Our Research

Research for Learning

At Learning for Life Autism Centre (L4Life) we use this knowledge and evidence to continually evaluate and update our services and approaches to supporting both autistic children and their families.  We consider the needs of our clients, their families, schools, communities and our staff and identify areas in need of evaluation and further research.

We do this by ensuring that all of the services we provide have data collection built into them and we have processes in place to evaluate that data at different levels.

We are constantly evaluating what we do, whether that be the individual services we provide to particular children or the way in which we train therapy assistants. This ensures that we can confidently say that we are always providing evidence-informed services.

Research Projects

We want to provide the best quality services possible and our research processes are integral to making that happen.

Early Intervention

School Aged Children with Autism

As our services have grown to include school aged clients we have also expanded our formal research projects.

• 2020 submission to the senate select committee on autism.
• Between 2021- 2027 formal evaluation of our Inclusion Works program is also being conducted.

Our inductive approach means the research and evaluation never stops and it is always evolving. 

We want to provide the best quality services possible and our research processes are integral to making that happen.

Inclusion Works Research Program

Our Inclusion Works Research Project has completed the data collection phase and is now in the data review phase.

This data has been collected from the six participating schools where clinical staff attended once per week over 12 months to work with teachers to train, review and implement effective inclusive education strategies.

During this time, our clinical staff worked with school staff to develop a knowledge that sets them up to know how and when to implement these strategies.

The ultimate goal of the 12 month program is to build the skills of school staff to continue to design and implement the appropriate strategies for their school context long after the Inclusion Works program concludes.  

The data from this evaluation goes on to inform our private Inclusion Works program, on offer to all schools within the Greater Melbourne area.  

Chinese parent experiences of early supports for their autistic children in Australia.

A study, undertaken in collaboration with Autism Partnership, La Trobe University (Head Researcher: Dr. Jodie Smith), Learning For Life Autism Centre, Positive Partnerships and a Chinese advisory group including Chinese parents of autistic children will have implications in the provision and presentation of information surrounding early intervention to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families.

The study gained first-hand experiences of the diagnosis and early intervention process in Australia of migrant Chinese parents of autistic children and found that these parents faced unique challenges and barriers in navigating and accessing autism and funding services as a result of language and cultural differences. Despite the challenges presented, parents still managed to find effective support for themselves and their children: utilising informal networks; educating themselves in Early Intervention; and finding an experienced and key person in the disability sector, which made for a more positive experience.

"A study such as this goes beyond the evaluation of specific programs and helps us understand how we should present information about, and foster access to, our programs to those communities who need it.” says CEO, Pam Roy.

Read more about the research project here.