Anna Blackwell

I graduated from the University of Bristol in 2009 with a BSc in Psychology. Following my degree I worked as a learning support assistant at a secondary school in Bristol gaining an in depth knowledge of the practical implications of speech and language impairment for children both academically and socially. I was recently offered a PhD studentship at the University of the West of England (UWE) as part of a £1.2m NIHR programme grant that has been awarded to the North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and being run at the SLTRU.
 
The research grant is entitled ‘Evidence based intervention for pre-school children with primary speech and language impairments (PSLI)’ and my own project is designed to complement the grant. I am planning to undertake a number of case studies to investigate the course of language development of young children with PSLI, who have different profiles of linguistic deficit, over a period of 15 months. The aim is to investigate the various factors that influence language acquisition for children with PSLI and how these relate to psychological theories of language development. Features related to linguistic progress will be identified in order to better understand how these influence the effectiveness of speech and language therapy interventions.