Victoria Joffe

Reader - Developmental speech, language and communication impairments

Profile

Victoria Joffe is a specialist speech and language therapist and senior lecturer in the Department of Language and Communication Sciences at City University.

Victoria obtained her Honours degree with distinction in speech and language therapy and audiology in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. After working in a hospital setting in both audiology and speech and language therapy, she went on to obtain her D.Phil degree in the Department of Experimental Psychology, The University of Oxford. Victoria worked with Professor Peter Bryant on the relationship between oral language ability, metalinguistic awareness and reading and spelling ability in language impaired children.

Victoria's area of clinical and research expertise include specific language impairment, special education needs, the interface between education and speech and language therapy, the relationship between language, metalinguistic awareness and literacy, evidence-based practice, narrative therapy and language and communication impairment in secondary school age children and SLT support with young offenders.

Victoria works in schools across London and has completed an intervention project funded by Afasic looking at the effectiveness of narrative and vocabulary therapy in enhancing language and communication in the adolescent language impaired group. This study led to a large Nuffield funded intervention study exploring the effectiveness of two intervention programmes in enhancing language and communication in secondary school-age children with language impairments: narrative and vocabulary enrichment. This programme is currently being trialled in secondary schools across two outer London boroughs. For further details of this programme, see here. She also trains whole school staff in meeting the speech, langauge and communication needs of all children in schools. 

Victoria has also been involved in an ESRC-funded study with Dr Spyridoula Varlokosta from the University of Rhodes, Greece, investigating the grammatical and lexical abilities of individuals with Williams Syndrome and Downs Syndrome. She is particularly interested in differentiating speech and language therapy and educational intervention to the specific needs of the children with different language and cognitive profiles. She is also currently involved with Dr Kate Cain from Lancaster University on visual-based intervention to enhance inferential understanding in children with language impairments.

Victoria is currently external examiner in the Department of Clinical Language Sciences,  University of Reading. She also acts as a speech and language therapy assesor and panel member  for the Health Professions Council. She is programme director for an innovative MSc programme run jointly with the Institute of Education, University of London and City University: the MSc in Joint Professional Practice: Language and Communication. The focus of this MSc is on collaborative practice between therapy and teaching staff working with children with speech, language and communication needs. For further details about the MSc, see here. 

Victoria works as a consultant and is governor and trustee at the Link School, a school for children with complex speech, language and communication needs. She is an advisor on ICAN's secondary talk project and has recently been appointed as a trustee of ICAN. She provides a range of training workshops and insets to teachers, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists and other professionals on a range of topics including collaborative practice, the assessment and intervention of phonological impairments, evidence-based practice, language and communication impairments, the role of language in literacy, vocabulary enrichment, using narratives to enhance learning across the curriculum and setting up a secondary school-based SLT delivery.

Victoria has  been awarded a teaching and learning award from City University for student support for an innovative speech and language therapy outreach project run in collaboration with a secondary school in Merton. This secondary school outreach programme had developed extensively and is now a major clinical placement for our speech and language therapy students. 

