Background

I consider myself to be an honouree Brumbrian Brodie (Northumbrian & Geordie) as I have spent many happy years living in North Northumberland and the Fish Quay in North Shields. I am a dually qualified Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) with 25yrs experience as an SLT within the NHS and Education settings. In addition, I have an AMBDA level 7 qualification in dyslexia assessment and intervention. I joined Newcastle University (NU) in 2004 as a Clinical Educator & Lecturer in the Speech and Language Sciences (SLS) section within the school of ECLS. I am currently the Director of The Children’s Speech and Language Clinic (2018 – present), Senior Lecturer in SLS, and the Degree Programme Director (DPD) for the undergraduate programme within SLS.

Educational Leadership Roles within ECLS – Director roles

The campus clinics at NU are central to the SLS section in training students to become SLTs and provides UG and PGT students with their first clinical experiences of working with children, families, NHS staff and educationalists. As Director of the paediatric campus clinic, Children's Speech & Language Clinic (CSLC), I am responsible for setting up systems of clinical teaching, learning, supervision, and collaborative working practices with external health and education agencies (i.e., NHS, Schools and nurseries etc) working with speech, language and communication impaired children aged 3 to 16. The Clinic provides an expert clinical service for children and adolescents (aged 3-16) with speech, language, and communication difficulties and disorders that may sit alongside a literacy difficulty or disorder. The Clinic continues to serve as an innovative and engaging training facility for undergraduate students studying for a BSc (Hons) in Speech Language Therapy; a Masters of Speech and Language Sciences and post-graduate taught students studying for a Masters in Speech and Language Pathology.

Before being director of the CSLC I took the lead role in setting up and successfully running another university campus-based paediatric clinic, The Language for Literacy Clinic (TLC) that ran for over 10yrs (2004-2017). As the Director of this clinic I assessed, diagnosed, and devised one to one tailor-made language, and literacy intervention programmes for children aged 6-16. These programmes of intervention were implemented by UG and PGT Student Speech & Language Therapists (SSLTs) on the Speech and Language Sciences programmes within school of Education, Communication, & Language Sciences (ECLS) at Newcastle University. Within the clinic SSLTs were supported to develop their clinical skills in working with children who presented with literacy difficulties or disorders that co-existed with a speech or language difficulty or disorder.

Over the last 25 years I have worked with children who present with speech difficulties and disorders where I have been instrumental in promoting and leading on the development and implementation of tailored, evidence-based literacy and language programmes of assessment and interventions for school-aged children. In addition, I work with children who present with speech and early language and communication difficulties. My academic and clinical teaching and learning continues to inform my practice and research scholarship. I am blessed with working as an SLT with students, children, parents, educationalists, and colleagues within the NHS. My passion is empowering others with the knowledge, skills, and processes needed to access teaching and learning within education contexts as well supporting children’s ability to interact and communicate effectively with others in written and spoken modalities. Whilst at NU I completed and was awarded my PhD (2013) in pedagogical approaches to remediating literacy difficulties and disorders. I have continued to keep up to date with my professional development at NU including achieving my: PGC in Clinical Education at Newcastle University in 2015, Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2016, and Advanced HE Certificate in External Examining in 2021.

Before working at NU, I worked for Southwest London NHS Trust & Mainstream Schools in Merton & Sutton (2001-2003) on a research project on collaborative working practices between health and education. The project culminated in a conference for educationalists and SLTs employed by the NHS and education services within Southwest London NHS Trust and Merton and Sutton local education authority. In 2001 I gained my M.Ed. in Education and Special Education Needs along with my level 7 teaching qualification in dyslexia assessment and intervention from the University of Wales in Bangor. Previously to this I was employed as a SLT and later a Specialist SLT in Northumberland (1995-2000) where I worked with children to support their ability to access the teaching and learning within the education system and promote and develop language, speech, and communication skills through my collaborative working with teaching staff across the early years, primary, and secondary sectors.

