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A new national clinical practice guideline for supporting the development and participation of children on the autism spectrum and their families is seeking community consultation for the project.

The new guideline will make it easier for clinicians to understand how they can adapt their practice to work within the clinical framework. Also, for families so they know what to expect, and for policy makers to create policy settings that will interact and facilitate ethical practice in Australia, project co-chair and Professor of Autism Research at the Telethon Kids Institute, Professor Andrew Whitehouse told F2L.

“We need this guideline because autism clinical practice is incredibly wide in scope and highly variable in terms of quality within the Australian community,” he said.

“The consultation process includes surveys with clinicians and focus groups with family members, as well as people on the spectrum, along with an open survey for anyone to complete about what people feel might be important to include in a clinical guideline.”

Whitehouse said Australia has never had a clinical guideline that provided a framework that defines evidence-based practice as it relates to autism early intervention.

Deadline for submissions is March 29, 2022.

The survey is now live go to:   Get involved | Supporting Children Guideline Consultation | Autism CRC