Nicola Botting is a language and communication scientist whose work focuses on language and psychological outcomes of children with low birth weight, autism spectrum disorder, developmental language disorder, and other developmental disabilities.[1][2] She is Professor of Developmental Disorders, Language & Communication Science at the City University of London.[3] Botting is editor-in-chief of the journal Autism & Developmental Language Impairments.[4]

Nicola Botting
OccupationProfessor of Developmental Disorders
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisPsychological and Educational Outcome of Very Low Birthweight Children at 12yrs (1997)
Academic work
DisciplineCommunication scientist
InstitutionsCity University of London

Biography

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Botting received her BSc with honors degree in Psychology at University of Hertfordshire and her MA in Clinical Child Psychology at the University of Nottingham. She continued her education at the University of Liverpool where she completed a PhD in Child Health.[5] Her dissertation, titled Psychological and educational outcome of very low birthweight children at 12yrs[6] was supervised by Richard Cooke and Neil Marlow. Their collaborative work documented increased risks of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression at adolescence in children born with very low birthweight (i.e., less than 1,250 grams [2.76 lb]).[7]

Botting worked as a post-doctoral research scientist at The University of Manchester, where she collaborated with Gina Conti-Ramsden and Alison Crutchley.[8] She later joined the faculty of the School of Education at University of Manchester. where she holds an honorary position. She was co-investigator on The Manchester Language Study, the largest UK longitudinal study of developmental language impairment.[9] This study has followed children diagnosed with language impairment through age 23–25 years to assess long-term outcomes and psychological adjustment. At age 16–17 years, the adolescents with a history of language impairment exhibited heightened anxiety, and to a lesser extent, depressive symptoms as compared to peers with typical development.[10]

Botting began her current position at City University of London in 2005. Her research on developmental language impairments has been funded through numerous grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Nuffield Foundation.[11]

Research

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Botting's research team focuses on development of children with language impairments, autism spectrum disorder, and other developmental disorders over the lifespan, with a focus on the overlap between disorders[12] and the presence of comorbid conditions including social difficulties.[13] Her collaborative research has documented increased risk of sleep problems among children diagnosed with communication disorders,[14] as well as heightened risk of attention and psychiatric disorders in children with low birth weight or a history of language impairment.[7][10]

Botting and her colleagues have studied nonverbal cognitive abilities in children with language impairment using longitudinal designs.[15] One such study documented a significant decrease in IQ scores among children with a history of language impairment between ages 7 and 14 years.[16] Another study used a battery of nonverbal tasks to assess executive functions in deaf and hearing children and found performance on the executive function tasks to be mediated by children's language abilities.[17]

Representative publications

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  • Botting, N. (2002). Narrative as a tool for the assessment of linguistic and pragmatic impairments. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 18(1), 1-21.
  • Botting, N., & Conti‐Ramsden, G. (2003). Autism, primary pragmatic difficulties, and specific language impairment: Can we distinguish them using psycholinguistic markers?. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 45(8), 515–524.
  • Botting, N., Conti-Ramsden, G., & Crutchley, A. (1997). Concordance between teacher/therapist opinion and formal language assessment scores in children with language impairment. European Journal of Disorders of Communication, 32(3), 317–327.
  • Botting, N., Powls, A., Cooke, R. W., & Marlow, N. (1997). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorders and other psychiatric outcomes in very low birthweight children at 12 years. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38(8), 931–941.
  • Botting, N., Powls, A., Cooke, R. W., & Marlow, N. (1998). Cognitive and educational outcome of very‐low‐birthweight children in early adolescence. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 40(10), 652–660.
  • Conti-Ramsden, G., & Botting, N. (1999). Classification of children with specific language impairment: Longitudinal considerations. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42(5), 1195–1204.

References

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  1. ^ "Children with a communication disorder have poorer sleep, says study". medicalxpress.com. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  2. ^ Guardian Staff (2017-01-06). "Screen time guidelines need to be built on evidence, not hype". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  3. ^ Botting, Nicola. "Professor Nicola Botting". City, University of London. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  4. ^ "Autism & Developmental Language Impairments". SAGE Journals. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  5. ^ "Professor Nicola Botting faculty profile". City University of London. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  6. ^ Botting, N. F. (1997). Psychological and educational outcome of Very Low Birthweight children at 12yrs (Thesis). University of Liverpool.
  7. ^ a b Botting, Nicola; Powls, Andrew; Cooke, Richard W. I.; Marlow, Neil (1997). "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders and Other Psychiatric Outcomes in Very Low Birthweight Children at 12 Years". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 38 (8): 931–941. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01612.x. ISSN 0021-9630. PMID 9413793.
  8. ^ Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Crutchley, Alison; Botting, Nicola (1997). "The Extent to Which Psychometric Tests Differentiate Subgroups of Children With SLI". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 40 (4): 765–777. doi:10.1044/jslhr.4004.765. ISSN 1092-4388. PMID 9263942.
  9. ^ Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Durkin, Kevin; Pickles, Andrew; Botting, Nicola (2016-02-03). "Manchester language study: Young adulthood". reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk. doi:10.5255/UKDA-SN-852066. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
  10. ^ a b Wadman, Ruth; Botting, Nicola; Durkin, Kevin; Conti-Ramsden, Gina (2011). "Changes in emotional health symptoms in adolescents with specific language impairment: Changes in emotional health" (PDF). International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. 46 (6): 641–656. doi:10.1111/j.1460-6984.2011.00033.x. PMID 22026566.
  11. ^ "Young people with SLI: From compulsory education to adult life | Nuffield Foundation". www.nuffieldfoundation.org. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  12. ^ Williams, David; Botting, Nicola; Boucher, Jill (2008). "Language in autism and specific language impairment: Where are the links?" (PDF). Psychological Bulletin. 134 (6): 944–963. doi:10.1037/a0013743. ISSN 1939-1455. PMID 18954162.
  13. ^ Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Botting, Nicola (2004). "Social Difficulties and Victimization in Children With SLI at 11 Years of Age". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 47 (1): 145–161. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2004/013). ISSN 1092-4388. PMID 15072535.
  14. ^ Botting, Nicola; Baraka, Nebras (2018). "Sleep behaviour relates to language skills in children with and without communication disorders" (PDF). International Journal of Developmental Disabilities. 64 (4–5): 238–243. doi:10.1080/20473869.2017.1283766. ISSN 2047-3869. PMC 8115502. PMID 34141311.
  15. ^ Conti-Ramsden; Nicola, Botting; Zoësi, Gina (2001). "Follow-up of children attending infant language units: outcomes at 11 years of age". International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. 36 (2): 207–219. doi:10.1080/13682820121213. ISSN 1368-2822. PMID 11344595.
  16. ^ Botting, Nicola (2005). "Non-verbal cognitive development and language impairment". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 46 (3): 317–326. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00355.x. ISSN 0021-9630. PMID 15755307.
  17. ^ Botting, Nicola; Jones, Anna; Marshall, Chloe; Denmark, Tanya; Atkinson, Joanna; Morgan, Gary (2017). "Nonverbal Executive Function is Mediated by Language: A Study of Deaf and Hearing Children". Child Development. 88 (5): 1689–1700. doi:10.1111/cdev.12659. PMC 6849701. PMID 27859007.
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