I am delighted to introduce the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre (OTARC) 2025 Impact Report, which reflects a year of significant growth and meaningful impact. Through world-leading research and close collaboration with communities, OTARC continues to transform knowledge about autism and the importance of evidence-based, inclusive support into practical outcomes to improve the lives of Autistic people and their families.

OTARC's achievements once again helped position La Trobe as Australia’s leading institution for research in Developmental Disabilities, as recognised by The Australian Research Magazine for the fifth consecutive year in 2025. The Centre was also recognised nationally as a finalist in the Community Champion category of the 2025 Universities Australia Shaping Australia Awards, a program that celebrates initiatives making a lasting and positive contribution to the wellbeing of Australians and to the nation’s future.

Throughout 2025, OTARC delivered a broad, rigorous, and impactful program of work supporting identification and diagnosis, supports and practices for daily living, educational and vocational engagement, and health and wellbeing for Autistic people. OTARC researchers made significant and influential contributions to major national policy frameworks, including the National Autism Strategy 2025-2031 and the National Roadmap to Improve the Health and Mental Health of Autistic People 2025-2035.

The Centre also played an important national role in shaping policy through its submission to the Federal Department of Education’s Anti‑Bullying Rapid Review, which informed the development of the new National Standard on Bullying in Australian Schools. In addition, OTARC made formal submissions to inquiries investigating state and territory mental health agreements and the Thriving Kids Initiative, contributing expert insight to these critical reforms.

OTARC further expanded its reach across regional Victoria during the year, reinforcing its commitment to equity of access. The Victorian Early Assessment Clinic, which specialises in comprehensive developmental assessments for infants and toddlers with a high likelihood of autism, visited La Trobe’s regional campuses in Shepparton, Mildura and Wodonga, providing affordable assessments in regional communities. This work played an important role in addressing persistent service gaps experienced by families living outside metropolitan areas.

I acknowledge and thank OTARC’s dedicated staff, partners, and supporters for their achievements throughout the year. Their ongoing commitment continues to shape a more inclusive society and to improve outcomes for Autistic people, their families, and their carers.

Professor Theo Farrell

Vice-Chancellor

OTARC’s work continues to enhance the mission of the School of Psychology and Public Health, which is dedicated to improving health and wellbeing across diverse communities through contemporary education, impactful research and strong community partnerships. As a School, we prepare the next generation of psychologists, counsellors, therapists and public health professionals, with a focus on inclusion, equitable outcomes and real‑world relevance.  OTARC’s contributions in 2025 reflect these priorities, strengthening our capacity to support individuals, families and communities.

In 2025, OTARC made significant progress in building professional capability across the health sector. More than 2,000 health professionals completed training in the Social Attention and Communication Surveillance (SACS) method, including Victorian Maternal and Child Health nurses, General Practitioners and allied health clinicians nationwide. This investment in training is supporting earlier autism identification and helping families access timely, neurodiversity‑affirming care.

OTARC further contributed to our School’s goal of excellence in rural clinical practice. Targeted regional professional development initiatives, including suicide‑prevention training delivered with local health services, provided vital support to practitioners across Victoria. Additionally, the Feeding Difficulties in Young Children Framework has provided multidisciplinary, practical guidance to community practitioners nationwide, with strong early uptake.

Improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes remains central to the School's goals. The co-produced Bloom program demonstrates meaningful improvements in child and family wellbeing, while national leadership in autism suicide prevention helped address enduring inequities that affect Autistic people.

The Centre also strengthened research capability through high‑impact publications, graduate research completions and a seminar series that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration. OTARC’s participatory governance model, which ensures Autistic people guide research priorities, aligns with our School's commitment to excellence, accountability and community partnership.

I thank OTARC’s dedicated staff, students and partners for their considerable contributions throughout 2025. Their work enhances the impact of our School and supports our shared commitment to improving health, wellbeing and equity in the communities we serve.

Professor Monica Thielking

Dean, School of Psychology and Public Health

The Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre is dedicated to creating knowledge that positively impacts the lives of Autistic people, their families and carers. The 2025 OTARC Impact Report reflects the breadth of this commitment, highlighting the many ways our work continues to shape understanding, practice and outcomes across the community.

Central to our approach is ensuring that Autistic perspectives guide our research. Through our Autvisory Committee and ongoing co‑design processes, Autistic community members directly influence our priorities and the way our work is conducted. Our research programs: identification and diagnosis, supports and practices for daily living, educational and vocational engagement, and health and wellbeing-remain closely aligned with the needs and interests of the communities we serve.

