In this episode of Mind the Kids, the podcast from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), host Mark Tebbs is joined by Dr. Elaine Clark, postdoctoral researcher at the Lifespan Autism Lab, Rutgers University.

Dr. Clark shares findings from her recently published paper in JCPP Advances, ACAMH's open-access research journal, co-authored with Dr. Vanessa Ball and Dr. Katherine Lord. Drawing on the Longitudinal Study of Autism (LSA) — tracking autistic individuals from ages 2–3 through to their mid-twenties — the study examines how daily living skills develop across the lifespan in autistic individuals, both with and without a co-occurring intellectual disability.

Daily living skills — the practical abilities that underpin independent adult life — are broken down into three domains: personal skills (hygiene, dressing, grooming), domestic skills (cooking, household chores), and community skills (managing money, navigating public spaces, vocational readiness). These are the skills that shape autism outcomes across education, employment, and quality of life, yet they have been chronically under-researched, particularly for autistic individuals with co-occurring intellectual disability.

The headline finding is striking: approximately 80% of autistic individuals with co-occurring intellectual disability demonstrated daily living skills equal to or stronger than their measured cognitive ability — directly challenging the widespread assumption that adaptive behaviour in autism is constrained by IQ. Developmental trajectories between groups were indistinguishable up to age five, clearly differentiated by age nine, and those differences strengthened into adulthood.

Dr. Clark and Mark discuss why domestic skills represent the most promising early intervention target, why community skills are the hardest to move, and how schools, IEP goals, and caregivers can reshape expectations to create opportunity-rich learning environments for autistic young people. The conversation closes with a look ahead at Dr. Clark's next research phase — examining individual skills for adults with profound autism and the caregivers who support them.

A must-listen for anyone working in autism education, autism support, early intervention, or child and adolescent mental health.

Read the JCPP paper ‘Relative strengths in daily living skills among autistic individuals and individuals with related developmental conditions who have co-occurring intellectual disability' - https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70124
Elaine B. Clarke, Catherine Lord, Vanessa Hus Bal
First published: 28 January 2026

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In this episode of the Mind the Kids podcast, host Mark Tebbs sits down with Emma Butler — an occupational therapist with over 20 years of clinical experience in neonates and paediatrics — to explore one of the most pressing questions in child mental health research: can we predict poor mental health in childhood as early as birth?

Emma, a PhD researcher working across multiple institutions including Trinity College Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and University College Cork, shares findings from her groundbreaking work using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) — one of the world's leading pregnancy cohort studies — to develop a multivariable prediction model for childhood mental health outcomes at age seven.

With children's mental health rising sharply across Europe and England — from one in eleven in 2017 to one in five by 2023 — Emma makes the case for why a preventative, early intervention approach is not just desirable but essential. The conversation covers the growing global burden of childhood mental health disorders, the critical difference between prediction and causation in research, and why psychosocial and socioeconomic factors consistently emerge as the strongest predictors of later poor mental health.

Emma also unpacks a striking finding from her PhD: that fine motor skills measured at just 18 months can predict mental health outcomes at age seven — a discovery with significant implications for early childhood development and infant mental health services.

From the ethics of predictive modelling and the risk of labelling children, to what a tiered, community-based early intervention system could look like in practice, this episode offers a rich, evidence-based discussion for clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and anyone passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people.

Read the paper 'Predicting 7-year-olds mental health in the perinatal period: Development and internal validation of a multivariable model using the prospective ALSPAC cohort' https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.70091
Emma Butler, Michelle Spirtos, Linda M. O’Keeffe, Mary Clarke
First published: 03 January 2026

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In this episode of the Mind the Kids podcast, we explore how adolescents learn from rewards and what this means for depression risk and mental health outcomes. Drawing on longitudinal research from the Temple Adolescent Development Study, our guest breaks down the complex science of reward processing, anhedonia, and reinforcement learning in young people.

Anhedonia—defined as a reduced ability to experience pleasure—is a key symptom across multiple mental health conditions, including depression, and is linked to poorer long-term outcomes. But what actually drives these changes in reward responsiveness during adolescence? And how do differences in learning from rewards and punishments shape emotional development?

We discuss cutting-edge findings using the Iowa Gambling Task and computational modelling to better understand how reward learning evolves between ages 9 and 17. The conversation highlights how adolescents may fine-tune their learning strategies over time, and why subtle differences—particularly in young people at higher risk of depression due to parental history—could have meaningful implications.

This episode is essential listening for clinicians, researchers, and anyone interested in child and adolescent mental health, offering evidence-based insights into how reward systems develop and how they may inform early identification and intervention strategies.

