Development and Lifespan Group

Find out more about our group members on their profile pages.

• Dr Ruth Ford - Lead
• Dr Dean D’Souza
• Dr Sarah Kuppen
• Dr John Lambie
• Dr Steven Stagg
• Dr Elena Sakkalou
• Dr Elizabeth Kirk
• Dr Michael Wilby (Philosophy)

• Sara Gowers
• Lilla Gyimes
• Fiona Howe
• Fathima Kodakkadan
• Li-Huan Tan

• Manuela Stets
• Stefania Cangemi

Congratulations to Dr Dean D'Souza for press coverage of his new paper on bilingualism in infants. It was picked up by 16 international and national news outlets and 6 radio stations including BBC World Service, LBC News, and talkRADIO. The paper is entitled, 'Is mere exposure enough? The effects of bilingual environments on infant cognitive development'.

Dean D'Souza has a new publication on sleep problems and the link between sleep and language in very young children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study is the first to examine the relationship among children with Down's, Fragile X and Williams syndrome. The paper is entitled, 'Sleep is atypical across neurodevelopmental disorders in infants and toddlers: A cross-syndrome study'.

Dean D'Souza has had a paper published in Developmental Science identifying a previously unknown attentional impairment in infants with Down syndrome. The paper is entitled, 'Attentional abilities constrain language development: A cross-syndrome infant/toddler study'.

Belcher, H.L., Morein-Zamir, S., Mandy, W. and Ford, R.M., 2021. Camouflaging Intent, First Impressions, and Age of ASC Diagnosis in Autistic Men and Women. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, pp.1-14. doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-05221-3

D’Souza, D. & D’Souza, H., 2021. Bilingual adaptations in early development. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2021.06.002

Stagg, S., Tan, L.H. & Kodakkadan, F. 2021. Emotion Recognition and Context in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, pp.1-9.

Stagg, S. & Kiss, N., 2021. Room to read: The effect of extra-large letter spacing and coloured overlays on reading speed and accuracy in adolescents with dyslexia. Research in Developmental Disabilities, p.104065.

Nicholson, C., Finlay, W.M.L. & Stagg, S., 2021. Forms of resistance in people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Sociology of Health & Illness. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13246

D'Souza, D., Brady, D., Haensel, J.X. and D'Souza, H., 2020. Is mere exposure enough? The effects of bilingual environments on infant cognitive development. Royal Society Open Science, 7(2). doi: 10.1098/rsos.180191

D'Souza, D., D’Souza, H., Horváth, K., Plunkett, K. & Karmiloff-Smith, A., 2020. Sleep is atypical across neurodevelopmental disorders in infants and toddlers: A cross-syndrome study. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 2020; 97: 103549. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103549

D'Souza, D., D'Souza, H., Jones, E.J. & Karmiloff‐Smith, A., 2020. Attentional abilities constrain language development: A cross-syndrome infant/toddler study. Developmental Science, 23(6), p.e12961. doi: 10.1111/desc.12961