We communicated our research widely in 2025. We received multiple invitations to speak to the media about a range of topics, including the National Autism Strategy, National Roadmap to Improve the Health and Mental Health of Autistic People, the launch of ASDetect Poland, the Thriving Kids initiative, and the Trump administration’s comments about the use of acetaminophen (paracetamol) during pregnancy, falsely linking it to autism. Additionally, we substantially grew our social media audience in 2025, increasing our followers by 22%. This growth was in part due to the diversification of our approach, releasing a series of short videos showcasing our people and our research, receiving 346,200 views, and increasing our 1-minute views by 6.7k% across social media platforms in 2025.

Our researchers actively translate evidence‑based strategies into community settings and assess how these approaches affect outcomes for Autistic people. In 2025, our Victorian Early Assessment Clinic provided neurodiversity-affirming assessments for 105 families of young children, setting them on the path for strengths-based approaches to support. We also evaluated Bloom, a neurodiversity‑affirming support program co‑produced by a neurodiverse team and delivered in collaboration with Autistic‑led and non‑Autistic‑led organisations.

Knowledge exchange remained a key focus this year. OTARC researchers presented 19 oral and poster presentations at the International Society for Autism Research 2025 Annual Meeting in Seattle and 7 presentations at the Autism Europe Congress in Ireland in September, sharing our findings with a global audience. In September, our annual community research showcase brought together 120 community members, including Autistic people, families, clinicians, educators and representatives from government and community organisations. The event provided an important space for dialogue about our current work on inclusive education, suicide prevention, wellbeing, physical activity and neurodiversity‑affirming assessment.

Our research contributions also continued to grow through traditional academic outputs. In 2025, OTARC produced 77 journal publications with a field‑weighted citation impact of 3 (where 1 is the average), alongside 35 invited talks, including keynote presentations. These achievements demonstrate the reach and influence of our work across professional, academic and community settings.

These examples represent only a portion of the progress made by the Centre in 2025. I am deeply grateful to our staff, our Autistic partners, collaborators and supporters whose expertise and commitment make this impact possible. Together, we continue to build a research environment that is rigorous, inclusive and centred on outcomes that matter to Autistic people.

Professor Alison Lane

Director, OTARC

Our research shows that less than half of Australasian neurodivergent higher education students or students with mental health conditions disclose to their institution.

To increase support for neurodivergent graduate researchers, a neurodiverse team is co-designing, developing, delivering, and evaluating a training program to increase supervisors’ knowledge of and confidence in applying neurodiversity-affirming supervision practices.

In 2025, the three neurodivergent researchers leading the team conducted a literature and resources review and a mixed-methods supervisor cohort survey as part of the co-design process. This process helped to inform the development of the training program and trial by:

• ensuring that the training foregrounds the experiences and priorities of neurodivergent graduate researchers
• capturing supervisor challenges and areas they’d like covered in the training
• highlighting that supervisors can view neurodivergence as a cultural identity, and that flexibility and curiosity about others' ways of working ideally underpin supervisory relationships.

"I think it is important that tools are developed (by neurodiverse people) to help supervisors who don't already have the knowledge to understand neurodiversity better, and to help them and their students to navigate the best ways to proceed with aspects of supervision. In my experience at the moment this is all just left to individual supervisors who need more support, as do the students”

"It's also as important for universities to consider their staff being neurodivergent. A large percentage of us are."

In response to concerns supervisors expressed regarding one of the measures, researchers will adjust the study design.

The research team has scheduled focus groups with neurodivergent graduate researchers and HDR supervisors (neurodivergent and neurotypical) at La Trobe in 2026. Researchers will incorporate the key themes identified in the focus groups into the training module. They will then deliver and evaluate the training program using a two-arm, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial design to compare the intervention (training in neurodiversity-affirming supervision practices) to supervision as usual.

Long-term, the research team expect this training to become part of the regular suite of supervision training at La Trobe and be available at other institutions. Ultimately, they hope this project will increase completion rates, benefiting students, supervisors, and La Trobe.

Funding: Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES, Curtin University) and OTARC

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

In 2025, our policy advocacy contributions include submissions to:

1. Federal Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement Review
2. Federal Anti-Bullying Rapid Review
3. Federal inquiry into the Thriving Kids initiative

We also released the Feeding Difficulties in Young Children: A Policy and Practice Framework and a case study, the result of Dr Asmita Mudholkar's OTARC PhD research. The framework provides a structure for multi-disciplinary collaboration, supporting individualised, context-sensitive, family-centred, and inclusive care for children with feeding difficulties. In its first three months, child health nurses, dietitians, early childhood educators, occupational therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists, and other practitioners downloaded the framework and case study more than 900 times. We also shared the framework with health Ministers across Australia, prompting four state and territory representatives to request further information.

