. The aim of this systematic review was to integrate existing findings concerning temperament in the context of ASD. Searches of Medline, PsychInfo and Scopus databases identified 64 relevant studies. As a group, children and adolescents with ASD appear to be temperamentally different from both typically developing and other clinical non-ASD groups, characterized by higher negative affectivity, lower surgency, and lower effortful control at a higher-order level. ...

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• 2021
• February 2021

Anxiety and sleep problems may be an early indicator of autism in young children and early autistic traits may also contribute to anxiety problems later in childhood ...

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• 2019
• August 2019

Andrew Matt Whitehouse Watch and listen to Andrew Cooper AJ MC PhD BCA Marketing, BSc Statistics and Applied Statistics, PhD Angela Wright Bennett Professor of Autism Research at Telethon Kids Institute; Director, CliniKids Manager, Biometrics 08 ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
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• 2021
• December 2021

The broad autism phenotype commonly refers to sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behaviour and cognition presented in biological relatives of autistic people. In a recent study, we reported findings suggesting that the broad autism phenotype may also be expressed in facial morphology, specifically increased facial masculinity. ...

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• 2022
• March 2022

The developmental origins of handedness remain elusive, though very early emergence suggests individual differences manifesting in utero could play an important role. Prenatal testosterone and Vitamin D exposure are considered, yet findings and interpretations remain equivocal. ...

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• 2022
• August 2022

Reduced eye contact early in life may play a role in the developmental pathways that culminate in a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. However, there are contradictory theories regarding the neural mechanisms involved. According to the amygdala theory of autism, reduced eye contact results from a hypoactive amygdala that fails to flag eyes as salient. However, the eye avoidance hypothesis proposes the opposite-that amygdala hyperactivity causes eye avoidance. This review evaluated studies that measured the relationship between eye gaze and activity in the 'social brain' when viewing facial stimuli. ...

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• 2022
• February 2022

With increasing demands for health, disability and education services, innovative approaches can help distribute limited resources according to need. Despite an increased focus on support needs within the clinical pathway and policy landscape, the body of research knowledge on this topic is at a relatively early stage. However, there appears to be a sense of unmet support needs and dissatisfaction with the provision of required support following an autism diagnosis amongst caregivers of young people on the spectrum. ...

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• 2022
• November 2022

The current data add to the increasing evidence for the lack of relationship between autistic traits and postnatal levels of testosterone in men ...

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• 2018
• June 2018

We review medical conditions that have been repeatedly highlighted as sharing the strongest associations with ASD-epilepsy, sleep, as well as gastrointestinal and immune functioning ...

• 1. Telethon Kids Institute
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• 2019
• January 2019