Read the JCPP paper 'Reward-specific learning parameters change across normative adolescent development and are blunted in youth with high risk for depression' at https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70086
Holly Sullivan-Toole, Jeremy M. Haynes, Helen Schmidt, Bart Larsen, Nathaniel Haines, Thomas M. Olino
First published: 22 December 2025

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In this episode of Mind the Kids, the podcast from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), host Clara Faria — academic clinical fellow in child psychiatry — is joined by Dr. Karolin Krause, clinical epidemiologist and measurement scientist at the Center for Research in Epidemiology and Statistics (CRESS), Université Paris Cité.

Dr. Krause shares findings from her recently published paper in JCPP, the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The paper — a scoping umbrella review — systematically maps 80 instruments used to measure life impact in youth mental health research across three interconnected domains: functioning, quality of life, and well-being. Despite major international core outcome set initiatives — including ICHOM and In-ROADS — consistently identifying functioning and quality of life as critical outcomes alongside symptoms, no consensus exists on which instruments to use, and the landscape remains highly fragmented.

The rationale runs deeper than methodology. Outcomes measurement in child and adolescent mental health is foundational to evidence-based, person-centred care. Symptom severity and life impact do not always move in step — the DSM-5 itself requires both symptom threshold and clinically significant impairment for diagnosis, yet instruments frequently conflate the two constructs, making it difficult to track which improves first in treatment and whether the gains that matter most to young people are being captured. Across the 80 instruments identified, the review found wide variation in informant type, length, age range, and developmental setting. More than a quarter were classified differently across reviews — a consequence of unclear construct definitions, limited co-production with young people, and what the paper terms "jingle-jangle fallacies." A notable gap emerges for the 19–24 age group navigating the transition from CAMHS to adult services, for whom no instrument has been specifically validated.

Clara and Karolin discuss why functioning and life impact deserve dedicated measurement separate from symptom scales, the case for self-report over adult-observer-dominated measures, the trade-offs of multi-informant approaches, and a Wellcome-funded project focused on the development of an evidence synthesis platform for patient-reported outcome measure selection aimed at making evidence-based instrument choice more accessible to researchers worldwide”

A must-listen for anyone working in child and adolescent mental health, CAMHS outcomes, youth mental health outcomes measurement, functioning measures, quality of life in children and young people, patient-reported outcome measures, or routine outcome measurement in research and practice.

The the JCPP paper 'Research Review: Measuring life impact of youth mental health difficulties: scoping umbrella review of 80 instruments'
Karolin R. Krause, Sophie Chung, Christiane Konstantopoulos, Terri Rodak, Ana Calderón, Nichol Edwards Snagg, Kristin Cleverley, Nancy J. Butcher, Giovanni A. Salum, Kathleen R. Merikangas, Peter Szatmari
First published: 11 March 2026
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70134

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In this episode of Mind the Kids, the podcast from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), host Clara Faria, academic clinical fellow in child psychiatry, is joined by Dr. Tessa Reardon, research fellow in the departments of experimental psychology and psychiatry at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Reardon shares findings from her recently published paper in JCPP, the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, co-authored with colleagues. Drawing on the My Cats cluster randomised controlled trial, the study recruited children aged four to seven identified as being at heightened risk for anxiety disorders through schools across England. The intervention — known as OSI (Online Support and Intervention for Child Anxiety) — is a parent-led, therapist-supported online cognitive behavioural therapy programme, in which parents work through digital modules of approximately 20 minutes each, supported by brief telephone or video calls with a children's wellbeing practitioner, amounting to around two and a half hours of contact time in total.

The research sits against a backdrop of a growing gap between the need for child mental health support and access to evidence-based care. CAMHS thresholds are high, and many families cannot access help until difficulties are already entrenched — yet anxiety disorders in children can onset as early as age five and a half. Schools offer a distinctive opportunity to reach families before problems escalate, and England's Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) represent a trained, scalable future workforce for delivering this type of early intervention in child mental health.

The primary outcome — anxiety disorder diagnosis at 12 months — showed fewer diagnoses in the intervention group, though the difference did not reach statistical significance. All secondary outcomes were statistically significant, however, including reductions in child anxiety symptoms, inhibited temperament, parental anxiety, and targeted child and parent behaviours. Approximately three quarters of families completed the programme — a notably strong completion rate for a school-recruited, at-risk population who were not actively help-seeking. Qualitative findings, forthcoming, point to broader ripple effects within families beyond the targeted outcomes.

Clara and Tessa discuss why schools were chosen as the recruitment setting; why the integrated practitioner calls in therapist-supported online CBT appear central to completion rates compared with fully self-guided approaches; and what the findings mean for scaling school-based mental health intervention. The conversation also turns to a key challenge ahead — addressing inequalities in participation, particularly among families from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, to ensure the benefits of parent-led CBT reach those who need them most.