OTARC's contributions to policy website

• Clare Kermond, winner, INSAR student and trainee travel award
• Doug Scobie, winner, School of Psychology and public Health Professional Staff Excellence Award, La Trobe
• Dr Jac den Houting, winner, ABC’s TOP 5 – Humanities
• Jane Mantzalas, winner, Professional Attributes, Classroom Excellence and Social Contribution Award for “Resilience and Determination, La Trobe
• Lyndel Kennedy, winner, Higher Degree by Research Collegiality and Citizenship Award, La Trobe
• Lyndel Kennedy (as a CANDID team member), winner, VC’s Cultural Qualities award – Care, La Trobe
• Maddie Francis, finalist, leadership award, Volunteering Victoria
• OTARC, finalist, Community Champion Award, Shaping Australia Awards
• Patrick Dwyer, winner, Jacobson Award for Critical Thinking (APA Division 33)
• Robyn Ball - Certificate of Appreciation, Meaningful Contribution as a Panellist at the School of Psychology and Public Health (SPPH) HDR Conference, La Trobe
• Patrick Dwyer - Certificate of Appreciation, Meaningful Contribution as a Panellist at the SPPH HDR Conference, La Trobe.

L-R: Lyndel Kennedy, Emeritus Professor Amanda Richdale, and Dr Jane Mantzalas

• Australasian Society for Autism Research, President, Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro; executive committee members,Dr Patrick Dwyer (Elected Autistic representative) and Professor Dawn Adams
• Australian Advisory Board on Autism, Non-Executive Director, Professor Alison Lane
• Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi), Director, Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro
• Australian Psychological Society Psychology of Intellectual Disability and Autism, committee member, Lyndel Kennedy
• Autism Education Strategy Advisory Group, Department of Education, Victorian Government, member, Professor Alison Lane
• Autism in Adulthood, editorial board, Associate Professor Darren Hedley; Dr Patrick Dwyer
• Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice, editorial board, Associate Professor Darren Hedley, Professor Dawn Adams, advisory editor, Dr Patrick Dwyer
• Autism State Plan Advisory Group, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, member, Professor Alison Lane
• Australasian Autism Research Council, member, Dr Patrick Dwyer
• Autism Research editorial board, Emeritus Professor Amanda Richdale and Emeritus Professor Cheryl Dissanayake
• Diagnosis, Supports and Services Working Group, National Autism Strategy, Member, Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro
• Frontiers in Neurology, associate editor Pediatric Neurology, Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro
• Journal of Autism & Developmental Disabilities, editorial board, Associate Professor Darren Hedley
• Leadership group, AIR-P Network ANSWER, Dr Patrick Dwyer
• Mental Health Foundation Australia,Scientific Advisory Committee,  Emeritus Professor Amanda Richdale
• National Autism Strategy Oversight Committee, Member, Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro
• National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health, council member, Professor Nora Shields
• National Guidelines Working Group, National Disability Insurance Agency,Member, Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro
• Neurodiversity, editorial board, Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro, Dr Jac den Houting and Dr Patrick Dwyer
• Research in Autism, editorial board, Emeritus Professor Amanda Richdale
• SPPH HDR Representative, Georgia Lynch

Health and wellbeing research program website

In 2025, we continue to build capability across Australia and internationally by delivering evidence-based training programs, including three major training programs delivered throughout the year.

• Working with Autistic Clients: A Brief Introductory Autism Awareness Training for Psychologists. Developed in response to a request from the La Trobe University Psychology Clinic and funded by OTARC, and led by Research Fellow Dr Simon Bury, supported by Autistic professionals and research assistants.  Grounded in neurodiversity-affirming practices, the program aims to bridge critical gaps in mental health care for Autistic people, empowering future psychologists to deliver affirming, effective support tailored to Autistic clients' unique needs. The training is now live in the LTU short courses and is currently being evaluated in public health settings.