Memberships

2021 – ongoing           Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (PATOSS)

2020– ongoing             National Association of Professionals concerned with Language Impairment in Children (NAPLIC)

2020– ongoing             Speech Pathology Australia (SPA)

2020– ongoing             American Speech & Hearing Association (ASHA)

2016– ongoing             D2 Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (HEA)

2003– ongoing             Associate Member of the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA)

2000– ongoing             Association for Speech & Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP)

2000– ongoing             Member of the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC)

1995– ongoing             Member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)

University, Faculty, & School roles:

• 2023 - Member of the University Appeals Panel for Promotions & Review of Academic Staff.
• 2023 - Academic Editorship of ARCELS
• 2022-2024 - Member of the HaSS Faculty Athena Swan Silver Assessment Team
• 2022-2024 - Member of the HaSS Faculty Athena Swan Quantitative Focus Group
• 2023 - current Member of ECLS Equality Diversity & Inclusion Committee 
• 2020 - current Member of ECLS Ethics Committee
• 2019 - 2023 Member of SLS Section Ethics Committee
• 2018 – current Cross discipline PGT Interprofessional Learning workshop.
• 2018 – current Joint Chair of the SLS Campus Clinics
• 2018 - Director of the SLS Children’s Speech & Language Clinic 
• 2023 - Degree Programme Director for BSc/MSLS UG SLS programmes 
• 2005-2010 - Member of CfLAT (Centre for learning and Teaching)

Previous roles within ECLS:

• Director of Paediatric Campus Clinics. The Language for Literacy Clinic (TLC) (2004-2017) and from 2018 The Children’s Speech and Language Clinic.
• SLS Scholarship Group - I set up and chaired (2016-2019) the SLS Scholarship group for colleagues within the SLS section to promote peer learning, support scholarship and provide a platform for facilitating collaborative projects.
• Clinical Education Co-ordinator (CEC). Within this role (2018-2022)I have transformed student support practices through drawing on metacognitive Teaching and Learning pedagogical practices to ensure failing or students at risk of failing successfully complete the clinical component of the SLS programme. I achieved 100% pass rate for all at risk of failure students I supported.

Partners Summer School Programme in SLS (2015, 2018) I lead and took this forward through designing and implementing new teaching materials and modules. The programme proved successful; 75% of students who attended the course secured a place on the SLS programme.

Bitesize Uni - I co-lead with Dr Nick Riches (2012, 2013 & 2016) on the Bitesize University sessions to promote higher education to school children from diverse and non-traditional university backgrounds.

Helping others to shine. I successfully initiated (2015) and championed collaboration between liaison librarian team and UG students to develop stage-specific research skills, tailored to meet student need. The aim was to complement, develop, and expand student’s ability to acquire their research skills (e.g., literature searches) to support completion of UG final year dissertation projects. This impacted positively on student’s ability to actively engage in the research arena to good effect maximising their potential to acquire highly transferrable skills going forward in their final year of training on the SLS programme. Students gave highly positive feedback within the student staff committee (SSC). These sessions were continued on by the student course representatives for following years (2016-2018).

Multi-disciplinary Assessment Group meetings. Through liaising with local educationalist within the Northeast schools I developed an innovative and creative collaborative teaching and learning opportunities for students, the Multi-Assessment Group (MAG). This is a multidisciplinary collaborative working approach with SSLTs, local NHS SLTs, and teaching staff. The MAG was set up to meet the need for students, working within the campus clinics, to make links between the work they were doing within the clinics and the local schools that they served. The MAG is an inter-professional approach to empowering and engaging key stakeholders such as students’ parents, school staff, and Allied Health Professionals, in the assessment and intervention practices for children within the school and clinical contexts. The MAG allowed for work within the TLC and CSLC to support and contribute to the understanding and implementation of universal, targeted, and specialist levels of input and support for children, with Speech, Language & Communication Needs (SLCN), across the age range within the school context.

Quality Assurance (QA) I initiated (2007) the development and implementation of quality assurance checks of stakeholder experiences within campus clinics.

PhDs Supervised

• 2022 - Measuring and improving metalinguistic awareness of words with multiple meanings in autistic children metacognition and teaching and learning pedagogy.
• 2020-2023 Behaviour Change Techniques for SLT Interventions.
• 2015 Development of an assessment for publication for dyslexic bilingual (Urdu and English) children.

