We NEED your help!

The Communication Trust (TCT) is widely recognised for its provision of research and resources to support the workforce who delivers interventions for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). A particular focus of TCT’s work, with funding from the Department for Education, has been to support the ongoing dissemination of the Better Communication Research Programme (BCRP). One aspect of this work, the development of the ‘What Works’ database, illustrates TCT’s concern to base guidance and support for practitioners on research evidence. TCT has also been commissioned to provide guidance concerning the support of the workforce regarding the involvement of children and young people with SLCN in decisions that concern them. This is in response to the Children and Family Act 2014 and the related Code of Practice which requires that children and young people must be involved in “discussions and decisions about their individual support and local provision” in order to increase participation and inclusion of children and young people, the early identification of needs and the delivery of high quality support. TCT has already developed a resource to support professionals to implement the Code of Practice (“Communicating the Code”) which contains a chapter on the involvement of children and young people with SLCN. TCT intends to develop practical guidance for practitioners to ensure that children and young people with SLCN are fully involved in discussions and decisions about their individual support and about local provision. It is the intention of TCT that this guidance be informed by independent research that investigates the experiences of children and young people with SLCN and their parents of current practice regarding their involvement since the introduction of the Code of Practice and their views of best practice for their involvement in developing their individual support particularly around the setting of outcomes and in developing local services. The Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit (BSLTRU) are working with the TCT to achieve this.  But we need your help! Would you be willing to complete a short on-line survey (click here), or maybe take part in a telephone interview (about 30 minutes; email lydia.morgan@speech-therapy.org.uk, or call 0117 340 6529).

Both the survey and the interview are for the parents or carers of a child or young person aged from 0-25 years who has speech, language and communication needs.  This survey is part of a study led by Prof Sue Roulstone (susan.roulstone@uwe.ac.uk) from the Bristol Speech & Language Therapy Research Unit and the University of the West of England, on behalf of The Communication Trust.

NEW - Guide for commissioners from Better Communication CIC supported by The Communication Trust

The Communication Trust have announced the release of a new resource available to support the commissioning of services for children and young people with SLCN.  This resource is based on the findings of the landmark Better Communication Research Programme commissioned following the Bercow Review.

Prof Sue Roulstone and Dr Yvonne Wren of the Bristol Speech & Language Therapy Research Unit and the University of the West of England, who led those aspects of the Better Communication Research Programme based here in Bristol, welcomed the new resource: ‘It is very exciting to see such a useful application of our research. Marie Gascoigne, the developer of the resource has a wealth of experience in working with commissioners and has identified the key findings of relevance to the commissioning process”

Population approaches to identification, prediction and outcomes of children with lasting language impairment

The Bristol Speech& Language Therapy Research Unit are pleased to welcome Dr Penny Levickis on Thursday 9th April from 3.00 to 5.00 pm to speak on:

Population approaches to identification, prediction and outcomes of children with lasting language impairment

Penny Levickis is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.   After developing a novel mechanism for the rigorous coding of a large number of parent-child interactions as part of her PhD, she demonstrated that specific maternal linguistic behaviours predict preschool language outcomes in a community-based sample of slow-to-talk toddlers. She is now extending this work to examine the extent to which maternal responsive behaviours may be measured in addition to the traditional use of low language status in the early years to identify those children most at risk of persistent language impairment. Penny and colleagues are also following up a large community-based cohort of children as they turn 9 years of age to develop a risk chart for health professionals to use as a method of predicting absolute risk of lasting language impairment.

During the afternoon other members of the team at BSLTRU will present other ongoing research about Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.

Venue: Bristol Speech & Language Therapy Research Unit, Frenchay Hospital (Yes  -this will be one of the last events in the research unit) Bristol BS16 1LE.

There will be a small charge of £10, payable on arrival to support our costs. Please contact Fay.Smith@speech-therapy.org.uk for further details and register here.

Details of presentations below.

Dr Penny Levickis

Population approaches to identification, prediction and outcomes of children with lasting language impairment

Penny Levickis is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language (CRE-CL) at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.  After developing a novel mechanism for the rigorous coding of a large number of parent-child interactions as part of her PhD, she demonstrated that specific maternal linguistic behaviours predict preschool language outcomes in a community-based sample of slow-to-talk toddlers. She is now extending this work to examine the extent to which maternal responsive behaviours may be measured in addition to the traditional use of low language status in the early years to identify those children most at risk of persistent language impairment. Penny and colleagues are also following up a large community-based cohort of children as they turn 9 years of age to develop a risk chart for health professionals to use as a method of predicting absolute risk of lasting language impairment. 

