What makes language interventions work – exploring the active ingredients
12 February, 9 – 11am
We are delighted to announce our recently rebranded IJLCD Winter Lecture.
The focus for the next lecture will consider key concepts around dosage and active ingredients when providing language interventions, with speakers Professor Cristina McKean and Dr Pauline Frizelle.
This lecture aims to examine the available evidence about the characteristics of child language interventions which make them work or not. It will be of relevance to all therapists working with children and young people with language difficulties, but also contains key concepts about dosage and active ingredients which will be of relevance to all therapists who provide language interventions.
Speakers
Professor Cristina McKean, Department of Education, University of Oxford
Cristina is Professor of Child Language Development & Disorders and a Senior Academic Research Leader at the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. Before joining the Department and after a career as a Speech and Language Therapist, Cristina held academic positions at Newcastle University and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (Melbourne, Australia) where she continues to hold honorary positions. She was previously Editor in Chief for the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. She leads interdisciplinary research with global reach which develops and evaluates public health and educational practices and interventions to promote robust language development for all children. Her work is conducted through multi-disciplinary collaboration and partnerships with young people, parents, professionals, and policymakers. Key to her work are considerations of individual differences, children and families’ social and cultural context, and equitable systems, services and policy.
Dr Pauline Frizelle, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University College Cork
Dr Pauline Frizelle is a senior lecturer at University College Cork and a former speech and language therapy manager, with over 15 years’ experience working with children with a wide range of speech, language and communication needs. In 2008, she was the first speech and language therapist in Ireland to be awarded the Health Research Board (HRB) fellowship for the therapeutic professions. In 2015, she was awarded an ASSISTid Marie Curie Fellowship to begin the development of an electronic assessment of complex syntax at the University of Oxford. She has since built on this work through a HRB lead investigator award, comparing assessment methodologies and developing a robust and engaging assessment of complex syntax. Pauline is particularly interested in collaborative research projects with clinicians in the community and in the development of robust, theoretically- driven interventions. She has led the development of the language through music programme for children with Down syndrome and continues to work towards optimal use of key word signing in schools. Pauline has recently received a 1.3 million Definitive Intervention Feasibility award (DIFA), to complete a full definitive randomised control trial on the Happy Talk programme, for children from areas of social disadvantage, and a 2.5 million award to lead a programme of research to develop consensus on reporting guidelines to be used in language intervention studies, for children with or at risk for (D)LD.
