Dr Katherine Ellis
Academic and research departments
Development, Education, Language and Outreach in Psychology (DevELOP) Research Group, School of Psychology.About
Biography
I graduated 2013 with a First Class Honours Degree in Psychology at the University of Birmingham. She completed her third year dissertation project with Prof. Chris Oliver at the Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, investigating social anxiety and social motivation behaviours in Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. This led to a PhD also at the Cerebra Centre, investigating the developmental trajectory of social behaviours and sociocognitive skills, such as theory of mind, across rare genetic syndromes, specifically Cornelia de Lange, Fragile X syndrome and Rubenstein-Taybi syndrome.
I now oversee a Baily Thomas funded project with Dr Jo Moss, characterising social behaviours and socio-cognitive profiles in autistic children and children with Fragile X syndrome and Cornelia de Lange syndrome.
Prior to joining this project, my first postdoctoral position was at Aston University and the Aston Brain Centre as part of the PROBIt project. The aim of the project was to create a model including risk and resilience factors that can predict individual long-term neurobehavioural outcomes in children with early brain insults, by combining computational modelling, neuroimaging and clinical neuropsychology.
ResearchResearch interests
My research aims to understand social and emotional difficulties experienced by individuals with genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability and autism. To date, my research has focused on how differences in social cognition, as well as sensory processing, may underpin differences in social and emotional functioning observed in these groups. I hope to develop sensitive diagnostic tools and targeted interventions based on detailed descriptions of causal mechanisms between genetic abnormality, to neurobiological and cognitive phenotypes, and behaviour within each syndrome.
Research interests
My research aims to understand social and emotional difficulties experienced by individuals with genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability and autism. To date, my research has focused on how differences in social cognition, as well as sensory processing, may underpin differences in social and emotional functioning observed in these groups. I hope to develop sensitive diagnostic tools and targeted interventions based on detailed descriptions of causal mechanisms between genetic abnormality, to neurobiological and cognitive phenotypes, and behaviour within each syndrome.
Publications
Highlights
Ellis, K., Lewington, P., Powis, L., Oliver, C., Waite, J., Heald, M., Apperly, I., Sandhu, P., & Crawford, H. (2020). Scaling of early social cognitive skills in typically developing infants and children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04449-9
Ellis, K., Oliver, C., Stefanidou, C., Apperly, I., & Moss, J. (2020). An observational study of social interaction skills and behaviors in Cornelia de Lange, fragile X and Rubinstein-Taybi syndromes. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04440-4
Oliver, C., Royston, R., Crawford, H., Moss, J., Waite, J., Arron, K., Burbidge, C., Ellis, K., Nelson, L., Ross, E., Russell, H., & Welham, A. (2019). Informant assessments of behaviour and affect for people with intellectual disability. University of Birmingham
King, D., Ellis, K. R., Seri, S., Wood, A. G. (2019). A systematic review of cross-sectional differences and longitudinal changes to the morphometry of the brain following paediatric traumatic brain injury. Neuroimage clinical, 23, doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101844
We directly assessed the broader aspects of sociability (social enjoyment, social motivation, social interaction skills and social discomfort) in individuals with Cornelia de Lange (CdLS), fragile X (FXS) and Rubinstein-Taybi syndromes (RTS), and their association with autism characteristics and chronological age in these groups. Individuals with FXS (p < 0.01) and RTS (p < 0.01) showed poorer quality of eye contact compared to individuals with CdLS. Individuals with FXS showed less person and more object attention than individuals with CdLS (p < 0.01). Associations between sociability and autism characteristics and chronological age differed between groups, which may indicate divergence in the development and aetiology of different components of sociability across these groups. Findings indicate that individuals with CdLS, FXS and RTS show unique profiles of sociability.
We delineate the sequence that typically developing infants pass tasks that assess different early social cognitive skills considered precursors to theory-of-mind abilities. We compared this normative sequence to performance on these tasks in a group of autistic (AUT) children. 86 infants were administered seven tasks assessing intention reading and shared intentionality (Study 1). Infants responses followed a consistent developmental sequence, forming a four-stage scale. These tasks were administered to 21 AUT children (Study 2), who passed tasks in the same sequence. However, performance on tasks that required following others' eye gaze and cooperating with others was delayed. Findings indicate that earlier-developing skills provide a foundation for later-developing skills, and difficulties in acquiring some early social cognitive skills in AUT children.
Cornelia de Lange (CdLS), Fragile X (FXS) and Rubinstein-Taybi syndromes (RTS) evidence unique profiles of autistic characteristics. To delineate these profiles further, the development of early social cognitive abilities in children with CdLS, FXS and RTS was compared to that observed in typically developing (TD) and autistic (AUT) children. Children with CdLS (N = 22), FXS (N = 19) and RTS (N = 18), completed the Early Social Cognition Scale (ESCogS). Extant data from AUT (N = 19) and TD (N = 86) children were used for comparison. Similar to AUT children, children with CdLS, FXS and RTS showed an overall delay in passing ESCogS tasks. Children with CdLS showed a similar degree of delay to AUT children and greater delay than children with FXS and RTS. The CdLS, FXS and RTS groups did not pass tasks in the same sequence observed in TD and AUT children. Children with CdLS (p = 0.04), FXS (p = 0.02) and RTS (p = 0.04) performed better on tasks requiring understanding simple intentions in others significantly more than tasks requiring joint attention skills. An underlying mechanism other than general cognitive delay may be disrupting early social cognitive development in children with CdLS, FXS and RTS. Factors that may disrupt early social cognitive development within these syndromes are discussed.
Background Individuals with genetic syndromes show unique profiles of repetitive behaviours and restricted interests (RRBs). The executive dysfunction account of RRBs suggests that in autistic (AUT) individuals executive function impairments underpin RRBs, but not communication and social interaction autistic characteristics. Aims To 1) describe profiles of behavioural manifestations of executive function (EF behaviours) and 2) explore the relationship between EF behaviours and autistic traits across individuals with Cornelia de Lange (CdLS), fragile X (FXS) and Rubinstein-Taybi syndromes (RTS), and AUT individuals. Method Carers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version and the Social Communication Questionnaire. Data reporting on 25 individuals with CdLS (Mage = 18.60, SD = 8.94), 25 with FXS (Mage = 18.48, SD = 8.80), 25 with RTS (Mage = 18.60, SD = 8.65) and 25 AUT individuals (Mage = 18.52, SD = 8.65) matched on chronological age and adaptive ability were included in analyses. Results All groups showed impairments across EF behaviours compared to two-to-three-year-old typically developing normative samples with no differences between groups. Different EF behaviours predicted RRBs in the syndrome groups with no associations found in the AUT group. Conclusions Syndrome related differences should be considered when developing targeted interventions that focus on EF behaviours and/or RRBs in these groups.