Dr. Joanna Atkinson

I am a research psychologist and qualified clinical psychologist with a special interest in neuropsychology and psycholinguistics. I have experience working in both clinical and research fields. Between 1999-2002 I worked as a researcher on the Deaf Stroke Project, exploring the impact of stroke (CVA) on BSL comprehension and production. I completed a doctorate in clinical psychology at Bristol University in 2005 and a post-doctoral diploma in applied clinical neuropsychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, London in 2008. I have worked clinically with both deaf and hearing service-users in: mental health; community learning disability; older adult and neuropsychology teams within the National Health Service. As a Deaf BSL user, I have worked closely with interpreters throughout my career to enable me to practice effectively with both deaf and hearing service-users.

My research interests include: The impact of neurological conditions such as stroke and dementia on BSL; schizophrenia, psychosis and voice-hallucinations in deaf people and the clinical assessment of acquired and developmental neurological conditions in Deaf BSL users.

My main role within DCAL is the coordination and implementation of research into atypical sign language, which include signers with stroke, autism, dementia, schizophrenia and Usher syndrome.

STROKE AND DEAF PEOPLE INFORMATION
I worked on the Deaf Stroke Project which ran from 1999-2002 at City University and was funded by the Wellcome Trust. This project has ended but there is some useful information about stroke and Deaf BSL users under the following links:

What happens when a deaf person has a stroke? (Information leaflet)

What were the results of the Deaf Stroke Project? (Information leaflet)

How can a stroke affect a deaf BSL users' communication abilities? (Research paper)

Both leaflets are designed to be visually accessible to deaf people who have aphasia (acquired language difficulties) after suffering a stroke.

SCHIZOPHRENIA, VOICE HALLUCINATIONS AND DEAF PEOPLE
These pictorial cards were developed as part of research exploring the nature of voice hallucinations in d/Deaf people.
Card 1
Card 2
Card 3

A card-sorting task was used. The methodology and findings are documented in this paper: Atkinson,J.R. Gleeson,K. Cromwell,J. O’Rourke,S. (2007). Exploring the Perceptual Characteristics of Voice-Hallucinations in Deaf People. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 12(4), 339-361. (click here to download pdf version)

The cards may be a useful resource for clinicians assessing or conducting therapy with d/Deaf people with experience of voice hallucinations and other hallucinatory phenomena. Please feel free to use the cards for this purpose. Please note that the copyright remains with the first author and any use of the cards in further research should reference this paper.

The cards may be helpful in facilitating communication where there is difficulty establishing whether the person has current or past experience of voice hallucinations. It is suggested that that a highly fluent signer signs each statement and hands the person the card. For each card they decide whether or not they have ever experienced this phenomenon (YOU BEEN? YES OR NO?). The cards are then sorted into YES, NO and DON'T KNOW piles which should have clear written labels. The person can change their mind and reclassify any card at any time. In my experience a person will typically answer NO or DON'T KNOW if they don't understand the statement or if it is outside the realm of their own experience. Where they recognise the statement as relating to their own experience they typically put in the YES pile and often provide spontaneous elaboration.
The YES pile can then be sorted into further piles for different probe questions relating to frequency, severity, distress experienced and so on, depending on what information the clinician wishes to elicit. The cards can also be used to evaluate treatment outcomes.

Feedback from our participants suggests that the majority enjoyed the task. Some said that they derived a sense of empathy from the cards as they felt they depicted their own experiences and showed that other d/Deaf people have hallucinations too. The cards may therefore be helpful during therapy sessions as talking points.

You can access information on some of my publications here.

Contact: joanna.atkinson@ucl.ac.uk