Dr Elisabeth Hill BSc PhD CPsychol
Position held:
Reader / Head of Research
Phone:
+44 (0)20 7919 7886
Fax:
+44 (0)20 7919 7873
Email:
e.hill (@gold.ac.uk)
Room 202/2 Whitehead Building,
Psychology Department,
Goldsmiths, University of London,
New Cross, SE14 6NW
Office hours:
By appointment.
Neurodevelopmental disorders, developmental co-ordination disorder, autism spectrum disorder, the relationship between social and motor development in typical and atypical populations, the role of alexithymia in neurodevelopmental disorders, mental health in adults with neurodevelopmental disorders, employment experiences of adults with neurodevelopmental disorders and those caring for a child with a neurodevelopmental disorder
Teaching
BSc Psychology
PS52004B: Developmental Psychology; PS52007A: Research Methods in Psychology; PS53002C: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience; PS53012A: Research Project; PS53031A: Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Course Co-ordinator)
MSc Cognitive & Clinical Neuroscience
PS71040A: Biological Aspects of Brain Function; PS71044A: Developmental Cognitive Neuropsychology (Course Co-ordinator); PS71045A: Research Project (Course-Co-ordinator)
MSc Foundations in Clinical Psychology & Health Services
PS71056A: Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Course Co-ordinator)
Areas of supervision
Developmental co-ordination disorder.
Co-occurring biological, cognitive and/or behavioural features across neurodevelopmental disorders.
Relationships between motor development and other aspects of development (e.g. social interaction, language, cognitive ability) in typical and atypical populations.
Mental health in adults and children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Alexithymia in autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Employment experiences in adults with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Grants & awards
Much of my research has been funded through small grants from a variety of organisations as well as larger grants and through unfunded work in collaboration with a range of individuals and organisations including The British Academy, The Royal Society, ESRC, The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, Prospects Employment Agency, The Wellcome Trust and the Experimental Psychology Society. I have been working with the Progress Educational Trust on the Spectrum of Opinion project (funded by The Wellcome Trust; see http://www.progress.org.uk/page_58324.asp) in which we have developed materials aimed at raising awareness of issues relating to genes, autism and psychological spectrum disorders (see http://www.progress.org.uk/page_58594.asp). We are also working with the BASIS team (http://www.basisnetwork.org/)to investigate the relationships between early motor development and social outcomes. I am involved in part of the work funded by a large grant awarded by the European Research Council to Dr. Andy Bremner (http://www.gold.ac.uk/psychology/staff/bremner/), and I am working with the Dr Antonia Hamilton's lab (http://www.antoniahamilton.com/) at the University of Nottingham on a project investigating the underlying cognitive causes of autism and dyspraxia.
Sample grants awarded:
Hamilton, A. & Hill, E.L. Autism and dyspraxia: A common cognitive cause? The Waterloo Foundation (2011-2013).
Hill, E.L. The impact of motor development on social and educational outcomes in early childhood: a pilot study. The Nuffield Foundation (2011).
Hill, E.L. Evaluating the relationship between the development of motor skills and social behaviour: A prospective study. The British Academy (2010-2011).
Hill, E.L. DCD as a translational impairment. The Experimental Psychology Society (2009-2010).
Hill, E.L. The Autism & Employment Study. The Wellcome Trust (2007).
Custance, D., Heaton, P. & Hill, E.L. Object-directed motor imitation in children with autism. ESRC (2007).
Hill, E.L. & Bremner, A. Cross-modal representations of visual/tactual space in typical children and children with developmental coordination disorder. The British Academy (2006–2007).
Hill, E.L. & Bremner, A. Cross-modal representations of visual/tactual space in typical children and children with developmental coordination disorder. University of London, Central Research Fund (2006–2007).
Hill, E.L. Defining the pattern of cognitive function and dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders Royal Society Research Grant (2004–2005).
Research interests
My research concerns cognitive dysfunction across and within neurodevelopmental disorders. Overall, my research has both theoretical and applied (educational and clinical) aims and benefits. My work falls into the following strands:
- Cognitive dysfunction in developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including executive functions, motor skill and the cognitive processing of emotions (including alexithymia) in children and adults with ASD, as well as their relatives. Interactions between these domains, and depression and anxiety, are also being investigated.
- The Autism & Employment Study, set up with Dr. Joanna Yarker. This study is evaluating the employment experiences of adults with ASD, as well as of parents of a child with ASD. With Dr. Alice Jones, we have recently extended it to focus also on neurodevelopmental disorders other than ASD (The Employment & Developmental Disorders Study). I am also working with the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities and Prospects Employment Service on this topic. Read our **new** HR factsheet on ASD, employment and mental health, including 'Top Tips' and case studies at: http://eprints.goldsmiths.ac.uk/
- The profile of motor difficulties in children and adults with developmental coordination disorder (DCD, often referred to as dyspraxia), and its relationship to socio-emotional difficulties and mental health issues.
