Improving academic outcomes by moderating anxiety in children with autism. The project aims to investigate links between anxiety and academic enablers for children with autism. As a group, these children are currently achieving at lower rates than their peers, with implications for their future social and economic wellbeing. Effective interventions to improve educational outcomes are lacking. This project will investigate how anxiety, a commonly occurring condition in autism, impacts attitudes a ....Improving academic outcomes by moderating anxiety in children with autism. The project aims to investigate links between anxiety and academic enablers for children with autism. As a group, these children are currently achieving at lower rates than their peers, with implications for their future social and economic wellbeing. Effective interventions to improve educational outcomes are lacking. This project will investigate how anxiety, a commonly occurring condition in autism, impacts attitudes and behaviours that facilitate students’ participation in and ability to benefit from academic instruction in the classroom. Findings are intended to provide an evidence base for the development of an intervention suitable for use by service providers to increase academic achievement in children with autism.Read moreRead less
Greater inclusion of people with disability in Australian workplaces. This project aims to develop a model of successful employment for people with a disability, identify sources of employer diversity that explain willingness to hire, and develop social marketing messages that improve employer attitudes and achieve greater inclusion in Australian workplaces. Workforce participation of people with a disability remains low. The outcome of this study will be more people with a disability and their ....Greater inclusion of people with disability in Australian workplaces. This project aims to develop a model of successful employment for people with a disability, identify sources of employer diversity that explain willingness to hire, and develop social marketing messages that improve employer attitudes and achieve greater inclusion in Australian workplaces. Workforce participation of people with a disability remains low. The outcome of this study will be more people with a disability and their carers gaining meaningful employment, with benefits including improved physical and mental health, social connections and economic security. It will benefit employers by creating more diverse workplaces and a broader talent pool, resulting in greater innovation and productivity.Read moreRead less
Every Day Matters: Reducing School Non-Attendance in Autistic Students. Autistic children miss one day a week of school, three times more than their peers. This significantly impacts their learning, wellbeing and later, their vocational outcomes. This project aims to identify the factors that put autistic children at increased risk of missing school and map the supports and interventions used to reduce school non-attendance. Expected outcomes include an autism-specific model of the how and why s ....Every Day Matters: Reducing School Non-Attendance in Autistic Students. Autistic children miss one day a week of school, three times more than their peers. This significantly impacts their learning, wellbeing and later, their vocational outcomes. This project aims to identify the factors that put autistic children at increased risk of missing school and map the supports and interventions used to reduce school non-attendance. Expected outcomes include an autism-specific model of the how and why school non-attendance is elevated for autistic students. It is anticipated that this model make the important step of enabling teachers and professionals to identify which autistic children are most at risk of absenteeism and select the best strategies to support a positive and beneficial return to school.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,000.00
Summary
The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking an ....The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking and physiological measures of arousal will be combined with traditional cognitive measures to provide a deeper understanding of spatial attention. This project aims to improve attentional models and develop innovative strategies to increase safety by decreasing inattention and distraction.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. Language is central to human existence and to the flow of information. The Centre will address the most critical questions about language: How do languages evolve? How different can languages be? How do our brains acquire and process them? How can technologies deal with the complexity and enormous variability of language in its central role in human information processing? What can Australia do to increase its linguistic abilities at a time ....ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. Language is central to human existence and to the flow of information. The Centre will address the most critical questions about language: How do languages evolve? How different can languages be? How do our brains acquire and process them? How can technologies deal with the complexity and enormous variability of language in its central role in human information processing? What can Australia do to increase its linguistic abilities at a time of increasingly multilingual demands in trade and information? The Centre will also secure language heritage, develop new language technologies, connect policy with indigenous and migrant communities, and build strategies to help 1st and 2nd language learning and those isolated by language difficulties.Read moreRead less
