Project: ASD Attention and Academics Study

The Kids Focus project is a longitudinal study which aims to understand how academic performance, that is, reading and maths, can be impacted by fears and worries and inattentive behaviour. They study is examining the profiles of attention, anxiety and academic ability in typically developing children, and also in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, where there are often high levels of anxiety and inattentive behaviours.

This research has a special focus on girls who are seldom researched in comparison to boys in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders. We hope this project will inform us of how girls on the Autism Spectrum may be different to boys on the spectrum, but also how they may be both similar and different to typically developing girls.

The study is presently re-assessing children as part of the 1-year follow-up and a 5 year follow-up is also planned.

Research Team:

Professor Kim Cornish, PhD

Professor Nicole Rinehart, PhD

Tamara May, BSc