The Department of Language and Communication Science

The Department of Language and Communication Science is a part of the City Community and Health Sciences at City University. It is the largest Department in the UK training Speech and Language Therapists for the NHS. It is a very lively department involved in a multitude of areas; teaching, clinical activities and research activities.

The principal aims of the Department are to:

1. Encourage a creative and reflective approach to teaching, clinical and professional practice in the field of Speech and Language Therapy
2. Develop relevant innovative research
3. Respond effectively to the changing worlds of education, health and social care and employment.

The Department houses:

• The COMPASS Centre for Clinical Education and Therapy
• The Speech and Acoustics Laboratory
• The Communication Resource Centre
• The Gesture and Sign Language Laboratory

Teaching

The Department provides a base and a resource for research students working on a wide range of language and communication difficulties. The Department provides courses to become a registered Speech and Language Therapist and courses for professionals working in communication disability.

The courses offered are:

• BSc Speech and Language Therapy. The programme is four years long and appeals to people interested in academic study that is linked to a professional qualification and an interest in working with people with communication disabilities.
• PGDip Speech and Language Therapy. The programme is a two year intensive course of study that leads to the award of postgraduate diploma in speech and language therapy and licence to practise as a Speech and Language Therapist.  It will appeal to those who have a first degree, are interested in pursuing a professional qualification and have a desire to work with people with communication difficulties.
• MSc In Human Communication. Is a two year part time programme, involving just one day of university a week. The programme is open to qualified Speech and Language Therapists. It consists of a combination of core and elective modules.
• MSc in Joint Professional Practice. This programme is run jointly by the Department of Language and Communication Science, City University and the Institute of Education, The University of London. Students have the choice of full time or part time study. It is open to Teachers and Speech and Language Therapists. The course explores the needs of children with speech, language and communication difficulties. It examines how teachers and SLTs can work together within different settings. For more details about the MSc in JPP, see www.talklink.org

Clinical Activities

The Compass Centre was established in 2000. It is an in-house Speech and Language Therapy clinic which uses the skills and experience of the staff in the Department of Language and Communication Science. The centre runs a number of clinical activities and projects, including intensive courses for children who stammer. The centre runs specialist clinics for children with speech and literacy problems as well as for children with profound hearing impairments.

There are also close links with Connect the communication disability network, which provides a service for people who have had strokes or accidents resulting in dysphasia. Dysphasia is a speech or language impairment due to brain damage. The department also has close links with speech and language therapy departments from primary care trusts and nursery, primary and secondary schools across London.

Research

The Department has a very active research culture. It has a number of areas of research expertise including language processing, deaf studies, developmental language impairment, learning disabilities and service development. The present study is well situated within the field of developmental language impairment and education and crosses over to service development. It builds on the work of the principal applicant (Dr Victoria Joffe) in the field of specific language impairment, intervention and education. Dr Joffe has already completed a pilot intervention study funded by Afasic exploring the effectiveness of narrative and vocabulary training.

LCS contact information
Web: www.city.ac.uk/lcs
Address: LCS, City University London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB