Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
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- Lecturer (Teaching)
- Div of Psychology & Lang Sciences
- Faculty of Brain Sciences
Since qualifying as a speech and language therapist in 2002, I have worked with children with speech, language and communication needs. Working in the NHS for the first ten years of my career, I worked in a variety of settings including special schools, mainstream schools and community clinics. My particular interest is in working with children and families with developmental language disorder, and I have spent a large amount of my clinical career working in language resource bases (for primary and secondary aged children) and in specialist provisions for pre-school children with language difficulties. Recently, I have been continuing my clinical work alongside my teaching as an independent practitioner, working in schools and with children and families.
I work part-time as a Senior Teaching Fellow and my role on the MSc Speech and Language Sciences involves coordinating the module SLAN0004: Management of Communication Difficulties 1: Language and Cognition. This module addresses language disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder and learning disability and covers theory, assessment and intervention approaches. I am the Head of Year A, the first year of study on the programme, and I also have a role in teaching and assessment in SLAN0003: Professional Studies 1.
I achieved Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2013 and have worked with UCL Arena to support other applicants in gaining recognition for their teaching. In September 2019 I began study towards a PhD on a part-time basis, supervised by Professor Wendy Best.


My research interest is in children with developmental language disorder and I am currently studying for a PhD investigating therapeutic interventions for pre-school children with verbal comprehension difficulties. I am particularly interested in the application of evidence-based practice to clinical practice and will be studying this specifically in the area of intervention for receptive language impairment.
Previous research activity includes involvement in the WORD project as a research associate. This project was a large-scale randomised control trial investigating interventions for school-aged children with word-finding difficulties and demonstrated the effectiveness of therapy for children aged 6 to 8 years old.
I also have an interest in practice-based learning in clinical education and am involved in co-supervising research projects on the MSc Speech and Language Science on an annual basis.
I teach a large part of the module SLAN0004: Management of Developmental Communication Difficulties 1, Language and Cognition and have a role in teaching and assessment in Professional Studies 1, also within the MSc Speech and Language Sciences programme.
2013 | ATQ03 - Recognised by the HEA as a Fellow | University College London | |
2002 | Master of Science | University College London | |
1999 | Bachelor of Science | University of Warwick |