• The Social Attention and Communication Surveillance (SACS) Assessment. The SACS method identifies a set of behaviours or 'early signs' that are characteristic of Autistic children from as young as 11 months old. Initially implemented in Victoria's Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services, it is now in use in more than 20 countries. In 2025, we trained more than 2270 professionals and students, including 1867 MCH nurses across Victorian and Tasmanian statewide services. SACS training was delivered through group training sessions, reaching a diverse workforce across the Tasmanian Hospital network, Tasmanian Child Health & Parenting Health Service, Hospital & Health Services across Queensland, staff at the ACT Child Health & Development Service, Neonatologists and clinicians in a Western Australian Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a large group of GPs as part of an RACGP (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) study, Victorian maternal child health nurse students, Australian general practitioners and allied health, Autism NZ staff, and more professionals online globally including from the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, and more.

• Supporting a Neurodiverse Workforce. We designed this specialised workplace training to support the mental health and wellbeing of Autistic workers. Built on up-to-date, evidence-based information and strategies about mental health and wellbeing, the training course aims to create workplace competency in mental health and Autism. Content is available for executives, supervisors, mentors, co-workers and Autistic employees. DXC Technology and ANZ Bank supported the program's development in partnership with the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre.

Workshops

• Brown, C. M., Wilson, J., Patel, S., & Hedley, D. Identifying and Preventing Suicide in Autism. Professional development and training workshop. Mindful/University of Melbourne.
• Brown, C. M., & Wilson, J. Identifying and Preventing Suicide in Autism. Professional development and training workshop. Monash Health Grand Round.
• Brown, C. M., Patel, S., & Hedley, D. Autism & Suicide Prevention. Professional development and training workshop. Mindful/University of Melbourne.
• Brown, C. M., & Hedley, D. Identifying and Preventing Suicide in Autism. Professional development and training workshop. Bendigo Health.
• Brown, C. M., Wilson, J., & Hedley, D. Autism and the Assessment of Suicidality. Northern Sydney Local Health District, World Suicide Prevention Day.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Professional training website

Communication channel performance

In 2025, we significantly expanded our reach and engagement across our communication channels, strengthening our connection with the community, partners, and the broader public. Our key achievements included:

Website and Blog

Our website and blog received 99,821 page views and more than 62, 000 unique visitors, a 10% increase from 2024. Our two most-read blog posts were:

• Monotropism: Between Obsessive Joy and Overwhelm
• The Feeding Difficulties in Young Children: A Policy and Practice Framework

Newsletters

We published 5 Newsletters in 2025, reaching 3077 contacts, achieving an average open rate of 47.7% - almost 25% above the 2025 Mailchimp benchmark.

Social Media

We grew to 8,131 total social media followers in 2025, a 22% increase from 2024. We also more than doubled our followers on LinkedIn and Bluesky (LinkedIn 1327; Bluesky 509). We published 388 posts with a potential reach of over 678,000 people. We had a 139% increase in Facebook visits in 2025.

Media coverage

We achieved 42 media stories, 11 interviews, and 74 mentions of our 2025 peer-reviewed papers in news articles.

2025 research output list

Social media campaigns

International Women's Day

In 2025, we celebrated International Women’s Day by amplifying the voices and achievements of early-career researchers who are driving innovation in autism research. Our features spotlighted research on autism and gender differences, as well as policy advocacy on Autistic women’s pain.

See visual story

The OTARC video series

A new initiative was launched to diversify our communications by producing short videos showcasing our people and our research. This approach proved highly successful, with the videos receiving 346,200 views, and 1-minute views up 6.7k% across social media platforms in 2025. Our videos featured Dr Ifrah Abdullahi, Kim Galletti, Dr Simon Bury, Emeritus Professor Amanda Richdale, Professor Dawn Adams and Professor Alison Lane.

Watch the videos on Vimeo

National Autism policy announcements

In 2025, the Australian Government released the National Autism Strategy and the National Roadmap to Improve the Health and Mental Health of Autistic People. These policies will define a national approach to the provision of services and supports for Autistic people and their families and address the serious health inequities faced by Autistic people in Australia. We played an important role in both policy documents through:

• our research
• membership on the National Autism Strategy Oversight Committee and the Health Roadmap Working Group
• formal responses to the Senate Select Committee on Autism, and the federal Inquiry into Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
• a formal response to the Draft National Autism Strategy.

Read a detailed breakdown of our contributions on the blog.

National Autism Strategy National Roadmap

Under the First Action Plan of the National Strategy, we have been working with federal government agencies on multiple projects to deliver on the Strategy’s commitment areas of employment (Commitments 6 & 7) and evaluation (Commitment 22).

