Jill Boucher

Information:	Jill Boucher
Specialism:	Developmental Psychology, Autism Research Group
Email:	Jill.Boucher.1@city.ac.uk

I trained as a Speech and Language Therapist after a short period playing around on the fringes of professional theatre. My work as an SLT led to an interest in the neuropsychology of language disorders, which I wanted to pursue in greater depth than possible with a vocational training. I took a degree in Psychology and Philosophy at Oxford as a mature student, then did a PhD at Birmingham University. This was on autism, the topic that has been may major research area subsequently. Periods of child rearing then alternated with part-time research and occasional lecturing at Warwick University. In 1988 I went to the University of Sheffield to head up what was then a small unit training SLTs, situated with the Psychology Department.

Over a period of 10 years I contributed to building this unit into an independent, multidisciplinary department. I then returned to Warwick with Honorary status; and most recently took up formal work again at City, in the Autism Research Group. Here, I am employed part-time, on a research-only contract.

Interests

Neurodevelopmental disorders, especially autistic spectrum disorders, specific language impairment, and learning disability; the roles of memory, language and learning in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Recent Publications

Boucher, J. & Bowler. D.M. (2008). Memory in Autism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Boucher, J. (2008). Autism: Description, Explanation, and Practical Issues. London: Sage.

Williams, D., Botting, N., & Boucher, J., (2008). Language in autism and specific language impairment: Where are the links? Psychological Bulletin, 134, 944-963.

Boucher, J., Bigham, S., Mayes, A., & Muskett, T. (2008). Recognition and language in low functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1259-1269.

Boucher, J. Pons, F., Lind, S. & Williams, D. (2007). Temporal Cognition in Low Functioning Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 1413-1429.

Boucher, J. (2007). Memory and generativity in very high functioning autism. Autism, 11, 255-264.
Rippon, G., Brock, J., Brown, C. & Boucher, J. (2007). Disordered connectivity in the autistic brain. Challenges for the 'new psychophysiology'. International Journal of Psychophysiology,63, 164-172.

Boucher, J. (2006). Is the search for a unitary explanation of autism justified? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 289.

Perkins, M., Dobbinson, S., Boucher, J., Bol, S., & Bloom, P. (2006). Lexical knowledge and lexical use in autism. J. Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 795-805.

Bott, L., Brock, J., Brockdorff, N., Boucher, J. & Lamberts, K. (2006). Perceptual similarity in autism. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 1237-54.

Brock, J., Brown, G.D.A. & Boucher, J. (2006). Free recall in Williams syndrome: Is there a dissociation between short- and long-term memory? Cortex, 42, 366-375.

Boucher, J., Mayes, A., Cowell, P., Broks, P., Farrant, A., & Roberts, N. (2005). A combined clinical, neuropsychological and neuroanatomical study of adults with high functioning autism. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. 10, 165-214.

Brown, C.C., Gruber, T., Boucher, J., Rippon, G. & Brock, J. (2005). Gamma abnormalities during perception of illusory figures in autism Cortex, 41, 364-376.

Grant, C., Boucher, J., Riggs, K., & Grayson, A. (2005). Moral understanding in children with autism. Autism, 9, 317-331.

Brock, J. McCormack, T. & Boucher, J. (2005). Probed serial recall in Williams syndrome: Lexical influences on phonological short-term memory. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 48, 360-371.