Cognitive and neural causes of language impairment in autism [ 2009 - 2013 ]

Research Grant

Researchers Dr J Brock; Dr BW Johnson; Dr G McArthur

Brief description Autism affects around 1 in 200 of the Australian population. The social costs of autism are huge, both for people with the disorder and for their relatives and carers. The cost to the Australian economy is estimated at $5-7 billion each year. The proposed research will lead to better understanding of the causes of autism, from brain structure and functioning through to cognitive mechanisms and symptoms. This will in turn inform genetic research. The comparison of autism and specific language impairment (SLI) will help determine whether remediation strategies for SLI are likely to be applicable to autism. The project will establish Macquarie University as Australia's first centre for neuro-cognitive autism research.

Funding Amount $422,285

Funding Scheme Discovery Projects