Ashton’s Place selected to present at Asia Pacific Autism Conference (APAC) 2025
April, 2025
We are excited to announce that Ashton’s Place has been selected to present at the Asia Pacific Autism Conference (APAC) 2025, to be held in Perth on 13 – 15 November 2025.
A very significant volume of submissions were received from over 20 countries and the selection process was rigorous, highlighting the significance of this achievement.
Dr Vicki Bitsika, (AM, PhD, CF, FCCLP, FRSN), Professor in Biomedical Sciences at the Brain Behaviour Research Group, will be presenting our conference paper on the ACE Programme, entitled, “Autism Connect Early (ACE): A Pathway to Meaningful Inclusion in Early Childhood”.
To provide further insight into the presentation, we are pleased to share the abstract that outlines the key concepts and objectives of our work. Below is the detailed abstract for “Autism Connect Early (ACE): A Pathway to Meaningful Inclusion in Early Childhood.”
Autism Connect Early (ACE): A Pathway to Meaningful Inclusion in Early Childhood
E Barclay1, V. Bitsika2, and C. F. Sharpley2
1Ashton’s Place, Nerang, Queensland, 4211, Australia.
2Brain-Behaviour Research Group, School of Science & Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
Abstract:
Early intervention continues to represent an evidence-based approach for enhancing skill development, social wellbeing, and emotion-regulation in young children with autism. Such services have traditionally been offered in specialised settings where emphasis is placed on creating social environments that meet autistic children’s specific needs. However, as children progress towards school, they will participate in inclusive educational settings that do not necessarily contain strong presence of such supports. This has challenged educators and caregivers to examine two questions: (1) what constitutes effective inclusion for children with autism? and (2) when is the best time to expose these children to inclusive experiences? The ACE Programme represents one approach to meaningful inclusion that is delivered in the day care setting to autistic children aged 3 to 5 years. This programme, developed in partnership with researchers from the University of New England, has undergone evaluation over a five-year period to monitor its effects on child and parent functioning. In addition to describing the multi-component approach to inclusion implemented in the ACE Programme, this presentation will discuss the trends in child-focused changes using data obtained from daily measures of progression towards meeting learning gaols and domain-based scores extracted from standardised tests such as the Vineland-3 Adaptive Behavior Scales and Sensory profile-2. The self-reported data, gathered from parents, will be examined in relation to the ways in which changes in confidence impacted their daily lives. These findings will be used to discuss the effectiveness of the ACE Programme and to establish key elements for its applications to other early childhood settings.