A must-listen for anyone working in child anxiety prevention, early intervention, school-based mental health, CBT for young children, CAMHS, or child and adolescent mental health.

Read the JCPP paper 'Parent-led CBT delivered via online and telephone support alongside usual school practice versus usual school practice only for young children identified as at risk for anxiety disorders through screening in schools: a cluster randomised controlled trial'
Tessa Reardon, Obioha C. Ukoumunne, Helen Dodd, Gemma Halliday, Claire Hill, Bec Jasper, Benjamin Jones, Peter J. Lawrence, Fran Morgan, Anna Placzek, Ronald M. Rapee, Mara Violato, Shuye Yu, MYCATS Team, Cathy Creswell   
First published: 19 February 2026
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70119

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In this Mind the Kids podcast, we explore how early childhood vocabulary links to later educational outcomes—and why socioeconomic inequality continues to shape children’s life chances, even when ability appears similar.

Host Clara Faria is joined by Dr. Emma Thornton (University of Manchester) and Professor Danielle Matthews (University of Sheffield) to discuss their research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, they examines whether children with the same early language skills achieve similar GCSE outcomes, and how socioeconomic circumstances influence that trajectory.

The findings challenge simple meritocratic assumptions. While stronger vocabulary at age five predicts better educational attainment overall, this relationship varies significantly across socioeconomic groups. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds have markedly lower chances of achieving key GCSE benchmarks—even with strong early language skills—while those from more advantaged backgrounds are more likely to succeed regardless of early ability.

This conversation unpacks the implications for early intervention, education policy, and equity in child development. It also highlights the need for more targeted, evidence-based support for families and schools, and a deeper understanding of the mechanisms linking early cognitive skills to long-term outcomes.

Read the JCPP paper ‘Unequal educational outcomes for children with similar early childhood vocabulary but different socioeconomic circumstances' https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70117
Emma Thornton, Danielle Matthews, Praveetha Patalay, Colin Bannard
First published: 26 January 2026

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In this episode of Mind the Kids, the podcast from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), host Dr. Clara Faria — academic clinical fellow in child psychiatry — is joined by Alina Marinca, PhD student in Psychological Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and clinical psychologist, whose research is funded by the London Interdisciplinary School of Science Doctoral Training Partnership.

Alina shares findings from her JCPP Advances paper  ‘Sleep disturbance as a transdiagnostic marker of children's mental health difficulties: A network analysis of item-level associations between different types of sleep problems and different behavioural and emotional symptoms'.

The study draws on data from the Development of Emotional Resilience observational cohort — a school-based sample of over 500 primary school children aged 7 to 12 from East London, one of the most ethnically diverse and economically deprived urban cohorts in UK child mental health research.

Using network analysis — a powerful statistical approach that maps relationships between symptoms simultaneously — the study examines how specific sleep problems relate to emotional difficulties (anxiety and depression) and behavioural difficulties (hyperactivity, inattention, and conduct problems) in middle childhood, moving beyond the composite sleep scores that have dominated previous research.

The headline finding is striking: sleep anxiety and general anxiety emerge as the most central, influential nodes in the network — sitting at the core of children's emotional and behavioural difficulties and functioning as a transdiagnostic mechanism across multiple mental health conditions. Emotional symptoms were found to be more tightly interwoven with sleep problems than behavioural symptoms, a developmentally meaningful finding with direct implications for how we assess and treat sleep disturbances in primary school-aged children.

Alina and Clara discuss what this means for school-based mental health intervention, why sleep should no longer be treated as a secondary or peripheral feature of child mental health, and how a modular, targeted approach focusing on sleep-related anxiety could benefit children, parents, educators, and clinicians alike. The episode closes with a preview of Alina's next research phase: a longitudinal network analysis tracking whether these core sleep and anxiety symptoms remain stable over time.

Essential listening for anyone working in child mental health, sleep research, school-based intervention, or child and adolescent psychiatry.

Read the CAMH journal paper ‘Sleep disturbance as a transdiagnostic marker of children's mental health difficulties: A network analysis of item-level associations between different types of sleep problems and different behavioural and emotional symptoms'
Alina A. Marinca, Julia E. Michalek, Alice M. Gregory, Afia Ali, Jennifer Y. F. Lau
First published: 04 March 2026 https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.70104

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In this episode of Mind the Kids, the podcast from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), host Dr. Clara Faria — academic clinical fellow in child psychiatry — is joined by Professor Lauren Kenworthy, Division Chief, Neuropsychology Director, Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders Pediatric Neuropsychologist, at the Children's National Hospital, based in Washington DC.