Inge Klatte

An examination of parent-child interaction therapy in practice

Inge is a Dutch Speech & language therapist completing a three month internship at the Bristol Speech & Language Therapy Research Unit (BSLTRU). For her Master’s degree in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences her thesis is about Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT).

There is a lot of variation in PCIT approaches: between the original interventions, in the way they have been examined, and, in the way speech and language therapists (SLTs) deliver the intervention. This study aims to find the overlapping, critical components of the PCIT interventions, according to the manuals of the existing approaches, the literature and the SLTs. Also, via interviews Inge will explore the rationales SLTs give for the way they structure their interventions.

    

Dr Yvonne Wren.

Using LENA to explore parent-child interaction

Yvonne is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the National Institute of Health Research and member of the research team at BSLTRU. As part of the research for her fellowship, Yvonne is exploring the use of LENA, a device for recording and analysing the speech environment of children from 2 months of age upwards. The audio recording device is worn by the child within a t-shirt or similar and records the child’s speech and their environment for 16 continuous hours. Yvonne will share some pilot data on using LENA.

  

Prof Sue Roulstone

Understanding the effectiveness of adult-child interactions as a component of intervention in pre-school children with primary speech and language impairments

Sue is Professor Emeritus at the University of the West of England and a member of the team at BSLTRU. Over the last few years, Sue has led a programme of research called Child Talk which has examined current clinical practice for pre-school children with primary speech and language impairments, identifying the various components of intervention and the related evidence. This presentation will examine the facilitation of adult-child interactions in therapy in relation to other components of intervention and in terms of the underpinning evidence. As well as presenting findings from Child Talk, Sue will present some ideas that are being worked up as bids for further research funding.

Make sure your voice in heard in the new CQLive!

The RCSLT is co-creating CQLive with its members. The successor to CQ3 will consist of a set of standards and resources to support SLTs to deliver a high-quality service that integrates the HCPC standards of conduct, performance and ethics.

BSLTRU lead by Dr Yvonne Wren is helping to facilitate this in the South West by inviting you to a face to face meeting as part of the process.

Aims and objectives of the face-to-face discussion sessions:

· To generate in-depth insight about one aspect of the HCPC standard of conduct, performance and ethics, with respect to the SLT profession.

· To give RCSLT members an opportunity to contribute to shaping CQ Live in person.

The Bristol CQlive meeting will focus on the following key area ‘Promote and safeguard the interests of service users and carers’.

For more information and to book a place, seehttp://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cqlive-face-to-face-discussio…

Places are limited to just 20 so do book quickly if you are interested in attending.

Dr Penny Levickis is coming to Bristol

The Bristol Speech& Language Therapy Research Unit are pleased to welcome Dr Penny Levickis

On Thursday 9 ^th April from 3.00 to 5.00pm Dr Levickis will speak on:

Population approaches to identification, prediction and outcomes of children with lasting language impairment

Penny Levickis is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.   After developing a novel mechanism for the rigorous coding of a large number of parent-child interactions as part of her PhD, she demonstrated that specific maternal linguistic behaviours predict preschool language outcomes in a community-based sample of slow-to-talk toddlers. She is now extending this work to examine the extent to which maternal responsive behaviours may be measured in addition to the traditional use of low language status in the early years to identify those children most at risk of persistent language impairment. Penny and colleagues are also following up a large community-based cohort of children as they turn 9 years of age to develop a risk chart for health professionals to use as a method of predicting absolute risk of lasting language impairment. 

During the afternoon other members of the team at BSLTRU will present other ongoing research about Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.

Venue: Bristol Speech & Language Therapy Research Unit, Frenchay Hospital (this will be one of the last events in the research unit before we move to our new offices in Southmead Hospital) Bristol BS16 1LE.

There will be a small charge of £10, payable on arrival to support our costs. Please contact Fay.Smith@speech-therapy.org.uk to let us know if you are coming and/or for further details.