Professor Andrew Whitehouse

Headquartered in WA, the Institute prides itself on the translation of research into impact to improve the lives and wellbeing of children and young people in WA, Australia and around the world. [...] The parent support program is uses short videos of the parent with their baby to help parents better understand their baby’s thoughts and feelings, the different ways that babies communicate, the importance of interaction and of following their baby’s focus of interest. [...] Eighty-nine children completed an assessment at the start of the study, at the end of the therapy period, and when they were 3 years of age. [...] Given the prevalence of autism (2 per cent of Australians), the high representative of participants with autism in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (one-third), and the lifelong support costs associated with autism, the findings of this research have profound implications for how we structure health and disability systems to best support the needs of autistic children and their families. [...] The likely model for this implementation will be for the Western Australian state health services to support the screening of babies (using existing resourcing for child health nurses) and for the NDIA to support funding the delivery of Inklings intervention within the private sector by allied health professionals.