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Professor Andrew Whitehouse tells how Australia’s first national guideline for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is going to transform the way the condition is assessed and managed, vastly improving the experience for families.

Gail Andrew Videos Alvares Whitehouse Watch and listen to Andrew PhD PhD Principal Research Fellow Deputy Director (Research); Angela Wright Bennett

Despite decades of research, misconceptions about developmental dyslexia remain widespread among those responsible for identifying and supporting affected children. Identifying the nature and persistence of these beliefs is essential to improving practice and policy. We conducted a scoping review to map the understanding of developmental dyslexia among teachers, parents and clinicians by identifying their beliefs about its features and interventions.

We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 290,134 attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom measures of 70,953 unique individuals from multiple raters, ages and instruments. 

The capacity for children to self-regulate is an important developmental task of early childhood, with caregivers playing an integral role in self-regulation development. While caregivers' emotions and behaviors are known to impact child self-regulatory capacity, the impact of child self-regulation difficulties on parents is less understood. 

Masculine norms influence internalizing problems in men. The processes that explain this association are not yet comprehensively understood. However, there exists a compelling argument to highlight the role of emotional functioning in explaining how conformity to the traditional Western conceptualization of masculine norms confers risk for internalizing problems.

CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder (CDD) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by early onset seizures combined with complex healthcare needs and developmental impairment that influence functional domains including communication. Communication is a high priority domain for families but currently used measures demonstrate floor effects. 

LiL' STEPS (Language development & Intervention Lab's SupporTing Early social-communication and language by Promoting caregiver Sensitive responsiveness) is a novel, manualized, caregiver-mediated early support program developed in India and delivered online for infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism. The program has been found to be feasible and acceptable. The preliminary efficacy of the LiL' STEPS program, which remains to be evaluated, was assessed in this study using a feasibility randomized controlled trial design. 

Evidence suggests that the earlier supports are provided to young Autistic children, the better the overall outcomes. Supports have typically only been available after an autism diagnosis but with increased knowledge about early developmental trajectories, clinical supports can now be offered prediagnosis for infants showing early autism features and/or those with a family history of autism. 

Maternal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been linked to child neurodevelopmental difficulties. Neuroimaging research has linked these neurodevelopmental difficulties to white matter microstructure alterations, but the effects of PFAS on children's white matter microstructure remains unclear.