About Us

Prior to his retirement from Monash University in 2012 he was the Foundation Head, School of Psychology and Psychiatry and Head of the Discipline of Psychological Medicine at Monash University from 1990 and continues as the Senior Clinical Advisor of the Mental Health Program of Monash Health at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne, Australia.  He has a distinguished record of clinical work, teaching and research in child psychiatry.  He established the internationally recognised Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology. He continues to have clinical, research and teaching interests in the area of developmental psychiatry with a particular focus in the areas of Autism Spectrum Disorders and behavioural and emotional disturbance in children and adolescents with intellectual disability and neurodevelopmental disorders, parent education and skills training public mental health interventions, and treatment outcome studies in childhood anxiety and depressive disorders. Together with Assoc. Professor Avril Brereton he established the “Time for a Future” Centre for Child Development, at Woodend, in 2007.This Centre continues  to provide multidisciplinary child and adolescent and family mental health services in regional Victoria. Since 2019 he continues to consult at  the “Time for a Future” clinic.

Publications include: 13 books; 65 book chapters; 310 reviewed papers; 23 videos; 8 manuals and numerous invited addresses and competitive grant funding of $35M.  He is editor of the Handbook of Studies on Child Psychiatry (Elsevier), co-author of the book I just want you to be happy: preventing and tackling teenage depression (Allen and Unwin), a co-author of Autism: the early years (Jessica Kingsley Press), author of the Draw a Dream child mental state assessment technique, and co-author of the Developmental Behaviour Checklist, an instrument which assesses behavioural and emotional problems in children and adolescents with intellectual disability.  This instrument is widely used in clinical and research settings both in Australia and internationally.  He is the recipient of the Minister of Mental Health Victorian Public Healthcare Award for “Outstanding Individual Achievement in Mental Healthcare” in 2009, the RANZCP 2010 Meritorious Award for “Outstanding contribution to Psychiatry over many years”, the 2010 ASPR Founder’s Medal for “Contribution of significance to psychiatric research throughout career”, the 2010 Monash University David de Kretser Medal for exceptional contribution to the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences , the Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists , VCPA, July 2011, and the RANZCP Citation 2019. He was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia in 2023 for his contribution to research and education in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Professor Tonge is in the process of retiring from clinical practice and consults on our neurodevelopmental assessment teams.

Avril is an Early Childhood/Special Educator and Associate Professor, Honorary Fellow, at the School of Psychology, Deakin University. She was also Senior Research Fellow in the Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology 2000-2017. She has worked in the field of autism since 1978 in a variety of settings. She has research and teaching interests in the area of developmental psychiatry with a particular focus on Autism Spectrum Disorder and behavioural and emotional disturbance in children and adolescents with intellectual disability. Relevant publications over the past 10 years include: 15 books/book chapters; 76 papers/articles; 5 training manuals and videos, including Autism in the Preschool Years; ASDs: Planning a successful transition to school, and many invited addresses. She is co-author of the book Pre-schoolers with Autism: A parent education and skills training programme (Jessica Kingsley Press) and developed the Autism Screening Algorithm of the Developmental Behaviour Checklist, an instrument which assesses behavioural and emotional problems in children and adolescents with developmental delay. Together with Professor Bruce Tonge she established the Time for a Future Centre for Child Development at Woodend, Victoria in 2007. This centre continues to provide  multidisciplinary child and adolescent and family mental health services particularly to families living in regional Victoria.

Previous positions include: Principal Kingsgrove School for Children with Autism (Sydney, NSW). Director of the Monash Autism Assessment Program, Southern Health, responsible for public sector autism assessments in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne and Gippsland. Director of the Government of Victoria, Autism Secondary Consultation and Training Strategy (ACT NOW) which for eight years built skills and capacity to enable regional early childhood intervention services to better identify ASDs in at risk young children and provide a more integrated range of evidence based early interventions for these children and their families. Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital International teaching programme in Vietnam. Journal reviewer for: Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, International Journal of Autism: Research and Practice and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Content reviewer and ASD factsheet author for the Commonwealth of Australia Raising Children Network website, and the Victorian Government Department of Education.

Avril currently provides consultation to families and children with ASD, community health, education and welfare agencies and educational workshops for parents and professionals. More recently she has been working with grandparents of children with ASD in group support and education programmes. She is a registered service provider with the NDIS.