Elizabeth Pellicano
Biographic Data
| ID | 5762661 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elizabeth Pellicano |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elizabeth |
| FAMILY NAME | Pellicano |
| SIGNATURE | PELLICANO E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Macquarie University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7246-8003 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Transition Out of School for Autistic Young People
Objective: An umbrella review to synthesize the fragmented evidence on the experiences and outcomes of transitions out of school for autistic young people, including those with intellectual disability (ID), and to identify recommendations for practice, research, and policy. Methods: An integrated narrative synthesis of 25 reviews covering 435 primary studies. Findings: Reviews were generally well-conducted, but primary evidence quality was variab…
Autism and Aphantasia
Aphantasia is characterised by an inability to have volitional imagined sensations. While initially characterised as an inability to visualise, Aphantasia is now regarded as having a multisensory profile, that can manifest in inabilities to have imagined sensations of sound, smell, taste, touch and of bodily sensations. Aphantasia has repeatedly been linked to autism - a neurodevelopmental condition that can shape how a person interacts with othe…
The vividness of visualisations and autistic trait expression are not strongly associated
There may be evidence for a weak inter-relationship between the vividness of imagery and autistic trait expression. • The AQ Imagination subscale primarily drives any relationships between the AQ and imagery vividness. • It is unclear if questions about imagery are predictive of Autism. • People with a weak or absent capacity to visualize are unlikely to lack a theory of mind. A minority of people (Aphantasics) report an inability to visualise. A…
Mental rotation is a weak measure of people’s propensity to visualise
Examined inter-relationships between a 'mental rotation' task and response strategies. • Viewpoint-contingent changes in task performance were unrelated to people’s overall propensity to visualise. • Viewpoint-contingent changes in performance were unrelated to people’s propensity to visualise on different viewpoint trials. • There was only a weak association between viewpoint-contingent changes in propensity to visualise and task performance. In…
Annual Research Review
Since its initial description, the concept of autism has been firmly rooted within the conventional medical paradigm of child psychiatry. Increasingly, there have been calls from the autistic community and, more recently, nonautistic researchers, to rethink the way in which autism science is framed and conducted. Neurodiversity, where autism is seen as one form of variation within a diversity of minds, has been proposed as a potential alternative…
Neurodiversity as Politics
Exploring life with autism
The study is approved by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics in South-East Norway. The findings will be disseminated to academic and clinical audiences through journal articles and conference presentations. To reach the broader autistic and autism communities, the findings will be shared with the Autism Society at national and local meetings, in their membership magazine, and on their social media channel
The educational experiences of autistic children with and without extreme demand avoidance behaviours
Extreme demand avoidance (EDA) is increasingly described as part of the autism spectrum and is sometimes diagnosed as Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). Yet little is known, about the educational experiences of children with and without EDA behaviours. Using an online survey collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, 211 parents reported on the school experiences of their autistic children. 57 parents had a child with an additional diag…
A hard slog road
This article draws on the first qualitative research on lived experiences of autism in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. Twelve women supporting 16 autistic children living in remote, regional and urban areas of Australia participated in a semi-structured interview. Through thematic analysis, we identified four focal themes in women’s conceptualisation of the practical work of mothering autistic children. These are (…
Commentary
Autism science has transformed beyond recognition in the last two decades. International investment has grown extensively and the number of papers published on autism has increased 10‐fold (Pellicano et al., 2014), far surpassing publications on related topics. The sheer amount of scientific research on autism has no doubt been instrumental in many of the discoveries and insights so eloquently described by Happé and Frith (2020). But, as autistic…
Making the future together
Participatory research methods connect researchers with relevant communities to achieve shared goals. These methods can deliver results that are relevant to people’s lives and thus likely to have a positive impact. In the context of a large and growing body of autism research, with continued poor implementation, and some evidence of community dissatisfaction, there is a powerful case for participatory autism research. In order to develop a framew…
