Bio

Bio

Dr. Yun-Ju (Claire) Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Chang Gung University in Taiwan. Her research research spans occupational science/therapy, developmental psychology/psychopathology, and psychiatry, with a focus on the diverse behavioral manifestations across the lifespan among individuals on the neurodevelopmental spectrum to inform early identification and the provision of tailored support.

Current Focus Areas

Current Focus Areas

• Early identification and measurement: Improving early detection of autism by refining behavioral and developmental measures and examining their psychometric properties using advanced quantitative methods (e.g., item response theory, structural equation modeling).
• Developmental heterogeneity and trajectories: Characterizing heterogeneity in autism by modeling longitudinal trajectories across domains such as core autism features, adaptive functioning, sensory differences, and emotional-behavioral outcomes.
• Cross-cultural and contextual perspectives: Investigating how cultural, family, and service contexts shape the expression and developmental course of autism, with a particular focus on East Asian and multinational cohorts.

Career Highlights

Career Highlights

• Leads the Taiwan site of the Pediatric Autism Research Cohort (PARC), in collaboration with sites in Canada and Israel, examining developmental trajectories in autism across childhood.
• Proficient in longitudinal methodology and advanced quantitative methods, including latent growth and mixture models, to characterize heterogeneity and developmental change in autism.
• Authored multiple peer-reviewed publications in leading journals (e.g., Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Child Development, Autism Research, Development and Psychopathology) using large population-based and clinical cohorts.