Additionally, the federal Department of education released their National Standard on Bullying in Australian Schools. The new National Standard reflects the combined input of researchers, educators, advocacy groups, and community members across Australia including, OTARC. We are hopeful that the inclusion of neurodivergent students as a priority group in the Final Report will guide future policy development and build on this progress to ensure that Autistic students are visible, valued, and safe in every Australian school.

Read more about our contributions to the Standards on the blog.

The Victorian Early Assessment Clinic (VEAC) visited regional communities in 2025, delivering comprehensive assessments in:

• Shepparton – hosted at the newly opened La Trobe Shepparton campus, two privately funded families and two families funded by the Greater Shepparton Foundation received assessments and neurodiversity-affirming information to help them gain ongoing community-based supports. Read more on our blog.

• Mildura – hosted at the Sunraysia Community Health Services’ Family and Child Hub, we delivered free assessments to five Mildura families with the financial support of the Mildura Base Public Hospital Foundation. Read more on our website.
• Wodonga - hosted at the La Trobe Albury-Wodonga campus, two families funded by Rotary Australia received comprehensive neuro-affirming assessments, education and information.

Victorian Early Assessment Clinic Website

PhD

Clare Kermond - Autistic Australian secondary school students. Supervisors: Professor Alison Lane and Dr Anne Southall.

Dianne Blackwell - Emotion regulation in autism: Perspectives from key stakeholders and literature. Supervisors: Professor Alison Lane, Dr Anoo Bhopti (Monash University), Professor Shelly J Lane (Colorado State University).

Jane Mantzalas - Characterising Autistic Burnout and its underlying mechanisms: An exploratory investigation. Supervisors: Emeritus Professors Amanda Richdale and Cheryl Dissanayake.

“This thesis provides an exceptional contribution to knowledge that is truly outstanding for a PhD student. The focus is highly novel and captures an emerging area with incredible focus. The thesis significantly extends our understanding, and the published papers within are already well cited – I was already familiar with the work, having cited it myself. Each chapter is incredibly well written and shows a clear depth of understanding of areas related to the topic of interest. There is a clear inclusion of community engagement throughout the research process, and the detail with which the analyses are presented is outstanding. The discussion is exceptionally detailed and shows such depth of knowledge, particularly with regards to the practical implications of the work detailed in this thesis.”

Honours

Emily De Sando - Exploring Factors Influencing Parental Disclosure of Autism Diagnoses: The Roles of Stigma, Neurotype, and Parental Understanding. Supervisors: Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro (primary) and Gemma Davy (honorary)

Study with us

We invite leading international and local scholars to share their research with our team, our affiliates and the broader La Trobe community. The seminars cover a wide range of topics, including justice, education, health, wellbeing and economics, and showcases practical, community-informed solutions that deepen understanding of Autistic experiences. These seminars help advance work that supports access to fair systems, supportive services, inclusive education, safe relationships, timely clinical decision-making, suicide prevention, and family-centred evaluation across the lifespan.

Speakers: Dr Özlem Süsler, Raechel Smart, Dr Nicolaas (Nick) Puts, Dr Anne Southall, Professor Brian Boyd, Dr Sophie Hindes, Associate Professor Illiana Magiati, Dr Karien Hill and Katherine Pye.

We would like to acknowledge the generosity of our speakers and the audience for participating in the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre Seminar Series.

Seminar videos are hosted on Vimeo and publicly available when possible.

Vimo showcase

Dr Melissa Gilbert, an Autistic and ADHD OTARC Teaching and Research Fellow, coordinated the Autism specific subject PSY3ASD offered by La Trobe University in Semester 2. This subject is available as an elective for undergraduate students across all courses at the university and through Open University as a stand-alone subject. Guest lectures were delivered by our researchers, including Dr Melissa Gilbert, Dr Ifrah Abdullahi, Dr Claire Brown, Dr Simon Bury, Dr Patrick Dwyer, Lyndel Kennedy (OTARC PhD scholar), Dr Kelsey Philpott-Robinson, Dr Nancy Sadka, and Professor Nora Shields. The lecturing team also included OTARC alumni, including Dr Lacey Chetcuti, Dr Cherie Green, and Dr Melanie Muniandy.

The subject includes scientific, applied, and lived experience perspectives to help students understand Autism. Students explore the changing views on Autism from its first proposed accounts to contemporary understanding. They learn about the early signs, core features, diagnostic tools, and various supports for different needs and life stages. The subject highlights different presentations of Autism, Autistic people’s lived experiences, and the support needs of Autistic people and their families across the lifespan. Students also explore attitudes and perspectives on Autism locally within Victoria, Australia, and abroad, including community perspectives, media representation, and government policy. The subject helps students develop essential skills for critically evaluating the wealth of information on Autism in the public domain.