‘People should be allowed to do what they like’
‘Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements’ are characterised as core features in the diagnosis of autism, yet many autistic adults (and the neurodiversity movement) have reclaimed them as ‘stimming’. Supported by a growing body of scientific research, autistic adults argue that these behaviours may serve as useful coping mechanisms, yet little research has examined stimming from the perspective of autistic adults. Through interviews and focus gr…
Commentary 1
Mapping inclusion of a child with autism in a mainstream kindergarten
This study identify and reflect on barriers to inclusion that children with autism can meet in kindergarten. We use a single case study with participant- and video observation to map inclusion for a single 5-year-old boy with autism, in a mainstream kindergarten in Norway. Analysis identified three modes of inclusion; distance-keeping, maintaining proximity and interacting. The mapping procedure demonstrated that barriers to inclusion continue to…
Which terms should be used to describe autism? Perspectives from the UK autism community
Recent public discussions suggest that there is much disagreement about the way autism is and should be described. This study sought to elicit the views and preferences of UK autism community members – autistic people, parents and their broader support network – about the terms they use to describe autism. In all, 3470 UK residents responded to an online survey on their preferred ways of describing autism and their rationale for such preferences.…
Choosing a secondary school for young people on the autism spectrum
Deciding on a secondary school for children with autism is notoriously difficult for parents. While current UK legislation emphasises the choice that parents of children with special educational needs should have in educational decision-making, there is a dearth of research in this area, which means that little is known about how parents come to make decisions about secondary school placements and the types of support, if any, they receive from p…
What should autism research focus upon? Community views and priorities from the United Kingdom
The rise in the measured prevalence of autism has been accompanied by much new research and research investment internationally. This study sought to establish whether the pattern of current UK autism research funding maps on to the concerns of the autism community. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with autistic adults, family members, practitioners and researchers to identify their priorities for research. We also captured the views of…
When the world becomes ‘too real’
Individual differences in executive function and central coherence predict developmental changes in theory of mind in autism
There is strong evidence to suggest that individuals with autism show atypicalities in multiple cognitive domains, including theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF), and central coherence (CC). In this study, the longitudinal relationships among these 3 aspects of cognition in autism were investigated. Thirty-seven cognitively able children with an autism spectrum condition were assessed on tests targeting ToM (false-belief prediction), EF …
Links between theory of mind and executive function in young children with autism
There has been much theoretical discussion of a functional link between theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) in autism. This study sought to establish the relationship between ToM and EF in young children with autism (M = 5 years, 6 months) and to examine issues of developmental primacy. Thirty children with autism and 40 typically developing children, matched on age and ability, were assessed on a battery of tasks measuring ToM (1st-…
Cultural Difference in the Application of the Diagnosticity Principle to Schematic Faces
Tversky's (1977) diagnosticity principle implies that categorization affects similarity, and that similarity in turn is based on context. However, Nisbett, Peng, Choi, and Norenzayan (2001) suggest that Chinese and Westerners differ in their sensitivity to context and categorization. Because of these differences, it is not clear whether Chinese should follow the diagnosticity principle. To explore these possibilities, we conducted a cross-cultura…
Links between theory of mind and executive function in young children with autism
There has been much theoretical discussion of a functional link between theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) in autism. This study sought to establish the relationship between ToM and EF in young children with autism (M = 5 years, 6 months) and to examine issues of developmental primacy. Thirty children with autism and 40 typically developing children, matched on age and ability, were assessed on a battery of tasks measuring ToM (1st-…
Choosing a secondary school for young people on the autism spectrum
Deciding on a secondary school for children with autism is notoriously difficult for parents. While current UK legislation emphasises the choice that parents of children with special educational needs should have in educational decision-making, there is a dearth of research in this area, which means that little is known about how parents come to make decisions about secondary school placements and the types of support, if any, they receive from p…
Individual differences in executive function and central coherence predict developmental changes in theory of mind in autism
There is strong evidence to suggest that individuals with autism show atypicalities in multiple cognitive domains, including theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF), and central coherence (CC). In this study, the longitudinal relationships among these 3 aspects of cognition in autism were investigated. Thirty-seven cognitively able children with an autism spectrum condition were assessed on tests targeting ToM (false-belief prediction), EF …
Mapping inclusion of a child with autism in a mainstream kindergarten
This study identify and reflect on barriers to inclusion that children with autism can meet in kindergarten. We use a single case study with participant- and video observation to map inclusion for a single 5-year-old boy with autism, in a mainstream kindergarten in Norway. Analysis identified three modes of inclusion; distance-keeping, maintaining proximity and interacting. The mapping procedure demonstrated that barriers to inclusion continue to…
Cultural Difference in the Application of the Diagnosticity Principle to Schematic Faces
Tversky's (1977) diagnosticity principle implies that categorization affects similarity, and that similarity in turn is based on context. However, Nisbett, Peng, Choi, and Norenzayan (2001) suggest that Chinese and Westerners differ in their sensitivity to context and categorization. Because of these differences, it is not clear whether Chinese should follow the diagnosticity principle. To explore these possibilities, we conducted a cross-cultura…
Links between theory of mind and executive function in young children with autism
There has been much theoretical discussion of a functional link between theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) in autism. This study sought to establish the relationship between ToM and EF in young children with autism (M = 5 years, 6 months) and to examine issues of developmental primacy. Thirty children with autism and 40 typically developing children, matched on age and ability, were assessed on a battery of tasks measuring ToM (1st-…
Individual differences in executive function and central coherence predict developmental changes in theory of mind in autism
There is strong evidence to suggest that individuals with autism show atypicalities in multiple cognitive domains, including theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF), and central coherence (CC). In this study, the longitudinal relationships among these 3 aspects of cognition in autism were investigated. Thirty-seven cognitively able children with an autism spectrum condition were assessed on tests targeting ToM (false-belief prediction), EF …
When the world becomes ‘too real’
What should autism research focus upon? Community views and priorities from the United Kingdom
The rise in the measured prevalence of autism has been accompanied by much new research and research investment internationally. This study sought to establish whether the pattern of current UK autism research funding maps on to the concerns of the autism community. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with autistic adults, family members, practitioners and researchers to identify their priorities for research. We also captured the views of…
Choosing a secondary school for young people on the autism spectrum
Deciding on a secondary school for children with autism is notoriously difficult for parents. While current UK legislation emphasises the choice that parents of children with special educational needs should have in educational decision-making, there is a dearth of research in this area, which means that little is known about how parents come to make decisions about secondary school placements and the types of support, if any, they receive from p…
Which terms should be used to describe autism? Perspectives from the UK autism community
Recent public discussions suggest that there is much disagreement about the way autism is and should be described. This study sought to elicit the views and preferences of UK autism community members – autistic people, parents and their broader support network – about the terms they use to describe autism. In all, 3470 UK residents responded to an online survey on their preferred ways of describing autism and their rationale for such preferences.…
Mapping inclusion of a child with autism in a mainstream kindergarten
This study identify and reflect on barriers to inclusion that children with autism can meet in kindergarten. We use a single case study with participant- and video observation to map inclusion for a single 5-year-old boy with autism, in a mainstream kindergarten in Norway. Analysis identified three modes of inclusion; distance-keeping, maintaining proximity and interacting. The mapping procedure demonstrated that barriers to inclusion continue to…
Making the future together
Participatory research methods connect researchers with relevant communities to achieve shared goals. These methods can deliver results that are relevant to people’s lives and thus likely to have a positive impact. In the context of a large and growing body of autism research, with continued poor implementation, and some evidence of community dissatisfaction, there is a powerful case for participatory autism research. In order to develop a framew…
‘People should be allowed to do what they like’
‘Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements’ are characterised as core features in the diagnosis of autism, yet many autistic adults (and the neurodiversity movement) have reclaimed them as ‘stimming’. Supported by a growing body of scientific research, autistic adults argue that these behaviours may serve as useful coping mechanisms, yet little research has examined stimming from the perspective of autistic adults. Through interviews and focus gr…
Commentary 1
Commentary
Autism science has transformed beyond recognition in the last two decades. International investment has grown extensively and the number of papers published on autism has increased 10‐fold (Pellicano et al., 2014), far surpassing publications on related topics. The sheer amount of scientific research on autism has no doubt been instrumental in many of the discoveries and insights so eloquently described by Happé and Frith (2020). But, as autistic…
The educational experiences of autistic children with and without extreme demand avoidance behaviours
Extreme demand avoidance (EDA) is increasingly described as part of the autism spectrum and is sometimes diagnosed as Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). Yet little is known, about the educational experiences of children with and without EDA behaviours. Using an online survey collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, 211 parents reported on the school experiences of their autistic children. 57 parents had a child with an additional diag…
A hard slog road
This article draws on the first qualitative research on lived experiences of autism in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. Twelve women supporting 16 autistic children living in remote, regional and urban areas of Australia participated in a semi-structured interview. Through thematic analysis, we identified four focal themes in women’s conceptualisation of the practical work of mothering autistic children. These are (…
Annual Research Review
Since its initial description, the concept of autism has been firmly rooted within the conventional medical paradigm of child psychiatry. Increasingly, there have been calls from the autistic community and, more recently, nonautistic researchers, to rethink the way in which autism science is framed and conducted. Neurodiversity, where autism is seen as one form of variation within a diversity of minds, has been proposed as a potential alternative…
Neurodiversity as Politics
Exploring life with autism
The study is approved by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics in South-East Norway. The findings will be disseminated to academic and clinical audiences through journal articles and conference presentations. To reach the broader autistic and autism communities, the findings will be shared with the Autism Society at national and local meetings, in their membership magazine, and on their social media channel
The vividness of visualisations and autistic trait expression are not strongly associated
There may be evidence for a weak inter-relationship between the vividness of imagery and autistic trait expression. • The AQ Imagination subscale primarily drives any relationships between the AQ and imagery vividness. • It is unclear if questions about imagery are predictive of Autism. • People with a weak or absent capacity to visualize are unlikely to lack a theory of mind. A minority of people (Aphantasics) report an inability to visualise. A…
Mental rotation is a weak measure of people’s propensity to visualise
Examined inter-relationships between a 'mental rotation' task and response strategies. • Viewpoint-contingent changes in task performance were unrelated to people’s overall propensity to visualise. • Viewpoint-contingent changes in performance were unrelated to people’s propensity to visualise on different viewpoint trials. • There was only a weak association between viewpoint-contingent changes in propensity to visualise and task performance. In…
Transition Out of School for Autistic Young People
Objective: An umbrella review to synthesize the fragmented evidence on the experiences and outcomes of transitions out of school for autistic young people, including those with intellectual disability (ID), and to identify recommendations for practice, research, and policy. Methods: An integrated narrative synthesis of 25 reviews covering 435 primary studies. Findings: Reviews were generally well-conducted, but primary evidence quality was variab…
Autism and Aphantasia
Aphantasia is characterised by an inability to have volitional imagined sensations. While initially characterised as an inability to visualise, Aphantasia is now regarded as having a multisensory profile, that can manifest in inabilities to have imagined sensations of sound, smell, taste, touch and of bodily sensations. Aphantasia has repeatedly been linked to autism - a neurodevelopmental condition that can shape how a person interacts with othe…
Autism Spectrum Disorder Research (17 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Autism (16 works) · Developmental psychology (15 works) · Family and Disability Support Research (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (7 works) · Behavioral and Psychological Studies (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Child and Animal Learning Development (4 works) · Cognition (4 works)