Professor Kenworthy shares findings from her landmark study, 'Executive Function Challenges Persist into Young Adulthood and Predict Mental Health Outcomes in Autism', published in JCPP — ACAMH's flagship peer-reviewed journal. Drawing on over 300 autistic individuals and more than 900 observations spanning ages 2 to 25, this is one of the most comprehensive longitudinal investigations into executive function trajectories and mental health outcomes in autism to date.

The episode unpacks what executive functions are — the brain-based cognitive abilities governing flexibility, working memory, and impulse control — and why they matter so profoundly for the mental health of autistic young people. With approximately 70% of autistic children and 63% of autistic adults experiencing mental health challenges at any given time, Professor Kenworthy explains why understanding the relationship between executive dysfunction and depression and anxiety in autism is not just academically important, but urgent.

Among the most striking findings: executive function challenges — particularly cognitive inflexibility — remain clinically elevated from early childhood all the way through young adulthood, persisting even in young people who have had access to clinical support. Anxiety symptoms worsen significantly for autistic girls, with measurable divergence from their male peers emerging around age 12 — a finding with major implications for autism diagnosis, gender differences in autism, and targeted mental health intervention.

Professor Kenworthy also shares her work developing Unstuck and On Target, a school-based executive function intervention designed to be delivered by educators — not just clinicians — addressing the urgent need for scalable, real-world, evidence-based autism support in schools. The conversation covers participatory research, the 12-year evidence-to-implementation gap, the limits of existing interventions including ABA, and why autistic voices must be central to the future of autism research and intervention design.

Essential listening for clinicians, researchers, educators, and anyone with a stake in autism mental health, early intervention, and neurodevelopmental research.

Read the paper 'Executive function challenges persist into young adulthood and predict mental health outcomes in autism' https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.70149
Lauren Kenworthy, Lauren Baczewski, Alan H. Gerber, Cara E. Pugliese, A. Chelsea Armour, Kelsey D. Csumitta, Gabrielle E. Reimann, Caroline Candy, Gregory L. Wallace, Matthew S. Fritz
First published: 11 April 2026

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This episode of the Mind the Kids podcast features Dr. Joanne Park, clinical psychologist and Principal Investigator of the Parenting Resilient Kids (Park) Lab at Mount Royal University, Canada. Hosted by Clara Faria, the conversation explores emerging research on “climate worry” in early adolescence, drawing on Dr. Park’s recent publication in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Dr. Park examines whether concerns about climate change represent a distinct psychological construct or are simply an extension of generalised anxiety. The discussion unpacks the difference between affective climate worry—emotional responses to climate change—and cognitive climate worry, which reflects more developed fears about future impact. Importantly, the findings suggest that climate worry is not only common among younger adolescents but may also have unique associations with wellbeing, independent of general anxiety.

The episode also highlights key developmental, social, and gender-related factors shaping how young people experience climate-related distress. Dr. Park discusses why girls and gender-diverse adolescents may report higher levels of climate worry, and considers how clinicians, educators, and parents can respond without over-pathologising what may be a rational reaction to the climate crisis.

This conversation is essential listening for clinicians, researchers, and educators interested in child and adolescent mental health, particularly those working with anxiety, emotional development, and the psychological impact of global challenges. It also offers practical insight into how to support young people in managing climate-related concerns through adaptive coping and resilience-building strategies.

Read the CAMH journal paper ‘Prevalence, conceptual distinctiveness, and cross-sectional correlates of climate worry in Canadian adolescents’ - https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.70076
Joanne L. Park, Audrey-Ann Deneault, Brae Anne McArthur, Suzanne Tough, Sheri Madigan
First published: 18 February 2026

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In this episode of the Mind the Kids, Clara Faria speaks with Professor Nathalie Auger and Professor Howard Steiger about new research exploring how maternal anorexia nervosa may influence children’s mental health and neurodevelopment.

Using a large population-based cohort, the study examines links between maternal eating disorders and outcomes such as anorexia nervosa, attentional difficulties, and other psychiatric risks in offspring. The discussion highlights the role of genetic vulnerability, environmental exposure, and epigenetic mechanisms, offering a nuanced understanding of how risk is transmitted across generations.

The episode also considers important clinical implications, including the benefits of early treatment, the importance of reducing stigma, and how supporting maternal mental health can improve outcomes for future generations.

A must-listen for professionals in child and adolescent mental health, psychiatry, psychology, and anyone interested in eating disorders and developmental research.

Read the CAMH journal paper ‘Maternal anorexia nervosa and risk of mental and neurodevelopmental morbidity in offspring'
Sam Amar, Gabriel Côté-Corriveau, Mimi Israël, Howard Steiger, Nancy Low, Nicholas Chadi, Émilie Brousseau, Nahantara Lafleur, Nathalie Auger
First published: 02 December 2025 https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.70051

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