Fieke Vlaeminck

I am Fieke Vlaeminck and obtained my master’s degree in Clinical Psychology in 2018. I wrote my master thesis on sensory features and temperament of young children at elevated likelihood for developing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This was such a fascinating experience to me, that I decided to keep working on this subject after my studies, as a doctoral student at the developmental disorders lab.

More specifically, I started working on the Babystudy, a longitudinal follow-up study in which preterm born children, siblings of children with ASD, and siblings of typically developping children were followed up from 0 to 3 years old. During my doctoral project, I will see all of these children when they are 8 years old. I’m particularly interested in their social-emotional wellbeing (anxiety, depression, self-esteem, emotion regulation, peer relations, …) and the stability of an early ASD diagnosis. I will furthermore map possible early predictors of school-age difficulties.

Better insight into the school-age functioning of these children at elevated likelihood for ASD could improve clinical guidelines on diagnosis and (subtype-specific and prodromal) interventions. And, according to me, that is what makes the project so valuable.

E-mail: fieke.vlaeminck@ugent.be

Publications:

Vlaeminck, F., Vermeirsch, J., Verhaeghe, L., Warreyn, P., & Roeyers, H. (2020). Predicting cognitive development and early symptoms of autism spectrum disorder in preterm children: The value of temperament and sensory processing. Infant Behavior and Development, 59. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101442