Over the years, it has come to my attention that I’m a bit of a ‘charger’. I don’t mean this in any automotive sense, but rather it refers to my purposeful gait. On occasions where other people may amble…
- Deputy Director, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Professor of Autism Research, The University of Western Australia
Recently, a school in Perth, Australia announced that their teachers would be cutting back on praise and rewards for students. Their underlying idea is that over-praising children may not be the best way…
One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job is the talks that I am asked to give to graduating university classes and at awards ceremonies. Below is a talk in which I ask the question whether a science…
Over the past couple of years I’ve developed quite a crush on the English language. Sure, it may not have rhythm and melody of the Latin-based romance languages. Nor, does it have the elegant preciseness…
About two months ago, a very important piece of child development research was published with little fanfare. The research examined whether the amount of time a child spends in child care has an impact…
A new study has linked folic acid supplements in pregnancy with a 39% lower risk of autistic disorder in the offspring but experts have urged caution in interpreting the results. Doctors have long recommended…
This is not something I like to talk about much, but I was in fact a child star. Well, by ‘child star’ I mean that I appeared on TV when I was 10-years-old for exactly 4 minutes and 31 seconds. Oh, and…
Over the past few weeks, I have been contacted by several people asking me to put pen to paper about the Newtown shootings, and how some say that the shooter may have had autism. I have resisted for several…
Exposure to traffic pollution while in the womb and the first year of life may be associated with a higher risk of autism, a US study has found. Autism Spectrum Disorder has a variety of symptoms including…
Few people can claim to have the scientific pedigree of Sir Francis Galton (1822 - 1911). Both of Galton’s grandfathers - Samuel ‘John’ Galton and Erasmus Darwin - were key thinkers during the Midlands…
On September the 26th 1992, my life changed forever. It was the week before my 11th birthday, and the West Coast Eagles had just won their first premiership. Football – that’s Aussie Rules for international…
Have you ever driven through an intersection, only to wonder 50 metres down the road whether the traffic lights were indeed green? How about meeting someone at a party, having a rather enjoyable discussion…
Many of us are blessed with two loving parents, a safe and secure home, and the opportunities to be whoever we want to be. What sheer bloody luck. We forget that many children experience such severe abuse…
John Duns Scotus is considered one of the most important Western philosophers of the High Middle Age. He is also, believe it or not, the origin of one of the modern world’s most peculiar forms of child…
Nolan Bushnell was born in 1943, a child of wartime America. The son of a cement contractor, Bushnell dutifully took over the family concrete business at the age of 15 when his father passed away. But…
The Australian current affairs programme Four Corners last night broadcast the documentary Autism Enigma, which profiles an emerging theory of autism. It left me feeling slightly uneasy, and I’ve een asked…
Autism is a “messy” truth. It doesn’t have the high blood sugar of diabetes, the uncontrolled cell division of cancer, nor the clear brain degeneration of Alzheimer’s disease. Autism is a condition (or…
The Olympic Games are an easy target. Picking on the Olympics is like mocking the over-confident but horribly tone-deaf contestant on a TV singing contest. Shooting fish in a barrel was never so easy…
I admit it, I love the Olympic Games. The sport, the over-hyped commentary, the fancy-dress national costumes - it’s two weeks of every four years that I anticipate with excitement. In many ways, the Games…
Term 3 of the 2012 school year has commenced around Australia, and with it restarts the manic weekday-morning routines, the unrelenting schedule of drop-offs and pick-ups; the ever-so-polite enquiries…
Hold your hats. Gird your loins. Scrunch up your face like you’ve just witnessed your Dad on the dance floor at a wedding. Ready? Good, because I’m writing about religion. Even worse, this column is about…
I have a confession to make…I went to an all-boys private school. Go on, admit it. You just judged me a little bit, didn’t you? I can’t blame you. Looking back – and even at the time – the whole experience…
Fred was a dog best described as mongrel. I think even he would have had difficulty picking his parents out in a line-up. My parents first acquired Fred when they were working in the north of Western Australia…
One of my favourite pieces of music is Nessun Dorma, an aria from the opera Turandot. Ok, so I may just have won first-place in ‘the most pompous opening sentence to a column ever’ competition, but it’s…
Harland was born in Henryville, Indiana in 1890. By all reports, his early life was rather miserable. His father died when he was six years old, and at that tender age, he took on the domestic jobs for…
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