Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and Flinders researchers are making important advances that are receiving global recognition – with Professor Joanne Arciuli’s work in this field cited as part of the latest UK reforms, and a recent podcast by autism expert Dr Paul Constable.

Professor Arciuli’s research on reading acquisition in autistic children has been cited in discussions concerning best practice in the UK Government’s Department of Education policy paper on reading instruction in schools (The Reading Framework, released by DfE in 2021 with updates in 22/23).

“My work on literacy support for autistic children applies anywhere in the world that literacy instruction is taking place in English, which is why the UK govt policy document cites it,” explains Professor Arciuli.

“Australian education policies often follow UK advice, as do many other governments where English is the language of instruction in schools.”

The open access published paper cited in that policy paper is Arciuli, J. & Bailey, B. (2021). The promise of comprehensive early reading instruction for children with autism and recommendations for future directions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools

This work complements Professor Arciuli’s continuing research with Dr Ben Bailey into literacy instruction for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Details of the project funded by an ARC linkage Grant can be found here.

Dr Constable, also from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, recently featured on a US podcast to explain his research on using artificial intelligence and other tools to help decode autism spectrum disorder. The program can be heard via this link.