Developmental Language Disorder

The course will focus on the difficulties that children may have in processing words and sentences, the role of social cognition and the role of wider cognition in understanding and using language appropriately, assessments that throw light on children’s difficulties, and implications for interventions.

A crosslinguistic perspective will be taken, and socioeconomic and sociocultural factors will be considered. By the end of the course, you will have a deeper understanding of research relevant to your work that will enable you to reflect on this critically. In turn, this will inform your assessment, decision-making and intervention in the field of speech and language therapy.

Who is it for?

This course is for speech and language therapists working with children who have speech, language and communication problems, and others with a special interest and some background in developmental language problems.

Timetable

The course will run on a Monday  for 10 weeks.

For 15 credits: A weekly three-hour session

For 30 credits: A weekly three-hour session and further self-directed study with one supervision session.

Oct: Wednesday 4, 11, 18 and 25 October 2023
Nov: Wednesday 1, 15, 22 and 29 November 2023
Dec: Wednesday 6 and 13 December 2023

Benefits

The key takeaway of this course is a deeper knowledge of research relevant to the understanding, critical analysis and treatment of language disorder.

This course may be taken for 15 credits or 30 credits and can be taken as part of a PGDip/MSc.

By the end of the course you will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding:

• Explain and critically reflect on current theoretical issues and research methods in language development and DLD
• Explain and integrate research findings relevant to your area of work and/or interests
• Describe and justify your use of assessments and interventions in working with a particular client group or client, with reference to current theoretical perspectives, research methods and findings.

Skills:

• Present issues, evidence and conclusions clearly, concisely and coherently in verbal and written presentation
• Critically evaluate and synthesise relevant research from a range of sources.

Values and attitudes:

• Demonstrate sensitivity to issues of human diversity including culture, ethnicity and disability and act accordingly
• Show an insight into and respect for the experience of service users and participants in research.

Other outcomes:

• Whether you complete 15 or 30 credits, you will leave the course stimulated, more confident in drawing on research evidence, and inspired to further reflect on the experience of children with language disorders and how we support them
• If you complete 30 credits, you will leave with more in-depth knowledge of a particular topic and understanding of the rationale for research and research methods, providing strong foundations for undertaking independent research.

Teaching:

For 15 credits, the course will combine lectures by experts with student-led discussions based on prior reading and professional experience. Teaching will be supplemented by guided reading of selected papers to understand and critically evaluate the quality of research and its relation to practice.

For 30 credits, you will in addition undertake a major piece of self-directed learning with support from online learning materials and two hours of individual supervision. Your task will be to draw up a research proposal that aims to enhance the evidence base for children with DLD.

Assessment:

For 15 credits, you will give an oral presentation of an assessment and/or intervention for a client group or an individual child motivated by relevant research covered in the course, and support this with a 1,500-word written review of the relevant literature.

For 30 credits, you will, in addition, present a 2,500-word written research proposal. This will include the rationale for the proposed research with reference to relevant literature, research questions to be addressed and methods to address these, how service users will be involved, and discussion of potential findings.

This course is worth 15 or 30 credits.

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

• First or second-class honours degree or equivalent in an appropriate subject
• The Licentiate Diploma of the Royal college of Speech and Language Therapists is also accepted.

Applicants with less than a second class degree will be considered where they have substantial relevant experience (clinical, teaching or other relevant professional experience).

English requirements

If your first language is not English, one of the following is required:

• A first degree from a UK university
• A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City, University of London as providing adequate evidence of proficiency in the English language, for example, from institutions from Australia, Canada or the United States of America.
• International English Language Test Service (IELTS) a score of 7.0 is required with no subtest below 7.0
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) score 72 required
• TOEFL 100 overall with 24 in Writing, 20 in Listening, 19 Reading and 20 Speaking
• Other evidence of proficiency in the English language, which satisfies the board of studies concerned, including registration with your professional regulator.

• Bishop, D. (1997). Uncommon understanding: Development and disorders of language comprehension in children. Hove: Psychology Press.
• Bishop, D.V.M., Snowling, M.J., Thompson, P.A., Greenhalgh, T., & the CATALISE-2 consortium (2016). CATALISE: a multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study. 1. Identifying language impairments in children. PeerJ Preprints,
• Bishop, D.V.M., Snowling, M.J., Thompson, P.A., Greenhalgh, T., & the CATALISE-2 consortium (2017). Phase 2 of CATALISE: a multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58, 1068-1080.
• Chiat, S. (2000). Understanding children with language problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Clegg, J., & Ginsborg, J. (Eds). (2006). Language and social disadvantage: Theory into practice. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Limited.
• Leonard, L. (1998). Children with specific language impairment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Marshall, C. (Ed.). (2013). Current issues in developmental disorders. London: Psychology Press.