Research

Prof Einfeld is a chief investigator of the Australian Child to Adult Development (ACAD) Study, now in its 16th year. This study has three times been awarded a further 5 years funding from the NH&MRC, as well as funding from the National Institutes of Health, USA. A major report on the project was recently published in JAMA. This study examines a broad range of biological, psychological and social factors of potential protection and vulnerability in the development of behavioural and emotional problems in children and adolescents with intellectual handicap. These include genetic, family, educational, vocational and residential aspects. Prof Einfeld is a co-author of the Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC) and is co-ordinating further developments of this checklist including the validation of the communication subscale, and collecting normative data in the Australia and overseas for the adult version of the DBC.

As an extension of his role as chief investigator of the ACAD study, Prof Einfeld’s research looks to refine the behavioural phenotypes of genetic syndromes to identify further gene to behaviour linkages, as well as intervention studies for people with autism and disruptive behaviours.