38% of lectures were delivered by lecturers with lived experience of neurodivergence.

310 students completed the subject, including Bundoora (170), online (128), and Bendigo (12). Students came from a wide range of degrees, including psychological science, health sciences, education, science, biological science, biomedicine, food and nutrition, teacher education, arts, media and commerce, business, cybersecurity and information technology.

We received positive feedback from our students this year, with many praising the sessions as interesting and informative.

Our overall satisfaction score rose to an impressive 4.40/5, up from 4.16 in 2024.

PSY3ASD student handbook

• 77 peer-reviewed articles
• 62 conference presentations
• 29 invited talks, 8 keynotes, and 5 workshops
• 3 field weighted citation impact (where 1 is average)
• 1246 Almetric mentions.

*Metrics collected in February 2026 from Web of Science, SciVal and Altmetric.

Our 2025 research output lists

Community events

Research showcase

We welcomed a record 120 attendees to our third annual Research Showcase. The event brought together Autistic people, families, researchers, clinicians, educators, community organisations and government representatives to share research grounded in participation and real-world impact.

Our researchers presented their work on inclusive education, suicide prevention, wellbeing, physical activity, and neurodiversity-affirming autism assessments. The program also featured a question-and-answer session that generated lively discussion and connection across sectors.

Incorporating feedback from previous attendees and our commitment to inclusion, the event featured sensory-friendly adjustments, clear communication supports and extended breaks.

L-R: Dr Shane Huntington OAM, Hon. John Brumby AO, Professor Alison Lane, Professor Dawn Adams, Professor Theo Farrell

Student events

School of Psychology and Public Health (SPPH) HDR Conference "From Start to Submission: Strengthening Voice and Connection"

The HDR Conference was a student-led event that bought students together to share ideas, connect, and collaborate. Featuring student presentations and staff panellists who discussed their research journeys, the conference offered inspiration, practical insights, and a supportive environment for emerging researchers. OTARC Masters scholar Georgia Lynch, the SPPH HDR representative for OTARC, supported both the organisation and delivery of the conference. Additionally, OTARC PhD scholar Robyn Ball was a panellist for the conference speaking about higher degree milestones and strategies for managing them.

Stidy with us

Raechel Smart is a PhD scholar and casual academic at the Autism Centre of Excellence at Griffith University. Her research focuses on gathering perspectives on school non-attendance from families of Autistic children, educators, and Autistic adolescents. She has experience lecturing in post-graduate autism studies and works on projects investigating supports for Autistic children who aren’t attending school. Raechel is a primary school teacher and parent of Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent children with lived experience of the mental health impacts (on all family members) of school non-attendance in her children. Raechel delivered our March seminar – School non-attendance in young Autistic people.

Professor Brian Boyd visited OTARC in June. Brian is the William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as an international autism research expert on our OTARC Advisory Committee. During his visit, Brian participated in a roundtable discussion on potential collaborations between La Trobe and the Frank Porter Graham Institute for educational engagement. This discussion included autism education researchers from OTARC and La Trobe's School of Education. He also gave the OTARC seminar during his visit, introducing the Early Communication Indicator for Autism (ECI-A), a newly validated tool for children ages 12 to 60 months who are Autistic or at high likelihood for autism.

Dr Gail Alvares, Principal Research Fellow, and Rebecca Kuzminski, Project Coordinator, from CliniKids at The Kids Institute in Perth, visited in May to participate in a 2-day in-person meeting of the project team for the SenseVest trial. Gail and Rebecca provide oversight of the roll-out of this trial at the Western Australian site.

Dr Nick Puts from King’s College London visited OTARC in May to participate in the SenseVest trial 2-day meeting. Dr Puts is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry and an expert in tactile perception in autism. Dr Puts is a co-investigator on the SenseVest trial. He also gave the OTARC seminar during his visit on a multimodal approach to understanding sensory differences in autism.

L-R by row: Professor Nora Shields, Dr Lacey Chetcuti, Dr Nicolaas Puts, Dr Patrick Dwyer, Dr Lauren Lawson, Dr Peter Scaife, Michelle Ebbin, Dr Jac den Houting, Dr Gail Alvares, Perrin Date, Kim Galletti, Dr Katy Unwin, Dr Kelsey Philpott-Robinson, Rebecca Kuzminski, and Professor Alison Lane.