The Autism Research Laboratory (ARL) has its roots in the early detection and intervention of autistic children. Previous outcomes have included an early screening tool, intervention manual, and book to assist parents and educators.
The ARL has extended its focus to include autistic individuals across all ages, with a number of projects looking at adult outcomes, the presentation of females, co-occurring conditions, and interactions within the criminal judicial system.
The ARL is currently host to students conducting higher degrees within the lab so many of the projects are student led with an emphasis on input from community stakeholders.
The ADEC is a brief, play-based screening tool for the assessment of autism in children aged 12-36 months. It was developed based on normative data from Australian children and has been found to demonstrate good psychometric properties. However, the ADEC was originally designed to be administered by a clinician in a clinical setting, and thus, access to clinicians still remains a barrier to early diagnosis for many children, particularly those in rural and remote areas. This project aims to validate a protocol for a virtual version of the ADEC, in which the play-based tasks are administered by the child's caregiver in their own home with support from a clinician through a live video conference. Such a tool would increase the accessibility of diagnostic assessments to young children in remote areas and to those affected by current COVID-19 travel restrictions. This project is supported by the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation.
Autistic individuals have been reported to experience elevated rates of bullying, negative sexual experiences, and childhood maltreatment when compared to their non-autistic peers. Despite this, little is known about the response of autistic people to trauma and the long-term impact of these adverse experiences on the social and emotional wellbeing of autistic individuals. This project aims to better understand: (1) how autistic young adults experience and respond to stressful life events, and (2) pathways through which autistic traits may increase an individual’s vulnerability to developing PTSD symptomology following a stressful event. Understanding the relationship between autism and perceptions of trauma will assist in identifying risk factors for PTSD among autistic young adults and shed light on areas of intervention that may require greater emphasis when working with an autistic population. This project is supported by the Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation.
Many researchers have suggested that difficulties reading the minds of others – referred to as Theory of Mind – is a feature of autism. Such difficulties might make autistic individuals particularly vulnerable to being lured into criminal activity or becoming a victim of crime. In this project – funded by the Australian Research Council – we examine whether the presence of autistic traits, autism or Theory of Mind limitations are the crucial influences.
This project – funded by the Australian Research Council – explores the possibility that nonverbal and verbal behaviours that characterise many individuals with autism may – if displayed in interactions with police or in a courtroom – negatively affect the way in which they are perceived and bias the outcomes of those interactions.
Being able to read other people’s emotions during the course of social interactions is crucial for adaptive social functioning. This ARC-funded project investigates the effectiveness of autistic adults’ recognition of emotions, their awareness of any limitations in this area and the appropriateness of their empathic reactions to others’ emotions.
Professor of Psychology, Robyn's interest in autism began while pursuing her PhD in Savant Syndrome. This work became the subject of an ABC documentary titled Uncommon Genius. She went on to develop a screening tool for autistic disorder suitable for use in children as young as 12 months of age. This tool, known as the Autism Detection in Early Childhood (ADEC; ACER, 2007), clearly operationalises early behaviours indicative of autism. Together with colleagues at Flinders University she has developed an intervention program called SPECTRA (ACER, 2009). Her work has now turned to older persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically she is interested in why persons with ASD may become unwittingly involved in crime.
Neil is a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Psychology. His early career research focus was on information processing speed in association with intellectual disability, childhood development and aging. From the late 1990s his major focus has been in the areas of eyewitness memory, focusing on eyewitness identification and metacognition. In the last decade or so he has also maintained joint research programs in the areas of autism screening and factors shaping the interactions of autistic individuals with the criminal justice system.
Nathan’s research is primarily focused on applied and theoretical aspects of metacognition. Theoretically oriented projects include investigations of: monitoring and control processes in recognition memory and mechanisms underlying positive versus negative recognition decisions. His applied work includes projects examining: processes and factors underlying a witness's decision to make an identification from a line-up; regulation of grain size and reporting of eyewitness testimony; and predictors (e.g., confidence and response latency) of identification accuracy.
Alliyza completed her PhD (Clinical Psychology) in 2020 and is currently a post-doctoral research associate. Her PhD research examined whether the widespread stereotype that liars fidget and avoid eye contact causes autistic individuals (who commonly display such behaviours) to be more vulnerable to being inaccurately judged as deceptive and untrustworthy. Her current research areas include the early detection of autism in young children and how autistic young adults experience and respond to traumatic events.
The ARL is currently host to eight students conducting higher degrees within the lab. Many of the projects are student led with an emphasis on input from community stakeholders.
If you would like to participate in our trials or want to find out more please contact us:
Professor Robyn Young
Phone: +61 8 8201 5104
Email: robyn.young@flinders.edu.au
Emeritus Professor Neil Brewer
Phone: +61 8 8201 2725
Email: neil.brewer@flinders.edu.au
Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042
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