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Research

The valence-specific empathy imbalance hypothesis of autism: The role of autistic traits, alexithymia, emotion dysregulation, and gender differences

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.

Research

Support Preferences and Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) in the Clinical Care of Autistic Children: Stakeholder Perspectives

Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are increasingly utilised within healthcare settings to enhance decision making. However, few studies have investigated their application in the context of clinical services for autistic people, with no research to date exploring the perspectives of the key stakeholders who are, or in the future may be, impacted by their use.

News & Events

Australia’s first Autism Biobank to help improve early diagnoses

A world leading Autism biobank has been officially launched in Australia today by the Minister for Health, the Hon Sussan Ley.

News & Events

The Kids researchers finalists in Premier’s Science Awards

The Kids Research Institute Australia has two researchers and an innovative science engagement initiative as finalists in the 2017 Premier’s Science Awards.

News & Events

The Kids welcomes Federal Government’s commitment to early support

The Kids Research Institute Australia welcomes today’s Federal Government announcement of a new pilot program to support babies showing early social communication differences in Western Australia.

News & Events

Andrew Whitehouse: environmental links to autism

Dr Andrew Whitehouse says results from a US study are just the first step when it comes to looking for environmental factors related to autism.

Sibling Support and Teen Talk Studies

Join Our Sibling Research! Are you a sibling? Would you like to participate in sibling research? The Kids needs your help! We are currently

Research

Genome-wide association study of autistic-like traits in a general population study of young adults

Research has proposed that autistic-like traits in the general population lie on a continuum, with clinical ASD representing the extreme end of this...

Research

High use of complementary and alternative medication among children with autism is not associated with the severity of core symptoms

This study provided evidence for high rate of alternative medicine use in an Australian paediatric ASD population, similar to other countries.

Research

Moving beyond behaviour-only assessment: Incorporating biomarkers to improve the early detection and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders

This paper presents a response to the Camarata (2014) lead article regarding the accuracy and effectiveness of early identification and early intervention...