Publications

• Joffe, V.L. (in press). Using narratives to enhance language and learning across the secondary school curriculum. Milton Keynes: Speechmark Publications. 
• Joffe, V.L. (in press). Vocabulary enrichment in secondary schools. Milton Keynes: Speechmark Publications.  
• Joffe, V.L. (2010). Understanding speech, language and communication difficulties. British Journal of School Nursing, 5(5), 61-62.
• Joffe, V.L. (2009). Explicit print referencing delivered by teachers in the classroom enhances early literacy. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention , 3(3), 145-150.
• Joffe, V.L. (2009). A survey of clinical practice in the UK. In C. Bowen (Ed.), Children's Speech Sound Disorders. West Sussex:  Wiley-Blackwell. (pp.175-179).
• Joffe, V.L., Cruice, M. and Chiat, S. (2008) (Editors). Language disorders in children and adults: new issues in research and practice. West Sussex: John Wiley Publishers.
• Joffe, V.L. (2008). Minding the gap in research and practice in developmental language disorders. In V.L. Joffe, M. Cruice and S. Chiat, (Eds.), (pp. 68-97). Language disorders in children and adults: new issues in research and practice. West Sussex:  Wiley-Blackwell.
• Joffe, V.L., Cruice, M. and Chiat, S. (2008). Introduction: Language disorders in children and adults: current themes, issues and connections. In V.L. Joffe, M. Cruice, and S. Chiat, (Eds.),(pp. XI-XXVII). Language disorders in children and adults: new issues in research and practice. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Joffe, V.L. (2008). Some (but still insufficient) evidence exists for language interventions for school-age children with developmental speech and language impairments. Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2, 2, 76-80.
• Joffe, V.L. and Pring, T. (2007). Children with phonological problems: A survey of clinical practice. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 43, 154-164.
• Joffe, V.L., Cain, K. and Maric, N. (2007). Comprehension problems in children with specific language impairment: does mental imagery training help? International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42,(6), 648-664.
• Joffe, V.L. and Varlokosta, S. (2007). Patterns of Syntactic Development in Children with Williams Syndrome and Down's Syndrome: Evidence from Passives and Wh-questions. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 21(9), 705-727.
• Joffe, V.L. and Varlokosta, S. (2007). Language abilities in William Syndrome: Exploring comprehension, production and repetition. Advances in Speech-Language Pathology, 9(2), 1-13.
• Hasson, N. and Joffe, V.L. (2007). The case for dynamic assessment in speech and language therapy. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 23(1), 9-25.
• Varlokosta, S. and V.L. Joffe (2007). Lexical and grammatical abilities in Williams Syndrome:
  Evidence from past tense and plural inflection.  BUCLD 31: Proceedings of the 31st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 656-667). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
• Joffe, V.L. (2006). Enhancing language and communication in language-impaired secondary school-aged children. In Ginsborg, J., & Clegg, J. (Eds), (pp. 207-216). Language and Social Disadvantage. London: Wiley Publishers.
• Joffe, V.L. and Varlokosta, S. (2006). Syntactic Abilities in Williams Syndrome: How intact is 'intact'? In Proceedings of ISCA Tutorial and research workshop on experimental linguistics, A. Botinis (Ed.), (pp. 28-30).  August 2006, Athens, Greece.
• Joffe V.L. and Poulton, H. (2001). The joint delivery of personal and social education (PSE) in a special school. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, Proceedings of the RCSLT 's 2001 Conference: Sharing Communication, 36, 228-233.
• Joffe, V. L. (1997). The relationship between linguistic awareness and reading and spelling development in children with specific language impairment. D.Phil. Thesis,   Oxford University.
• Penn, C., Jones, D. and Joffe, V. L. (1997). Hierarchical Discourse Therapy: A Method for the Mild Patient. Aphasiology, 11(6), 601-613.
• Joffe, V.L. and Shapiro, G.  (1991).Sound Based Language Play in Four Language Impaired Subjects. The South African Journal Of Communication Disorders, 38, pp. 119-128.

Recent invited talks

• Joffe, V.L. (2010). Profiling and enhancing the language abilities of secondary school students with language and communication difficulties. Invited keynote address: 11th colloque de logopédie. Langage et identité à l'adolescence. 11-12th November, 2010 University of Neutrich, Switzerland.
• Joffe, V.L. (2010). Children with speech, language and communication needs: breaking barriers and forging ahead. Clinical Education Conference. 1st September 2010, City University, London.
• Joffe, V.L. (2010). Achieving effective collaborative working practices to meet the needs of pupils with SLCN in secondary school. Invited keynote address: Speech, Language and Communication Needs Conference. 23rd June, 2010, London.
• Joffe, V.L. (2010). Practical strategies for encouraging students to become active, independent and evaluative learners. Speech, Language and Communication Needs Conference. 23rd June, 2010, London.
  Joffe, V.L. (2010). Enhancing language and communication in secondary school through two intervention programmes: narrative and vocabulary enrichment.  Primary Care 2010 Conference. 5-6th May 2010 NEC, Birmingham.
• Joffe, V.L. (2009). What teachers want and need to know about enhancing speech, language and communication in the classroom. The Communication Trust Conference. London. May, 2009.
• Joffe, V.L. and Dean, E. (2009). Exploring the role of narratives in the assessment of language and communication in schools. National Association of Professionals concerned with language impairment in children. May 2009. 
• Joffe, V.L. (2007). Speech and Language Therapy Provision in Education. Education Services, Hong Kong, June 2007.
• Joffe, V.L., Varlokosta, S. and Riddett, A. (2006).  Language abilities in Williams Syndrome: Intact, delay or disorder?  Paper presented at RCSLT Conference, Realising the Vision, at University of Ulster, May 2006.

