Autism and written narrative: discourse analysis and the characterisation of higher level language disorder phenotypes. This work contributes to the national research priority goal 'A healthy start to life', in advancing our understanding of the language disorder of autism. It is expected to benefit the children, their families and the community in furthering the basic research necessary for the development of new measures of performance, of use in the better assessment of children with language ....Autism and written narrative: discourse analysis and the characterisation of higher level language disorder phenotypes. This work contributes to the national research priority goal 'A healthy start to life', in advancing our understanding of the language disorder of autism. It is expected to benefit the children, their families and the community in furthering the basic research necessary for the development of new measures of performance, of use in the better assessment of children with language disorders and in the design and targeting of intervention programs. This work is cutting edge internationally in the approach it takes to the naturalistic language of children with autism. Hence it will raise the profile of Australia in this research domain.Read moreRead less
Cluster randomised control trial of an early childhood literacy intervention to improve literacy and language outcomes in preschool aged children. Reading failure disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities in Australia, with nearly 40% of poor children failing to read at the minimum reading benchmark in Grade three. Of more concern is the disturbing trend indicating that prior to first grade, socioeconomic status (SES) differences also exist in important antecedents of reading such as ....Cluster randomised control trial of an early childhood literacy intervention to improve literacy and language outcomes in preschool aged children. Reading failure disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities in Australia, with nearly 40% of poor children failing to read at the minimum reading benchmark in Grade three. Of more concern is the disturbing trend indicating that prior to first grade, socioeconomic status (SES) differences also exist in important antecedents of reading such as letter knowledge and phonological processing skills, yet there remains no universal program to promote early language and literacy practices in the primary care setting. We propose a cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of a multi injection intervention to improve literacy outcomes of children in disadvantaged communities.Read moreRead less