With state of the art equipment, the Centre offers cutting-edge intervention services for clients, including stammering courses, aphasia research and sign language assessment for deaf children and adults.
About the Centre
The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre was officially opened in January 2016, replacing the Compass Centre as the in-house Speech and Language Therapy clinic at City, University of London.
The Centre contains state of the art equipment and facilities and continues to build on the skills and experience of the staff in the Language and Communication Science Division within the School of Health Sciences.
City, University of London have been running Speech and Language Therapy clinics for over 30 years and were the first University in the UK with in-house Speech and Language Therapy clinical facilities.
The centre is renowned for its pioneering clinical research, particularly in aphasia therapy, and offers our Speech and Language Therapy students unique practice placement opportunities.
The activities in The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre are required to support the three principles contained in our mission statement:
- To offer a range of cutting-edge intervention services for clients
- To provide an excellent quality of supervision for speech and language therapy students
- To promote the development of well-designed research.
We aim to develop clinical practice and ways of delivering services by exploring the interface between advances in theoretical knowledge and the changing demands of the health, educational and social contexts in which speech and language therapy services operate.
What are the key purposes of The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre?
- To explore developments and innovations in clinical practice
- To extend and make explicit the process of learning in clinical education
- To generate clinical questions and evaluate clinical evidence
- To raise awareness of innovative clinical practice and to consult with professional colleagues regarding the application of innovative models in the professional context.
Stammering Intensive Courses
Stammering Intensive courses are run for young people who stammer, aged between 8 and 18 years old.
The courses run over five days during school holidays at City, University of London.
Our primary aim is to reduce the anxiety and embarrassment associated with stammering (stuttering) and to make young people more confident about tackling the speech situations that they normally fear or avoid. We also work to further develop young people’s communication skills and confidence talking in social situations, such as within a group, to an audience and/or giving presentations.
Groups
We run two groups simultaneously, with between 8 and 10 young people who stammer in each of the two age groups (8 to 12 years old and 13 to 18 years old). Each group is run by a senior speech and language therapist, with the support of speech and language therapy students from City, University of London. This enables us to provide individual help and support for each young person.
Parents and carers
On the fourth day, parents/carers will attend a separate workshop to support their understanding of stammering, hear about the content of the course and what the students have been learning and explore how they can continue to support their child with the many issues associated with stammering.
On the final afternoon, parents and other family members are invited to attend a session where the young people showcase some of the learning from the week. Afterwards, there is opportunity for parents/carers to meet the speech and language therapists and City students to further discuss their child's progress on the course and recommendations to maintain this progress.
Referring therapists are also welcome to join us if they wish to do so – please let us know.
Students are welcome to attend more than one course, although a single course may be sufficient.
Application form for direct applications from young people (or their parents/carers)
To return completed forms and for further information and course fees please email our dedicated team at stammeringintensive@city.ac.uk
Sign Language Assessment Clinic
The Sign Language Assessment Clinic provides specialist communication assessment services for:
- Newly diagnosed deaf infants
- Deaf sign language users
- Deaf children who do not appear to be making progress with either spoken or sign language
- Deaf children and adults with additional disabilities, e.g. people with Ushers', cerebral palsy, learning difficulties
- Deaf people who have had a stroke or who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease
- Deaf children and adults who have recently arrived in the UK and who have limited communication abilities
- Deaf children or adults with persistent reading difficulties
What we do
Our team is experienced in developing assessment materials for sign language users and in researching communication and communication disorders in deaf people. We also have expertise in assessing and offering advice about support for reading difficulties in deaf children.
We offer an individualised communication assessment carried out by qualified deaf and hearing specialists:
- Speech & language therapists
- Sign linguists
- Psychologists
- Educational audiologists
Following the assessment, a report is provided with guidelines for intervention programmes. The report can be tailored to meet the needs of educational, legal or medical contexts.
The clinic is held on a once weekly basis during term-time. Individuals are invited to attend with their families and/or key-workers. In some circumstances, the assessment can be carried out using video recordings of the client.
The fee for an assessment depends on the required staffing, but is typically £400 for a communication assessment and £600 for a more comprehensive assessment including Educational Psychology assessment and/or reading. (information regarding subsidised fees is available upon request).
Sign Language Assessment Clinic
Please send the referral form to Ros Herman
What we offer
Current activities in The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre include:
- The CommuniCATE Aphasia Clinic and Aphasia Reconnect
- Stammering Intensive Clinics for young people who stammer
- The Sign Language Assessment clinic for deaf children and adults.
Over the past years the Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre has offered clinical activities across a range of client groups including:
- People who stammer
- People with aphasia
- People with special educational needs
- Children and adolescents with specific language impairment
- People with Parkinson's disease (using Lee Silverman Voice Training)
- Deaf children and adults
- Children with speech impairments.
A range of intervention styles have been adopted including individual and group work, direct work with clients and indirect work with carers. More recently, remote interventions using communication technology have also been adopted.
Who leads the activities?
Each clinical activity is led by specialist, registered Speech and Language Therapist/s who are members of staff within the Language and Communication Science Division, together with other specialist colleagues as appropriate (for example clinical audiologist, clinical linguist, specialist speech and language therapist).
Student speech and language therapists are involved in providing clinical services under the supervision of the relevant specialist Speech and Language Therapist. All students involved in the Centre participate as part of their clinical education programme, which contributes to the award of either a BSc or Post-graduate Diploma/MSc in Speech and Language Therapy.
How to access our services
The services offered at The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre are typically 'tertiary' level services, that is, where an individual is referred having already been known to a speech and language therapy service. Several activities occur in collaboration with local speech and language therapy services.
However, in keeping with speech and language therapy access policies generally, The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre will consider direct referrals from clients and/or their families and carers.
Commissioners of speech and language therapy services and other service 'purchasers' with a budget for speech and language therapy are also able to secure The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre services for individuals or groups within their area of responsibility.
Speech and language therapy services wishing to use the consultancy services provided by The Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre can enter directly into a consultancy arrangement. For more information, please contact Bernard Camilleri.
