Staff Profile | Education, Communication and Language Sciences

Research Interests

My research interests are diverse, partly related to my clinical work (young children with speech difficulties and children and adolescents with behaviour difficulties) and partly to my interest in how research is created and used as part of the evidence base for speech and language therapy to ensure rapid uptake of research evidence and adoption of new knowledge into routine clinical practice. My research interests include the evaluation of evidence based complex interventions for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), particularly involving phonology and phonological awareness, underpinned by behaviour change and implementation science theories; communities of practice and digital solutions; utilising behaviour change taxonomies and knowledge mobilisation processes in implementing evidence based practice in cross-organisational contexts. I supervise a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate research projects each year and am happy to discuss possible research projects relating to speech disorders (consistent and inconsistent phonology); phonological awareness and application of behaviour change techniques in any area of SLT, with clinicians and graduates.

I work closely with practicing speech and language therapists to develop projects related to EBP. I made a podcast about evidence based practice with Rhiannon Walton here.

See my profile on Research Gate, Google Scholar and ORCID.  

Other Expertise

I am passionate about the use of research in practice, both the creation and its implementation. I work closely with colleagues within Speech and Language Sciences and NHS Organisations in the North East of England on projects to develop and maintain a research ready and research active workforce in speech and language therapy. In 2010 I wrote a series of tutorials on Evidence Based Practice Tools for Speech and Language Therapists, published in the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists' monthly Bulletin and contributed three chapters to Dobinson & Wren’s (2019) Creating Practice Based Evidence. I act as mentor to senior clinicians and to developing researchers in my areas of expertise. 

Projects

Principal Investigator: The Northumbria Health Care NHS Foundation Trust-Newcastle University Universal, Targeted & Specialist (NNUTS) Framework. In partnership with Di Nicholson and Dr Kate Hope (Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust), using behaviour change theory to investigate the normalisation of speech and language therapy interventions into educational settings. (2022-)

Principal Investigator: Phonological awareness intervention for autistic children to support language and literacy. This project is in partnership with Hull Education Trust (2022-)

Co- Investigator with Professor Yvonne Wren (PI), Dr Joanne Cleland (Co-I), Dr Sam Harding (Co-I), Dr Sam Burr (Co-I), MISLToe-SSD: Maximising the Impact of Speech and Language Therapy for children with Speech Sound Disorder funded by a Research for Patient Benefit Grant (NIHR) (Bristol Speech & Language Therapy Research Unit). We are in the COMET database here

Co-investigator with Professor Cristina McKean (PI), Dr Carolynn Lets (Co-I), Dr Sean Pert (Co-I) LIVELY Project: Language Intervention in the Early Years. Funded by the Heather van der Lely Foundation. The Lively website is here

Joint Principal Investigator (with Helen Raffell): MRC Proximity to Development Fund: VEO for training speech & language therapists. Developing tags using the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy (BCTT) for use with VEO (www.veo-group.com) for SLT pre-and post–registration training. Part of this project also entails the development of new software to stream recordings to the VEO Portal, led by VEO Group (2016-2017).  

Principal Investigator: Improving school readiness of children at risk of speech and language difficulties in areas of low SES in partnership with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Children’s Speech & Language Therapy Service. This is an ESRC-IAA funded Impact project, using behaviour change theory to develop a training framework for SLTs and Early Years Practitioners to improve the success of SLT interventions delivered in schools and nurseries (2016-2017).

Principal Investigator: Using the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy with interventions for developmental speech and language disorders. How we code our interventions to make explicit the techniques we use (2016-).

Principal Investigator: Investigating stability of phonological development in 3-5 year old children. Does targeted phonological awareness intervention influence the trajectory? A secondary analysis of data from KTP project (2016-2019). 

Principle Investigator: Designing Digital Technologies to Support Communities of Evidence Collection and Dissemination in Speech and Language Therapy. A joint project with the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists (Dominique Loewenthal) and Newcastle University Culture Lab (Professor Patrick Olivier and Dr Madeleine Balaam) and Speech and Language Sciences January –September 2014)

Principle Investigator: A Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Northumberland Church of England Academy (NCEA; Carole Robinson and Melanie Hinson) and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust (Di Nicholson) to develop a model of partnership working with local NHS Speech and Language Therapy services providing a language rich environment for Nursery Children in NCEA. Kate Jones, the KTP Associate was awarded a Business Leader of the Future award. This project started in January 2011 and was completed in January 2013, awarded Outstanding Grading by Technology Strategy Board on behalf of KTP).

Lead Investigator: Evaluating the impact of phonological awareness intervention on children with literacy/language/behaviour difficulties: A project with Professor James Law (PI) and Ms Alex Wiles, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2010-2013).