Recent conference presentations

• Joffe, V.L. (2010). An effectiveness study: enhancing language in adolescents with language impairments through two intervention programmes - narrative and vocabulary enrichment. Child Language Seminar. 23rd-24th June, 2010, London.
• Joffe, V.L. (2009). What is language? Exploring the training needs of teaching staff. To be presented in November 2009, American Association of Speech-Language-Hearing Association Congress. San Diego, USA.
• Joffe, V.L. (2009). An effectiveness study: enhancing language in adolescents with language impairments. To be presented in November 2009, American Association of Speech-Language-Hearing Association Congress. San Diego, USA.
• Joffe, V.L., Dean, E., Madhani. N., Kotta, E. and Parker, F. (2009). Enhancing Language and Communication in Secondary School through Two Intervention Programmes: Narrative and Vocabulary Enrichment. RCSLT Scientific Conference. Partners in progress: Spreading the word. 17th - 18th March 2009, London.  
• Joffe, V.L., Revelas, E., Dean, E. and Madhani. N. (2009). The Knowledge, awareness and experiences of secondary school teaching assistants. RCSLT Scientific Conference. Partners in progress: Spreading the word. 17th - 18th March 2009, QE II Conference Centre, Westminster, London.  
• Joffe, V.L., Dean, E.,Kotta, E., Parker, F. and Madhani, M. (2008). Enhancing language and communication in secondary school children with language impairment through narrative and vocabulary enrichment. XI International Congress for the Study of Child Language (IASCL): Edinburgh, 28 July - 1 August.
• Joffe, V.L., Dean, E., Kotta, E., Parker, F. and Madhani, M. (2008). Profiles of language ability in secondary school students with language impairments: perspectives from students, teachers and parents. XI International Congress for the Study Of Child Language (IASCL): Edinburgh, 28 July - 1 August.
• Joffe, V.L. (2007). Adolescents with language impairments: a forsaken client group? Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, Sydney, Australia, May 2007.
• Joffe, V.L., Mitchell, V. and Proom, C. (2007). Long term impact of language impairments - academic, vocational and social outcomes. Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, Sydney, Australia, May 2007.
• Joffe, V.L. (2007). Speech and Language Therapy Provision in Education. Education Services, Hong Kong.
• Joffe, V.L. (2006). Seeking clinical and statistical significance in intervention research with developmental language disorders: beyond or within our grasp? Making New Connections 2 Conference, City University, September 2006.
• Joffe, V.L., Varlokosta, S. and Riddett, A. (2006). Differentiating speech and language therapy delivery in learning disabled populations: specific language impairment, William Syndrome, Down Syndrome. Poster presentation. Making New Connections 2 Conference, City University, September 2006.
• Joffe, V.L. and Varlokosta, S. (2006). Grammatical and Lexical Abilities in Williams Syndrome. Paper presented at the Third Williams Syndrome workshop, University of Reading, UK, July 2006.  
• Joffe, V.L., Varlokosta, S and Riddett, A. (2006). Early Linguistic processing in WS: a longitudinal single case study. Poster presented at the Third Williams Syndrome workshop, University of Reading, UK, July 2006.  
• Joffe, V.L., Varlokosta, S and Riddett, A. (2006). Grammatical and Lexical Abilities in Williams Syndrome. Paper presented at the Child Language Seminar Conference, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, July 2006.  
• Joffe, V.L. (2006). Speech and language therapy with language-impaired secondary school aged children, Paper presented at the Child Language Seminar Conference, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, July 2006.  
• Joffe, V.L., Riddett, A. and Varlokosta, S. (2006). Differences speech and language therapy delivery in learning disabled populations: specific language impairment, Williams Syndrome and Down Syndrome. Poster presented at RCSLT Conference, Realising the Vision, at University of Ulster, May 2006.
• Joffe, V.L., Varlokosta, S. and Riddett, A. (2006).  Language abilities in Williams Syndrome: Intact, delay or disorder?  Paper presentation at RCSLT Conference, Realising the Vision, University of Ulster.
• Joffe, V.L., Mitchell, V. and Proom, C. (2006).  A follow up study of young adults  with language and communication  impairments:  academic, vocational,  social and emotional outcomes.  Poster presented at RCSLT Conference, Realising the Vision, at University of Ulster, May 2006.
• Joffe, V.L., Mitchell, V. and Proom, C. (2006).  A follow up study of adolescents with a diagnosis of language impairment - academic, social and emotional outcomes. Poster presentation: Society for Research on Adolescence, 11th Biennial Meeting, March 2006, San Francisco, USA
• Joffe, V.L. (2006). Enhancing language and communication in adolescents with language impairments. Poster presentation: Society for Research on Adolescence, 11th Biennial Meeting, March, 2006, San Francisco, USA.
• Joffe, V.L., Varlokosta, S and Riddett, A. (2006). Grammatical and lexical abilities in Williams Syndrome. Paper presented at the Latis Colloquium of the University of Geneva, Switzerland: Early Language Development and Disorders. January, 2006.