Telethon Kids Institute’s Professor Andrew Whitehouse has been elected a Fellow of the prestigious International Society for Autism Research, one of just four Australians to be bestowed the honour.
“These are these kinds of things that they usually give out at the end of your career, I don’t think I’m there just yet, but it’s great for Australian research,” Professor Whitehouse said.
“So often Australia is talked about as punching above its weight. But in autism, it’s more than that. We actually lead the world. I see this is a little bit of a recognition of that, which is just fantastic for the country.”
Even though Australia is an early innovator, Professor Whitehouse pointed out that the research could still be more effectively translated into action by government and other key stakeholders.
“We should be proud of where we’re at. We truly do lead the world in providing evidence based early intervention to as many kids as possible. The biggest challenge that we have now is how can translate those early gains into happy, healthy school years,” he said.
“The alignment of policy with science is still very clearly catching up. And that’s really where I want to spend the next part of my professional life. My career is focussed on working with governments to help align practice in health, disability, and education with science – so that kids and families can in Australia can actually get world’s best practice.
“How can we start to gradually, and then suddenly shift our education sector to cater to the needs of all students? Nowhere in the world is doing this well. But at the moment, Australia with all of the discussions about how we can better support kids and families, in all our government systems, has that opportunity. We’ve just got to take it.”
As well as the need for educational reform, Professor Whitehouse stressed that GPs played a vital role in the diagnostic and ongoing support process.
“GPs are the medical home of supporting autistic kids and their families. They are the one medical constant in the lives of kids and families, and they play a critical role in supporting that child and family to progress,” he said.
“And that includes cross-system support, such as in the education department, where GPs have a respected voice within the community that they can lend to these issues.
“There is also no doubt that the barriers and opportunities to a thriving family life, which also includes a professional life, become greater after a diagnosis of autism within the family. GPs play a critical role not just in reducing medical disadvantage for these families, but also a connecting function for all the other system supports.
“The greater knowledge that GPs have around the broader ecosystem, the greater they will be able to help these families to thrive.”
Professor Whitehouse said that in terms of health and ongoing research, the greatest frontier now was to understand which interventions were the most effective for each child.
“The personalised medicine revolution has occurred in many other areas, but not yet in autism. How do we ensure that each child and family receive the most appropriate intervention that suits their biology, that suits their family context and their broader environment?”