Staff profile

I hold an Advanced Clinical Academic Fellowship funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). My work at Durham University focuses on trauma and post traumatic stress in autistic people. In collaboration with autistic people and clinicians, we aim to better understand and assess trauma-related mental health difficulties to inform prevention and support for individuals. As a clinical psychologist, I combine patient-facing work in the NHS with clinically orientated research across clinical and academic boundaries.

My passion is to better understand the needs of autistic people and other neurodevelopmental populations to support services in providing effective and equitable care. My research relating to the needs of autistic people has been wide-ranging. Focuses have included language and communication; anxiety, trauma and PTSD; experiences of therapy and mental health care; and implementation of adjusted care for autistic people in hospital. From a methods point of view, I am particularly interested in test development, measurement and psychometrics. I also value qualitative approaches to understand experiences and perspectives in their complexity. As a clinical psychologist, I work across two services, a neurodevelopmental assessment service and a neuropsychology service. This means that I work with individuals who may have a range of developmental, acquired and progressive presentations.

I would be interested in collaborating on and supervising autism research with a mental health and / or health services focus. I would also be well placed to give a clinical perspective on research focusing on neuropsychological issues and practice.

Journal Article

• A Qualitative Study Investigating the Positive Experiences of Therapy and Therapeutic Relationships of Late-Diagnosed Autistic Females
  
  McFarlane, Z., & Wilson, A. C. (2025). A Qualitative Study Investigating the Positive Experiences of Therapy and Therapeutic Relationships of Late-Diagnosed Autistic Females. Autism in Adulthood. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/25739581251388228
• ‘It’s not always textbook social anxiety’: A survey-based study investigating the nature of social anxiety and experiences of therapy in autistic people
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Gullon-Scott, F. (2024). ‘It’s not always textbook social anxiety’: A survey-based study investigating the nature of social anxiety and experiences of therapy in autistic people. Autism, 28(11), 2923-2936. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241251513
• Social Anxiety in Autistic People: Does the Clark and Wells Model fit?
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Gullon-Scott, F. (2024). Social Anxiety in Autistic People: Does the Clark and Wells Model fit? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 54(10), 3908-3920. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06108-1
• “Resist, Reframe, Redo the Bullying, the Lying, the Harassment”: A Qualitative Investigation of Social Anxiety and Therapy as an Autistic Person
  
  Wilson, A. C. (2024). “Resist, Reframe, Redo the Bullying, the Lying, the Harassment”: A Qualitative Investigation of Social Anxiety and Therapy as an Autistic Person. Autism in Adulthood. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0009
• Cognitive Profile in Autism and ADHD: A Meta-Analysis of Performance on the WAIS-IV and WISC-V
  
  Wilson, A. C. (2024). Cognitive Profile in Autism and ADHD: A Meta-Analysis of Performance on the WAIS-IV and WISC-V. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 39(4), 498-515. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acad073
• What parents want in an autism diagnostic report: An interview-based study of parents accessing a neurodevelopmental assessment service
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Gunn, S. (2023). What parents want in an autism diagnostic report: An interview-based study of parents accessing a neurodevelopmental assessment service. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28(3), 937-951. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045221138703
• Does the autism phenotype differ when selecting groups by neurodevelopmental versus genetic diagnosis? An observational study comparing autism and sex chromosome trisomy
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2022). Does the autism phenotype differ when selecting groups by neurodevelopmental versus genetic diagnosis? An observational study comparing autism and sex chromosome trisomy. F1000Research, 11, 571. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.121878.1
• Stage 2 registered report: investigating a preference for certainty in conversation among autistic adults
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. (2022). Stage 2 registered report: investigating a preference for certainty in conversation among autistic adults. PeerJ - the Journal of Life & Environmental Sciences, 10, Article e13110. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13110
• Development and validation of the conversation questionnaire: A psychometric measure of communication challenges generated from the self-reports of autistic people
  
  Wilson, A. C. (2022). Development and validation of the conversation questionnaire: A psychometric measure of communication challenges generated from the self-reports of autistic people. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/23969415221123286
• A novel online assessment of pragmatic and core language skills: An attempt to tease apart language domains in children
  
  WILSON, A. C., & BISHOP, D. V. M. (2022). A novel online assessment of pragmatic and core language skills: An attempt to tease apart language domains in children. Journal of Child Language, 49(1), 38-59. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000920000690
• Do animated triangles reveal a marked difficulty among autistic people with reading minds?
  
  Wilson, A. C. (2021). Do animated triangles reveal a marked difficulty among autistic people with reading minds? Autism, 25(5), 1175-1186. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361321989152
• “Second guessing yourself all the time about what they really mean…”: Cognitive differences between autistic and non‐autistic adults in understanding implied meaning
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2021). “Second guessing yourself all the time about what they really mean…”: Cognitive differences between autistic and non‐autistic adults in understanding implied meaning. Autism Research, 14(1), 93-101. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2345
• Registered report: investigating a preference for certainty in conversation among autistic adults compared to dyslexic adults and the general population
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. (2020). Registered report: investigating a preference for certainty in conversation among autistic adults compared to dyslexic adults and the general population. PeerJ - the Journal of Life & Environmental Sciences, 8, Article e10398. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10398
• Judging meaning: A domain-level difference between autistic and non-autistic adults
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2020). Judging meaning: A domain-level difference between autistic and non-autistic adults. Royal Society Open Science, 7(11), Article 200845. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200845
• Autism and social anxiety in children with sex chromosome trisomies: an observational study
  
  Wilson, A. C., King, J., & Bishop, D. V. (2019). Autism and social anxiety in children with sex chromosome trisomies: an observational study. Wellcome Open Research, 4, 32. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15095.2
• "If you catch my drift...": ability to infer implied meaning is distinct from vocabulary and grammar skills
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. (2019). "If you catch my drift...": ability to infer implied meaning is distinct from vocabulary and grammar skills. Wellcome Open Research, 4, 68. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15210.3
• Effectiveness of Self-Compassion Related Therapies: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
  
  Wilson, A. C., Mackintosh, K., Power, K., & Chan, S. W. Y. (2019). Effectiveness of Self-Compassion Related Therapies: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Mindfulness, 10(6), 979-995. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-1037-6
• Testing the unitary theory of language lateralization using functional transcranial Doppler sonography in adults
  
  Woodhead, Z. V. J., Bradshaw, A. R., Wilson, A. C., Thompson, P. A., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2019). Testing the unitary theory of language lateralization using functional transcranial Doppler sonography in adults. Royal Society Open Science, 6(3), Article 181801. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.181801
• Sex chromosome trisomies are not associated with atypical lateralization for language
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2018). Sex chromosome trisomies are not associated with atypical lateralization for language. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 60(11), 1132-1139. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.13929
• Vividness of positive mental imagery predicts positive emotional response to visually presented Project Soothe pictures
  
  Wilson, A. C., Schwannauer, M., McLaughlin, A., Ashworth, F., & Chan, S. W. Y. (2018). Vividness of positive mental imagery predicts positive emotional response to visually presented Project Soothe pictures. British Journal of Psychology, 109(2), 259-276. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12267
• Resounding failure to replicate links between developmental language disorder and cerebral lateralisation
  
  Wilson, A. C., & Bishop, D. V. (2018). Resounding failure to replicate links between developmental language disorder and cerebral lateralisation. PeerJ, 6, Article e4217. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4217