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diagnosed by 2-years of age. In 2010, Dissanayake helped establish the
Victorian Autism Specific Early learning and Care Centre, adopting the Early Start Denver Model which she had introduced to Australia in 2009. Her related studies on early learning and early therapy outcomes in Autistic pre-schoolers indicated the impact of accessing evidence-based therapy early in life, serving to improve developmental outcomes and facilitate social inclusion into the school years. In addition to detailed behavioural observation studies, she investigated the physiological correlates of behaviour including the cardiac and attentional responses of Autistic children to social and emotional stimuli and undertaking studies of biological markers. Her research on growth in infants later diagnosed as Autistic provided the first evidence that autism is often characterized by generalised growth dysregulation, extending this work to show that growth dysregulation is also common in older Autistic children and adolescents. Dissanayake has investigated autism manifestations in boys with Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and compared the behavioural and cognitive profiles in Autistic boys with idiopathic autism as such comparisons cast light on the biological mechanisms involved in the origins of autism. More recently, Dissanayake has engaged in studies of Autistic adolescents and adults focused on employment and mental health.
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autism research lab. Her comprehensive studies on the behavioural, cognitive and physical phenotypes of children with diagnoses of 'Autistic
Disorder' and 'Asperger's Disorder' (as per DSM 4) contributed a significant body of research regarding the lack of distinction between these conditions which contributed to the single diagnostic label of Autism Spectrum Disorders adopted in DSM 5.
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In 2018, Dissanayake was elected Fellow of the
International Society of Autism Research in its inaugural round, and served as vice-president between 2019–2021. In 2021, she was awarded a Lifetime Membership by the Australasian Society for Autism Research, which she helped co-found in 2011, and where
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Her research on the early autism phenotype led to the first
Australian community-based study to prospectively identify autism in infancy via the Maternal and Child Health Service (MCH). The success of this study and a replication study indicated that Autistic children can be reliably identified and
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Dissanayake's early research focused on the development of attachment in
Autistic children which challenged previously held notions that they were not attached to their primary caregivers. She joined the Department of Psychological Science at La Trobe University in 1996 where she established her
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she served as vice president for 10 years. Dissanayake has been named the field leader in developmental disabilities by The
Australian Research Magazine for 6 consecutive years (2018-2023)and a field leader in Child and Adolescent Psychology for 5 consecutive years (2018-2022). In the
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83:, she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to medical research, to tertiary education, and to professional societies and was elected as a Fellow of the
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in 1978, taking out an
Honours degree in Psychology (1983) and a PhD (1992). Her postdoctoral research was undertaken in the Sigman lab at UCLA in the US from 1993 to 1995 inclusive.
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173:"Prospective Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Infancy and Toddlerhood Using Developmental Surveillance: The Social Attention and Communication Study"
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at La Trobe
University. She was the inaugural Olga Tennison Endowed Chair in Autism Research and was the founding Director of the
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Clifford, Sally; Dissanayake, Cheryl; Bui, Quang M.; Huggins, Richard; Taylor, Annette K.; Loesch, Danuta Z. (April 26, 2007).
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41:, Australia. She is a developmental psychologist and behavioural scientist in the field of autism research.
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Dissanayake attended St
Bridget's Convent in Colombo from 1966 to 1973, and Bentleigh High School (now
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239:"Autism spectrum phenotype in males and females with fragile X full mutation and premutation"
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327:"ASfAR success at INSAR – ASfAR – Australasian Society for Autism Research"
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309:"INSAR Fellows - International Society for Autism Research (INSAR)"
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342:"La Trobe Uni's Cheryl Dissanayake is a leader in autism research"
439:"Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia"
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Barbaro, Josephine; Dissanayake, Cheryl (October 26, 2010).
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Fellows of the
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
154:"Academy Fellow: Professor Cheryl Dissanayake AM, FASSA"
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Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics
53:) in Melbourne from 1974 to 1977. She commenced at
220:"Surely the time for NDIS teething issues is over"
243:Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
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158:Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
85:Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
218:Dissanayake, Cheryl (September 27, 2022).
389:"The Australian Research Magazine 2021"
367:"The Australian Research Magazine 2024"
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133:"Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre"
492:Academic staff of La Trobe University
340:Bowbotham, Jill (29 September 2019).
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35:Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre
415:"Professor Anne Cheryl DISSANAYAKE"
419:Australian Honours Search Facility
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482:Members of the Order of Australia
393:The Australian Research Magazine
108:"Professor Cheryl Dissanayake"
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446:Governor-General of Australia
369:. 9 November 2023. p. 23
207:– via www.academia.edu.
81:2022 Queen's Birthday Honours
189:10.1097/DBP.0b013e3181df7f3c
20:Professor Cheryl Dissanayake
51:Bentleigh Secondary College
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255:10.1007/s10803-006-0205-z
497:Monash University alumni
131:University, La Trobe.
313:www.autism-insar.org
285:"Cheryl Dissanayake"
273:– via PubMed.
112:La Trobe University
61:Research and career
39:La Trobe University
472:Autism researchers
224:The Canberra Times
137:www.latrobe.edu.au
87:in the same year.
55:Monash University
31:Professor Emerita
16:Autism researcher
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399:23 November
373:23 November
351:23 November
466:Categories
451:2023-11-02
424:2023-11-02
294:2023-11-02
117:2023-11-02
91:References
45:Early life
37:based at
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74:Awards
442:(PDF)
267:S2CID
201:S2CID
27:FASSA
401:2023
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353:2023
259:PMID
193:PMID
251:doi
185:doi
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