PLEASE NOTE THAT THE BELOW LECTURES HAVE BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO THE CORONA VIRUS OUTBREAK – MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW 

The HVDL Foundation Trust is proud to announce a sponsored lecture tour by Prof. Amanda Owen van Horne, University of Delaware. Please see below for information on the individual lectures, and link to event web pages where applicable. Please do register your interest online if you wish to attend, and remember all are welcome!

Lecture 1: Wednesday, March 25th, 18:15-21:00: “Verb Selection as the Heart of Intervention: The Impact on Outcomes and Implications for Implementation”. Room A130, First Floor, College Building, St Johns Street, City University of London.

Abstract: The role of the verb as a key element for promoting language learning and generalization is increasing. My own work indicating that careful selection of the verb used to illustrate a grammatical form can improve grammatical learning in children with DLD is complemented by work from Hadley that suggests that targeting new noun+verb combinations improves early syntax and work by Plante that highlights the role of input variability. In this talk, I present rationales for different approaches to verb selection during therapy and evidence that careful selection of verbs used as exemplars improves child outcomes. I also discuss the barriers to actually implementing these methods of selecting treatment exemplars and propose solutions to those barriers that warrant further investigation.

You can register your interest with the university here.

Lecture 2: Thursday, April 2nd, 16:00-17:00: “Embedding language interventions in a science context: Preliminary data from a clinical trial with children with DLD”. Lecture Theatre 4, King George VI Building, Newcastle University. Followed by a special buffet, also sponsored by the HVDL Foundation Trust, in the Courtyard Café.

Abstract: Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) may have difficulty with multiple areas of language, including grammar, vocabulary, and phonological awareness and literacy. Ideally a speech language therapist (SLT) will provide treatment for these areas embedded in functional contexts, but it is not yet known if these treatments can be effectively integrated into the academic curriculum or which language therapy best supports academic outcomes. In this talk, I report data from 2 years of a 3-year randomized controlled trial designed to examine which of three types of language intervention (Robust Vocabulary Instruction, Recast Therapy, Gillon Treatment for Phonological Awareness) most improve science outcomes in 4-7-year old children with DLD. Children in all three conditions acquire the language targets and the science content simultaneously. Future work will allow us to determine the influence of this language growth on science learning.

You can register your interest with the university here.

Lecture 3: Tuesday, March 31st, 11:00-12:30: “LuCiD Seminar Series – Input distributions and implementation science in treatment settings”. 6.206, University Place, University of Manchester.

No booking is required for this seminar.

If you have any specific questions about the lecture series, you can contact us directly.