Robyn Young

Together with colleagues Brewer and Williamson, we have developed a new and exciting screening tool that can identify Autistic characteristics in children as young as 12 months. This tool, Autism Detection in Early Childhood (ADEC), is now being published through the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) and is in the process of being trialled by other research teams and clinicians throughout Australia, Malaysia, China and Mexico. The ADEC has been shown to have excellent sensitivity and selectivity. This research has lead to the development of an Early Intervention Research Program (EIRP) based at Flinders. This program targets behaviours considered central to the difficulties children with Autistic Disorder experience and operationalised in the ADEC. The EIRP aims to intervene with and adapt these early behaviours and thus reduce the development of secondary outcomes. The EIRP uses behavioural analysis techniques to provide an intensive, individualised, intervention program which ultimately aims to give children the necessary skills and abilities to enter a mainstream school environment. The EIRP aims to evaluate the efficacy of this form of early intervention with early data proving to be very promising. The basis of this program has now been compiled into a user manual called the Behavioural Intervention Implementation Guide (BiiG) and will also be distributed through ACER.

Publications (2006 -)

Martins, Y., Young, R.L., and Robson, D. C. (2008). Feeding and eating behaviors in children with autism and typically developing children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Baker, A., Lane, A., Angley, M., & Young, R. (2007). The relationship between sensory processing patterns and behavioural responsiveness in Autistic Disorder: a pilot study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, “Online First”, doi 10.1007/s10803-007-0459-0./

Young, R. L. (2007) Autism detection in early childhood (ADEC) manual. Camberwell, Victoria, Australia.

Angley M, Ellis D, Chan W, Young R, McKinnon R, (2007) Children and autism: Part 1 - recognition and pharmacological management, Australian Family Physician, 36, 1-4.

Delinicolis, E.K. & Young, R.L.(2007). Joint attention, language social relating and stereotypical behaviours in children with autistic disorder. Autism, 11, 389-400.

Clifford, S., Young, R., & Williamson, P. (2007). Assessing the early characteristics of Autistic Disorder using video analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 301-313.

Angley, M., McKinnon, R., Young, R., & Evans, A. (2006). Children and autism: Can the pharmacist help? Australian Pharmacist, 25, 468-472.

Lim, Yun Zi., Angley, M., Tait, P., Young, R., & McKinnon, R. (2006). Immunisation and autism: What's the story? Australian Pharmacist, 25, 554-558.

Young, R. L., Williamson, P., Brewer, N., Ettridge, K., & Goren, T. (2006). The early detection of pre-verbal austistic characteristics. Psicologia Iberoamericana, 14, 11-20.

Hedley, D. & Young, R., (2006) Social comparison and depression in children and adolescents with Asperger's Syndrome Autism, 10, 139-153.

Research Grants (2006 -)

Young, R., & Partington, C. Early, intensive intervention and parent education for young children with autism. 2007, $20,000, Trust Company

Angley, M., McKinnon, R., Young, R., Sorich, M., Gerber, C., & Abarno, D. Investigation of aetiology, determination of prognosis and optimisation of interventions in autism using metabonomics. 2006, $US 20,000, Cure Autism Now Foundation.

Young, R., & Partington, C. Flinders University Early Intervention Research Program. 2006, $10,000, Danks Trust.

Young, R., & Partington C. A two-year follow up of the children of the Flinders Program. 2005-2006, $6411, Apex Grant.

Martins, Y., & Young R. A comparison of eating and feeding behaviours in children with autism and typically developing children. 2005-2006, $4000, Flinders University Research Support Grant.

Young, R., & Partington, C. Flinders University EIRP. 2005-2006, $20,000, Adelaide Bank Foundation.

Lane, A., Angley, M., Young, R. Augmentation of an autism phenotyping tool with sensory processing information. 2006, $9000, Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation.

Refereed Conference Proceedings (2006 -)

Young, R. L., Williamson, P., Brewer, N., & Johns, C. (2006, November). The early detection of pre-verbal autistic characteristics using Autism Detection in Early Childhood (ADEC). Proceedings of the World Autism Congress, Cape Town, South Africa.

Delinicolas, E. K., & Young, R. L. (2006, November). Does ability to engage in joint attention indicate autism severity? Proceedings of the World Autism Congress, Cape Town, South Africa.

Delinicolas, E. K., & Young, R. L. (2006, November). The efficacy of joint attention training included in an applied behaviour analysis program: A study of twin boys with Autistic Disorder. Poster presentation at the World Autism Congress, Cape Town, South Africa.

Martins, Y., & Young, R. L. (2006, November). A comparison of eating and feeding behaviours in children with autism and typically developing children. Poster presentation at the World Autism Congress, Cape Town, South Africa.

Robson, D. C., & Young, R. L. (2006, November). The Ability of Children with Autism to Recognise the Emotions of Others. Poster presentation at the World Autism Congress, Cape Town, South Africa.

Young, R. L., Partington, C. A., Petkov, J., & Goren, T. (2006, November). Treatment in pre-verbal children with Autistic Disorder using intensive home-based intervention. Poster presentation at the World Autism Congress, Cape Town, South Africa.

King, K., McCormack, P., & Young, R. (2006, June). Evidence for disturbed judgements of linguistic rhythm in adults with Asperger's Syndrome. International Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics Association, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Conference Proceedings (2006 -)

Wang LV, Angley MT, Gerber JP, Young RL , Abarno DV, McKinnon RA & Sorich MJ (2007) Investigation of the urinary indoyl-3-acryloyglycine (IAG):creatinine ratio in children with autism versus typical siblings. In proceedings of the ASCEPT Meeting Adelaide.

· Wang LV, Angley MT, Gerber JP, Young RL , Abarno DV, McKinnon RA & Sorich MJ (2007) Investigation of the urinary indoyl-3-acryloyglycine (IAG):creatinine ratio in children with autism versus typical siblings: A putative diagnostic marker for autism spectrum disorder? In proceedings of the APSA Meeting Sydney.

Young, R. (2007, June). Getting in Early: detecting and intervening with children with autism in the early years. Healthy Development Adelaide Conference, Adelaide.

Young, R. (2007, June). Getting in Early: detecting and intervening with children with autism in the early years. Healthy Development Adelaide Conference, Adelaide.

Further information is available from Robyn Young's website