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Staff Profile

Dr Janet Webster

Reader in Speech and Language Sciences

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5235
  • Address: Room 2.10 KGVI
    Speech and Language Sciences
    School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences
    King George VI Building
    Newcastle University
    Queen Victoria Road
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
Background

I am a Reader and Head of Speech and Language Sciences (SLS) at Newcastle University. I contribute to both teaching and research, with a particular focus on aphasia. 

I am a qualified Speech and Language Therapist, graduating from Newcastle in 1996 and going onto to complete my PhD with Sue Franklin and David Howard in 1999. I have worked in the Tavistock Aphasia Centre (North East), working with students to provide intensive and theoretically motivated intervention for people with aphasia. I also work alongside people with aphasia in my role as a trustee for the North East Trust for Aphasia (NETA: http://www.neta.org.uk/).

My research focuses on the assessment and treatment of the language difficulties within aphasia. Previous research has focused on the assessment and treatment of verb and sentence difficulties and multi-level therapies that combine work on word and sentence production within the context of everyday discourse. With collaborators at Newcastle, there has been a focus on reading comprehension difficulties in aphasia. Current and past PhD supervision focuses on these areas.  I welcome interest from other potential PhD students interested in aphasia.




Teaching


I teach on the pre-registration programmes in Speech and Language Sciences. I teach on the adult cases in SPE2054/SPE8152. 

I am module leader for SPE4051 Professional Issues and Leadership, teaching the sessions on service quality and evidence based practice and overseeing the student seminars on professional issues. The leadership sessions are jointly taught with Lisa Ramshaw. 


 

Research

My research focuses on the assessment and treatment of aphasia, with an aim of contributing to the evidence base for Speech and Language Therapists working with people with aphasia.

I am interested in the linguistic processes involved in the production and comprehension of sentences and discourse and how these processes are impaired in people with aphasia. However, within the context of therapy, it is crucial to understand the overall impact of the language difficulties for the individual and how our intervention influences their everyday communication. My research tries to address some of these issues. I have two current strands to my research, a strand focused on spoken production and a strand focused on reading comprehension.

With the move to online service provision due to COVID, I have become interested in the use of online communication platforms for the delivery of speech and language therapy sessions and aphasia support groups. I am currently involved in a project looking at interaction in online support groups. 

Within the clinical setting, it can be difficult for therapists to access and use the evidence base to inform assessment and treatment. Within research, I am, therefore, also interested in producing clinically relevant assessments and theoretically motivated therapy resources.


 

 

Publications