Scholarship/Research

Current projects:

• 2023 – Academic Editorship of ECLS ejournal Annual Review of ECLS (ARECLS). I lead on the rebranding of the Annual Review of ECLS ejournal webpage and accompanying links to develop and create original content. The result was to produce highly visual, interactive content thereby raising the awareness and profile of ARECLS to PGR students and staff across ECLS, HASS faculty and wider university. The rebranding involved extensively updating and reformatting the webpage and links within it. The outcome was content that displayed the breadth of research activity published by the journal.
• 2023 - Integrated Language & Literacy Intervention within a language unit.  I currently support a Highly Specialist SLT based in Southeast of UK evidence-based practice through supporting clinical and academic knowledge development for a working with children and families. Within this project I provide feedback on effective clinical skills & practice, drawing on research and academic practice and clinical teaching within my role at NU.
• 2023 - Leading Literacy Professional Development Programme. I currently lead on designing and presenting four workshops for educationalists in the Northeast region, who are working towards their roles as leaders in literacy. This professional development programme is offered in partnership with the Northeast Teaching Schools Partnership (NETSP) which complements the National Professional Qualification in Leading Literacy. The programme is intended to provide space for education practitioners to develop their understanding of the links between language and literacy and to develop their practice to improve outcomes for young people. The programme ran from June to October 2023. 
• 2021 - The Role of SLTs in Literacy/Written Language Assessment & Intervention. This is a national survey of UK SLTs looking at their views of their role in literacy. The primary aim is to provide a position statement on the role of SLTs in literacy.

Completed Projects.

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) Virtual Discussion Surgeries and ‘How to’ protocols for Formal Assessment Project - In this role (2021-22) I worked closely with the lead author(s) as a supporting author collaborator and was part of the project reference group that acted as part of a consultant team to provide support and advice from a position of informed academic and clinic knowledge and experience to shape the RCSLT’s Virtual Discussion Surgeries and How-to formally assess children’s language and communication skills. The key aims of this project was to address gaps in the clinical knowledge of clinicians that was impacted by COVID-19; build confidence amongst students and newly qualified professionals who had missed out on teaching and placement opportunities; be used by students as a model for putting theory into practice. My contributions also provided support for SLT students on clinical placements to inform their reflective practice and NQPs career development and clinical knowledge acquisition. The project objectives and final outputs included: a virtual library of clinical assessments, an online resource library of films of clinical assessments being carried out, and an adult and paediatric session targeted at students. These resources provided external national support trainee and newly qualified SLTs.

Published Paper - The link between Language and Spelling: What SLTs and Teachers need to know. Journal of Language, Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools. Vol. 51, pp. 939–954. Oct. 2020

Language & Literacy Workshop - Initiated, developed, and presented a teaching and learning interprofessional engagement activity for Tees, Esk & Wear NHS Foundation Trust (2018) involving a diverse group of Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) (e.g., Occupational and Physiotherapist, social workers, Teachers) and educationalists, taking part in a range of talks and workshops. The day involved interactive workshops and discussions across AHPs in supporting young offenders within the community by promoting ways to empower them through developing language and literacy with aim of increasing social mobility. The day was positively received, for example, ‘I now have strategies to take forward to work with young people who present with language and literacy difficulties within my setting (Key worker for young offenders).

The Literacy Lifeboat Project - I was an invited (2018) collaborator of an Impact Project (The Literacy Lifeboat Project),  with Professor Caroline Walker Gleaves and Dr. Catherine Stewart the Conceptual Gap Consultancy to co-lead on a project working on a range of diverse action research projects across mainstream schools with vulnerable and care-experienced children as part of the Tees Esk and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, Secure Outreach and Transition Team (SOTT). The training session involved a diverse group (e.g., Occupational and Physio therapists, Social Workers, and Teachers) of AHPS and educationalists within the NE region working with young offenders within SOTT. I contributed my expertise of the links to language and literacy to empower and inform education staff in working with looked after children. The project was funded by the Tees Valley Children’s Services (£12000) with the aim of raising language and literacy levels within schools. Outcomes for the project were reported in a regional event and helped to promote Newcastle University as a teaching institution that engages with the local community. A key impact of the project was teaching staff within schools who took part in the project being co-participants in the research process and therefore having an active role in the decisions around what to research, how to evaluate this, and how to apply this to their teaching practices. The project resulted in teaching staff: i) being actively involved in producing pedagogical resources; ii) drawing on their contextual knowledge to produce ecologically valid classroom resources which supported all children’s learning; and iii) acknowledging and developing their expertise in supporting the literacy and language skills development of struggling learners.

