Dr Avril Brereton, PhD

Avril is a Special Educator and Senior Research Fellow in the Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology. She has worked in the field of autism for over thirty years in a variety of settings.

Current positions: Chief Investigator and Coordinator of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia research project “A parent education and skills training intervention for adolescents with autism”; Honorary clinical teacher Dept. Psychological Medicine, Monash University; Co-Director of the ACT NOW programme funded by the Victorian Government's Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, providing autism consultation and training across Victoria to the Early Childhood sector.

She has research and teaching interests in the area of developmental psychiatry with a particular focus in the area of Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Avril also provides consultation to community health, education and welfare agencies and educational workshops for parents and professionals.

Previous positions: Director of the Monash Autism Assessment Program, Southern Health, responsible for public sector autism assessments in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne and Gippsland; Principal Kingsgrove School for Children with Autism. Journal reviewer for: Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, International Journal of Autism: Research and Practice and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Relevant publications include: 9 books/book chapters, 25 journal articles, 90 seminar and conference papers, 3 videos, 4 manuals, 25 invited addresses.