Normalising Ability Diversity through Career Transitions:Disability at Work. This project aims to investigate how the higher education sector can better support people with disabilities to transition from economic exclusion to work. One in five Australians have a disability and of these 47.3% are not employed. This is a significant issue with regulatory failures and challenges often affecting rights to education and work being exercised on an equal basis. This project seeks to examine internatio ....Normalising Ability Diversity through Career Transitions:Disability at Work. This project aims to investigate how the higher education sector can better support people with disabilities to transition from economic exclusion to work. One in five Australians have a disability and of these 47.3% are not employed. This is a significant issue with regulatory failures and challenges often affecting rights to education and work being exercised on an equal basis. This project seeks to examine international legal norms, theories and strategic and operational practices in the higher education sector. Expected outcomes include advances in scholarship on ableism, informed policy reform, and transferable operational processes for the education and employment sectors, to improve the transition of people with disabilities to work.Read moreRead less
Outcomes of specialist disability housing for people with disability. This project aims to systematically investigate the experience, outcomes and economic impact of people with disability moving into specialist disability accommodation housing. Health, wellbeing, community participation, support outcomes and lived experience of people with disability will be measured before moving and over 2 years after they move. The project provides the opportunity to identify the personal, disability, housi ....Outcomes of specialist disability housing for people with disability. This project aims to systematically investigate the experience, outcomes and economic impact of people with disability moving into specialist disability accommodation housing. Health, wellbeing, community participation, support outcomes and lived experience of people with disability will be measured before moving and over 2 years after they move. The project provides the opportunity to identify the personal, disability, housing and support factors that shape outcomes for people with disability. The intended outcome is comprehensive knowledge that can inform policy, build evidence across housing, technology, support and disability sectors and ultimately benefit people with disability by generating innovative practice in housing and support.Read moreRead less
Confronting everyday harms: preventing abuse of people with disability. The findings of the Disability Royal Commission necessitate new approaches to prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Framed by recognition theory, this project proposes empirical research with young people with cognitive disability, using a new concept of ‘everyday harms’ in their paid relationships. The results will inform early responses to poor quality interactions in disability support. The strategic alliance ....Confronting everyday harms: preventing abuse of people with disability. The findings of the Disability Royal Commission necessitate new approaches to prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Framed by recognition theory, this project proposes empirical research with young people with cognitive disability, using a new concept of ‘everyday harms’ in their paid relationships. The results will inform early responses to poor quality interactions in disability support. The strategic alliances with the government, industry and community partners will develop a practice framework to prevent everyday harms and the escalation to abuse, and to promote safety and wellbeing. The research has policy benefits for capacity-building in the sector to act on the rights and voices of people with disability. Read moreRead less
Literacy Instruction for Children with Autism. There is a social and economic imperative to assist all individuals to reach their full potential with regard to literacy skills. The central goal of the proposed research is to develop and evaluate new ways to support comprehensive literacy instruction for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Following our world-first pilot research, we will investigate the efficacy of the ABRACADABRA literacy instruction program delivered in small groups ....Literacy Instruction for Children with Autism. There is a social and economic imperative to assist all individuals to reach their full potential with regard to literacy skills. The central goal of the proposed research is to develop and evaluate new ways to support comprehensive literacy instruction for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Following our world-first pilot research, we will investigate the efficacy of the ABRACADABRA literacy instruction program delivered in small groups of children with ASD supplemented by a novel parent-child shared book reading program. Immediate outcomes extend beyond advances in the science of reading to upskilling parents and professionals who support children with ASD, and provision of tangible life-long benefits for individuals with ASD.Read moreRead less
Engaging Outsiders in Sport: Transforming Sport Event Legacy Planning . The project aims to investigate intersectional inequities in sport participation for girls, women and non-binary people in Queensland by working with them to envision legacies for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Using a co-creation approach this project expects to identify how and what benefits can be achieved through legacy planning that engages with end-users who have historically been marginalised in sport. In doin ....Engaging Outsiders in Sport: Transforming Sport Event Legacy Planning . The project aims to investigate intersectional inequities in sport participation for girls, women and non-binary people in Queensland by working with them to envision legacies for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Using a co-creation approach this project expects to identify how and what benefits can be achieved through legacy planning that engages with end-users who have historically been marginalised in sport. In doing so, the expected outcomes of the project include the development of evidence-based resources to improve engagement in sport and to build capacity and sustain meaningful change for communities and organisations.Read moreRead less