Presentations - Talks/Workshops, Webinars/Podcasts

July 2023 - Sussex Speech and Language Training Consortium

Presented at the Sussex Speech and Language Training Consortium primarily made up of members of our Training Consortium: specialist teachers and staff who work in a service or facility which supports children and/or young people with Development Language Disorder and/or other Speech Language and Communication Needs. The specialist facilities in the Consortium range from Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to secondary levels. The Consortium also includes speech and language therapists who either work in, or are linked to, one of the specialist support facilities. In addition, there are some independent speech and language therapists attending as well as some members of staff from local independent school for primarily autistic students and/or students with dyslexia.

January 2022 – Links between Language & Literacy – Webinar

Presented, at a national level, a webinar on the links between language and literacy to UK Speech and Language Therapists following on from the UK survey of SLTs views of their role in language and literacy assessment and intervention.

2021 - Best Practice Literacy & Language Learning - Podcast - Invited speaker: Glean Education an American based organisation that actively works with schools to provide teacher knowledge regarding best-practice literacy teaching and learning in supporting struggling learners. The podcast is part of an ongoing strategy to boost literacy progress for children through high-quality, structured web-based training.

2021 - Northern Guide to Happiness - Podcast - Invited speaker: The Northern Guide to Happiness discussing my role as a Speech and Language Therapist at Newcastle University as part of equitability and diversity podcast series. The aim was to boost moral and mental health for SLTs working as SLTS.

Educator Workshops - Supporting the NE local community in providing teachers’ and Special Education Needs Coordinators with CPD workshops (June 2016, & February 2019) to the Northeast Teachers’ Group on the links between language and literacy.

Gateshead Adoption Agency Support Services - Collaboration with schools and local NHS therapists resulted in me designing and implementing (2011-2013) twilight talks for Gateshead adoption agency support services: ‘The role of SLTs for adoptive parents of Children and Adolescents with literacy and SLCN needs’

Paper presented – ECER- Helsinki, Finland 2010 - Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement “Education and Cultural Change”, - “Using mixed methods for assessing the qualitative and quantitative aspects of spelling following a language based metacognitive intervention"

Teaching

Newcastle University Students Union Teaching Excellence Awards Shortlisted

2018                  Dissertation Supervisor of the year

2017                  Outstanding Contribution to Pastoral Support

2015                  Taught UG dissertation supervisor of the year

Newcastle University Students Union Teaching Excellence Awards - Nominated

2016                  Contribution to Outstanding Feedback’ in Clinical Education.

2013                  Contribution to Outstanding Feedback in Clinical Education.

2013                  Outstanding Contribution to Pastoral Support

Undergraduate Teaching 

·      BA Education

·      Clinical and Professional Education I, II, III & IV

·      Research Methods in Clinical Practice II

·      Speech & Language Pathology II

Postgraduate Teaching 

·      Post-Graduate Certificate in Education

·      MSc Language Pathology

·      Clinical and Professional Education I & II

·      Professional issues Debate

·      Research Methods in Clinical Practice II &IV

·      Speech & Language Pathology

Partners Summer School Programme in SLS (2015, 2018) I lead and took this forward through designing and implementing new teaching materials and modules. The programme proved successful; 75% of students who attended the course secured a place on the SLS programme.

Bitesize Uni - I co-lead with Dr Nick Riches (2012, 2013 & 2016) on the Bitesize University sessions to promote higher education to school children from diverse and non-traditional university backgrounds.

Helping others to shine. I successfully initiated (2015) and championed collaboration between liaison librarian team and UG students to develop stage-specific research skills, tailored to meet student need. The aim was to complement, develop, and expand student’s ability to acquire their research skills (e.g., literature searches) to support completion of UG final year dissertation projects. This impacted positively on student’s ability to actively engage in the research arena to good effect maximising their potential to acquire highly transferrable skills going forward in their final year of training on the SLS programme. Students gave highly positive feedback within the student staff committee (SSC). These sessions were continued on by the student course representatives for following years (2016-2018).

• Article

  • Moxam C. The Link between Language and Spelling: What Speech-Language Pathologists and Teachers Need to Know. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 2020, 51(4), 939-954.

• Review

  • Moxam C. Assessment in Emergent Literacy. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 2008, 43(5), 595-596.