Consultation opens on new National Framework

Autism CRC is now inviting input from all members of the community regarding the development of an evidence-based framework for assessing, differentiating, and reporting children’s functional strengths and support needs.

The Framework is being co-produced with the community and will address the current gap in understanding and lack of consensus in this area. Importantly, it will be relevant to working with all children aged 0-12 with support needs, irrespective of whether they have a diagnosis or not, or may receive a diagnosis in the future.

Consultation closes 9 April 2024.

Find out more and complete the survey

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Governance Program opening soon

Sylvia Rodger Academy is excited to announce that the Governance Program will run in 2024. This Program is available to all autistic adults living in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand who are interested in taking a role on a board or other governance body, such as an advisory council, and would like to develop their knowledge and skills in corporate governance.

Participants will explore topics including board director duties and responsibilities, risk management and strategic planning, financial literacy, and effective governance.

Applications open on Monday 8 April.

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AARC update

The 2024 AARC met for the first time on 31 January, discussed directions for the 2024 AARC, and called for Co-chair nominations. Congratulations to the 2024 Co-chairs, Larah van der Meer and Rebecca Poulsen. Thanks also go to outgoing members Professor Charlotte Brownlow, Fiona Dee, Helen Fitzgerald, Adam Howie, Dr Wenn Lawson, Vivien Leung, Vi Nguyen and Mikala Sedgwick for their time and contributions. Notable outputs from the 2023 AARC include:

AARC webpage

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Roadmap to better health

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care is currently developing a National Roadmap to Improve the Health and Mental Health of Autistic People (the Roadmap). The Roadmap is a plan to address the health inequalities and issues that autistic people experience in the health care system.

The development of the Roadmap is supported by a Working Group consisting of stakeholder representatives including autistic people, health professionals, government representatives and other representatives from the autism community.

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Enrolments open for 2024

Looking to gain a comprehensive knowledge of key concepts related to autism identification, assessment and diagnosis of autism?

Enrol today in any of our suite of microcredentials developed with The University of Western Australia. Each microcredential can now be completed within a 3-month teaching period, with the next period beginning on 1 April.

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Season 2 now available

The Autism CRC Podcast is back with Season 2 featuring the inclusive classroom series for teachers and educators. In this five-episode series, learn about neurodiversity in the classroom, foundation practices for early career teachers and how to positively engage families.

Listen to the podcast

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Strengths and barriers to student academic success

Building on the success of Autism CRC’s school years program, Autism CRC’s Removing educational barrier in Australian schools for autistic students project sought to furthering our understanding of the educational strengths and needs of all autistic learners, including those with high and complex needs or those who are multiply marginalised. We also wanted to identify how well inclusive education practices are working for autistic learners.

The project has developed several outputs relevant for educators and policy makers:

Finalists at Disability Service Awards

Congratulations to the Social Science Translated team for being a finalist for the Best Assistive Technology Product in the 2023 Australian Disability Service Awards for the SAS Small Group Program. The awards recognise innovation in the disability service sector and the extraordinary solutions that are transforming people’s lives.

The team can’t wait for another year of helping children and their communities to gain social and emotional tools that they can use throughout their lives.

SAS Small Group Program

Dr Melanie Muniandy smiling for the camera

Congratulations Melanie

Previous Autism CRC scholar, Dr Melanie Muniandy recently received the Award for Excellent PhD Thesis in Psychology.

Working on the Longitudinal study of Australian school leavers with autism (SASLA), her thesis provides a comprehensive and in-depth examination of coping strategies and resilience in autistic adults which can be used to help inform the development and design of stress and mental health supports.

Melanie has published six first-author publications and was awarded the prestigious Nancy Millis Medal for a thesis of exceptional merit.

Understanding the financial wellbeing of autistic adults

Working with ANZ, recent research is helping to understand the financial wellbeing of autistic adults. The study surveyed 191 autistic adults to capture their financial lived experiences.

Exploring how poor financial wellness impacted the mental health of autistic adults, the findings suggested that mental health can be improved if incomes are raised for autistic people (through Government or employer support), to have the freedom to live how they want.

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Established in 2013, Autism CRC is the world’s first national, cooperative research effort focused on autism. We are the independent national source of evidence for best practice in relation to autism across the lifespan and the spectrum.

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