- Investigating co-occurring symptoms in neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular the nature and extent of limb coordination impairments in disorders such as DCD, ASD and specific language impairment. On-going work has shown, for example, that children with a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders experience widespread difficulties in many areas of limb coordination. This has implications for both theoretical accounts of the disorders and methods of providing support in education and daily life situations.
Interested in participating in my research?
- The Autism & Employment study
- The Employment & Developmental Disorders study (see http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/alicejones/)
- Motor difficulties in neurodevelopmental disorders.
If you (or your child) have an autism spectrum disorder, developmental coordination disorder (often called dyspraxia) or specific language impairment please contact me on e.hill (@gold.ac.uk), or 020 7919 7886, for information about on-going research studies.
Selected publications
Hill, Elisabeth L., McIntosh, Barbara and Perkins, David. 2011. Reaching and understanding. The HR & Training Journal, 10(1), pp. 89-91. ISSN 1755-3520 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L., Dockery, Lisa, Perkins, David and McIntosh, Barbara. 2011. ASD, Employment and Mental Health. [Printed Ephemera]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Barnett, Anna. 2011. Movement difficulties in children. Psychologist, 24(1), pp. 34-37. [Article]
Pratt, Michelle L. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2011. Anxiety profiles in children with and without developmental coordination disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32(4), pp. 1253-1259. ISSN 08914222 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L., Crane, Laura and Bremner, Andrew J.. 2011. Developmental disorders and multisensory perception. In: Andrew J. Bremner, David J. Lewkowicz and Charles Spence, eds. Multisensory Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Book Section]
Sinani, Charikleia, Sugden, David A. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2011. Gesture production in school vs. clinical samples of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and typically developing children. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32(4), pp. 1270-1282. ISSN 08914222 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L., Brown, Duncan and Sorgardt, Sophia K.. 2011. A Preliminary Investigation of Quality of Life Satisfaction Reports in Emerging Adults With and Without Developmental Coordination Disorder. Journal of Adult Development, online. ISSN 1068-0667 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2010. The importance of motor skill in general development. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 52(10), p. 888. ISSN 00121622 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2010. Motor difficulties in specific language impairment: evidence for the Iverson account? – a commentary on Iverson's ‘Developing language in a developing body: the relationship between motor development and language development’*. Journal of Child Language, 37(2), pp. 287-292. ISSN 0305-0009 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2009. Understanding the autism spectrum. Bionews, [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2009. Autism spectrum disorder as a lifelong condition. Bionews, 529, [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Collins, Alice. 2009. Book Review: Asperger Syndrome and Employment by Genevieve Edmonds and Luke Beardon (eds). London: Jessica Kingsley, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84310-648-7 pbk. 176 pp. Autism, 13(4), pp. 457-461. ISSN 1362-3613 [Article]
Allen, Rory, Hill, Elisabeth L. and Heaton, Pam F.. 2009. `Hath charms to soothe . . .': An exploratory study of how high-functioning adults with ASD experience music. Autism, 13(1), pp. 21-41. ISSN 1362-3613 [Article]
White, S.J., Burgess, P.W. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2009. Impairments on "open-ended" executive function tests in autism. Autism Research, 2(3), pp. 138-147. [Article]
White, S.J., Hill, Elisabeth L., Happe, F.G.E. and Frith, U.. 2009. Revisiting the strange stories: revealing mentalizing impairments in autism. Child Development, 80(4), pp. 1097-1117. [Article]
Allen, Rory, Hill, Elisabeth L. and Heaton, Pam F.. 2009. The Subjective Experience of Music in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169(1), pp. 326-331. ISSN 00778923 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Khanem, Fateha. 2009. The development of hand preference in children: The effect of task demands and links with manual dexterity. Brain and Cognition, 71(2), pp. 99-107. ISSN 02782626 [Article]
Heaton, Pam F., Hudry, K., Ludlow, A. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2008. Superior discrimination of speech pitch and its relationship to verbal ability in autism spectrum disorders. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 25, pp. 771-782. [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2007. Executive functioning in autism spectrum disorder: where it fits in the causal model. In: M. McGregor, M. Nunez, K. Williams and J-C. Gomez, eds. An Integrated View of Autism: Perspectives from Neurocognitive, Clinical and Intervention Research. Oxford: Blackwells. [Book Section]
Zoia, Stefania, Barnett, Anna, Wilson, Peter and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2006. Developmental Coordination Disorder: current issues. Child: Care, Health and Development, 32(6), pp. 613-618. ISSN 0305-1862 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Bird, Chris M.. 2006. Executive processes in Asperger syndrome: Patterns of performance in a multiple case series. Neuropsychologia, 44(14), pp. 2822-2835. ISSN 00283932 [Article]
Sally, David and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2006. The development of interpersonal strategy: Autism, theory-of-mind, cooperation and fairness. Journal of Economic Psychology, 27(1), pp. 73-97. [Article]
White, Sarah, Hill, Elisabeth L., Winston, Joel and Frith, Uta. 2006. An islet of social ability in Asperger Syndrome: Judging social attributes from faces. Brain and Cognition, 61(1), pp. 69-77. ISSN 02782626 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2005. The planning and organisation of action and activities of daily living in developmental coordination disorder. In: David A. Sugden and M. Chambers, eds. Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. London: Whurr Publishers, pp. 47-71. ISBN 978-1-86156-458-0 [Book Section]
Berthoz, Sylvie and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2005. The validity of using self-reports to assess emotion regulation abilities in adults with autism spectrum disorder. European Psychiatry, 20(3), pp. 291-298. ISSN 09249338 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L., Berthoz, Sylvie and Frith, Uta. 2004. Brief Report: Cognitive Processing of Own Emotions in Individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and in Their Relatives. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(2), pp. 229-235. [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L., Sally, David and Frith, Uta. 2004. Does Mentalising Ability Influence Cooperative Decision-making in a Social Dilemma? Introspective Evidence from a Study of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 11(7-8), pp. 144-161. [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2004. Evaluating the theory of executive dysfunction in autism. Developmental Review, 24(2), pp. 189-233. ISSN 02732297 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2004. Executive dysfunction in autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(1), pp. 26-32. ISSN 13646613 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Frith, U.. 2004. Understanding autism: insights from mind and brain. In: U. Frith and Elisabeth L. Hill, eds. Autism: Mind and Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-19. [Book Section]
Frith, U. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2003. Autism: Mind and Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198529244 [Book]
Frith, U. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2003. Editorial. Autism: Mind and Brain. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society Series B, 358, pp. 277-280. [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Frith, Uta. 2003. Understanding autism: insights from mind and brain. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society Series B, 358(1430), pp. 281-289. [Article]
Russell, J., Hala, S. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2003. The automated windows task: the performance of preschool children, children with autism, and children with moderate learning difficulties. Cognitive Development, 18(1), pp. 111-137. [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Russell, J.. 2002. Action memory and self-monitoring in children with autism: self versus other. Infant and Child Development, 11(2), pp. 159-170. ISSN 1522-7227 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Frith, Uta. 2002. Understanding autism: insights from mind and brain. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 358(1430), pp. 281-289. ISSN 09628436 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Russell, James. 2001. Action-monitoring and intention reporting in children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42(3), pp. 317-328. ISSN 00219630 [Article]
Russell, J. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 2001. Action-monitoring and Intention Reporting in Children with Autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42(3), pp. 317-328. ISSN 0021-9630 [Article]
Russell, J., Hill, Elisabeth L. and Franco, F.. 2001. The role of belief veracity in understanding intentions-in-action Preschool children's performance on the transparent intentions task. Cognitive Development, 16(3), pp. 775-792. ISSN 08852014 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Wing, A.M.. 1999. Coordination of Grip Force and Load Force in Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Case Study. Neurocase, 5(6), pp. 537-544. [Article]
Russell, J., Saltmarsh, R. and Hill, Elisabeth L.. 1999. What Do Executive Factors Contribute to the Failure on False Belief Tasks by Children with Autism? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40(6), pp. 859-868. ISSN 0021-9630 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Wing, A.M.. 1999. The use of grip force to compensate for inertial forces during voluntary movement. In: K. Connolly, ed. The Psychobiology of the Hand. London: Mac Keith Press, pp. 199-212. [Book Section]
Hill, Elisabeth L. and Bishop, Dorothy V.. 1998. A Reaching Test Reveals Weak Hand Preference in Specific Language Impairment and Developmental Co-ordination Disorder. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 3(4), pp. 295-310. ISSN 1357-650X [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L., Bishop, Dorothy V. and Nimmo-Smith, Ian. 1998. Representational gestures in Developmental Coordination Disorder and specific language impairment: Error-types and the reliability of ratings. Human Movement Science, 17(4-5), pp. 655-678. ISSN 01679457 [Article]
Hill, Elisabeth L.. 1998. A dyspraxic deficit in specific language impairment and developmental coordination disorder? Evidence from hand and arm movements. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 40(6), pp. 388-395. [Article]