Principle Investigator: An evaluation of the effectiveness of different established and novel interventions for children with developmental speech disorders: a project in collaboration with Ms Di Nicholson, Northumberland Care Trust (2009-2011).

Research Roles

As a founding member of the North East SLT Research Collaboration and the North East Speech and Language Therapy Research Network (NESLTRN) I work in partnership with and support speech and language therapists in the North East of England to use evidence in their practice; to apply research methods to evaluate their practice and contribute to the evidence base of our profession. I am the treasurer of the NESLTRN and contribute as a committee member to the annual Research Update Meetings and Symposia.

I am a member of the Communicative Participation Network (2020-), funded by ESRC and IRC, led by Dr Lindsay Pennington (Newcastle University) and Professor Martine Smith (Trinity College Dublin). The focus of this network is on real world communication of children with SLCN in the UK and RoI, with the aim of knowledge exchange and development of impactful research. 

Since 2017 I have been a member of The Child Speech Disorders Research Network; and contributed to publications and projects with other members.

I am a Research Champion for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Director of Impact and Engagement (2016-17): supporting colleagues to wrap engagement with stakeholders around research projects to ensure maximum impact; considering meaningful ways we can measure the impact of our research.

Steering group member (2011-2014) SemaFoRe: Semantic feature and repetition therapy in aphasia Research for Patient Benefit NIHR Funded project led by Professor David Howard and Dr Julie Morris.

 

Postgraduate Supervision

I am happy to discuss PhD projects with prospective students via email, particularly relating to speech sound disorders (consistent and inconsistent phonology); phonological awareness and application of behaviour change techniques and BCTT in any area of SLT.

Johanna Butler: Learning to speak the language: An analysis of the communication used by staff in an independent therapeutic school and its correlation with student responses. With Dr Faye Smith and Dr Vic Knowland.

Jo Baker: Seeing phonological disorders more clearly: Understanding the impact of phonological awareness intervention on the speech sound system of children with consistent phonological disorder with Professor Cristina McKean. NINE-DTP Scholarship.

Laura Chambers: Bridging the Gap Between Language Impairment and Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties in Adolescents: Developing an Effective School Based Intervention to Address the Dual Deficit with Dr Faye Smith. NINE-DTP Scholarship.

Stephanie van Eeden: NIHR Clinical Academic Doctoral Award, Language and auditory processing in children with cleft palate: a description of the disorder and its relationship to speech outcomes with Dr Cristina McKean. NIHR Doctoral Fellowship. (Completed July 2023)

Sarah Barnett: NINE-DTP 1 3 scholarship, The application of the behaviour change technique taxonomy (BCTT) to parent-led language therapy intervention for children with a primary language delay or disorder with Dr Carolyn Letts. NINE-DTP Scholarship. (Completed 2022)

Kate Hope: The Application and Impact of a Public Health Intervention Supported by a Speech and Language Therapist in the Early Years Foundation Stage with Dr Cristina McKean and Professor James Law (Completed 2021)

Anastasia Trebacz: Newcastle University Research Excellence Academy, A Randomised Controlled Trial to Investigate the Efficacy of Building Early Sentences Therapy (BEST) with Dr Cristina McKean and Professor James Law (Completed 2020)

Sahar Al Kaab: The impact of phonological awareness on reading and spelling of bilingual Arabic-English children age 7-9 years, with Dr Maria Mroz (completed in 2018)

Yalda Kazemi Najafabadi: Clinical Assessment of Persian-speaking Children with Language Impairment in Iran: Exploring the Potential of Language Sample Measures, with Professor Thomas Klee, University of Hong Kong (Completed April 2013)

External Funding

National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit grant (NIHR RfPB) (2022-2023)

The ESRC/IRC network development fund (2020-2022). 

The Heather van der Lely Foundation for The Lively Project (2019-2022)

The MRC Proximity to Discovery Industry Engagement Fund Bridging the Translational Gap for VEO for training speech & language therapists (2016-2017)

The ESRC-IAA Fund for Improving school readiness of children at risk of speech and language difficulties in areas of low SES (2016-2017)

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists for Designing Digital Technologies to Support Communities of Evidence Collection and Dissemination in Speech and Language Therapy (2014)

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for the KTP project with Northumberland Church of England Academy (2011-2013)

CLRN (2009)

Bursary from NoReN (Northern Primary Care Research Network) for protected time for writing for publication (2006).

NHS Northern and Yorkshire Region to study ‘The Incidence and Nature of Communication Disorder in Adolescents with Sexually Abusive Behaviour’ (2001)

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