Victoria L. Joffe

Senior Lecturer in developmental speech, language and communication impairment, principal investigator on the ELCISS research programme.

Qualifications: B.A. (Honours) Speech and Hearing Therapy (Witwatersrand, S.A.) Cum Laude; L.T.C.L. ( Licentiate Teacher) Speech and Drama (Trinity College, London); D.Phil (Experimental Psychology) (Oxon).

Biography

I am a specialist speech and language therapist and senior lecturer in developmental speech, language and communication impairments in the Department of Language and Communication Science at City University, London. I am also programme director of a new and exciting joint MSc degree in Joint Professional Practice: Language and Communication, run in conjunction with the Institute of Education (see www.talklink.org for further details).

I obtained my Honours degree with distinction in Speech and Language Therapy and Audiology in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. I enjoyed my time at university a great deal, making firm and long term friends, and finding the area in which I wanted to devote my time, i.e. working with students with speech, language and communication difficulties.

Initially, I worked in a hospital setting in both Audiology and Speech and Language Therapy and also took up a post as a lecturer in the Department of Speech and Hearing Therapy at the University of the Witwatersrand. I was then fortunate enough to be granted a scholarship from Rhodes University to continue my studies anywhere of my choice abroad.

What a choice to have! I chose to come to the UK and I went on to obtain a D.Phil degree in the Department of Experimental Psychology, The University of Oxford. I had the wonderful opportunity of working with Professor Peter Bryant on the relationship between oral language ability, metalinguistic awareness and reading and spelling ability in language impaired children. During this time, I also had the pleasure of working with Dr Lynette Bradley and Professor Julie Dockrell.

My areas of clinical and research interest include specific language impairment, special education needs, the interface between education and speech and language therapy, the relationship between language, metalinguistic awareness and literacy, evidence-based practice, child speech disorder, narrative therapy and language impairment and intervention in secondary school age children.

I work in schools across London and have recently completed an intervention project funded by Afasic looking at the effectiveness of narrative and vocabulary therapy in enhancing language and communication in an adolescent language impaired group. I have also recently completed an ESRC-funded research project in collaboration with a colleague, Dr Spryidoula Varlokosta, a linguist from the University of Rhodes in Greece, looking at the language abilities of individuals with Williams syndrome and Down's syndrome.

I am very honoured to be primary investigator on the ELCISS research project funded by the Nuffield foundation looking at the differential effects of speech and language therapy support in secondary school students with language and communication impairments.

There is a significant lack of research in the adolescent language impaired population and we know little about the nature and type of speech language and communication impairments in this group and what the effective ways are of enhancing language and communication. The ELCISS project aims to provide further insights into this area and it is a very exciting project of which to be a part.

Through the project, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many secondary school teachers, learning support assistants, SENCO's, secondary school students and their parents. All of us on the project have been overwhelmed by the hospitality of schools, commitment of teaching and support staff, and insights from students and their families. It is truly a great joy and privilege to be working on this project.

I also provide training and insets to speech and language therapy Primary Care Trusts, Local Educational Authorities and schools on a range of areas including the role of language in literacy, assessment and treatment of phonological disorders, language and communication disorders, evidence-based practice, collaborative practice: teachers and therapists working together and working with language impaired students in the secondary school context.

I had the opportunity to travel to Sydney, Australia; for the Speech Pathology Conference, and to Hong Kong, to meet delegates from the education department; to share my work.

I am also working with PhD students on the effectiveness of phonological awareness training and syntactic and semantic awareness training to enhance literacy in reading impaired children and on children with phonological disorders. I am reviews editor for the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders and a member of the editorial board of the journal: Evidence-based communication assessment and intervention. I am am currently external examiner in the Faculty of Education, St. Martin's College, University of Cumbria.

I am a consultant and governor at the Link Primary and Secondary School, and also do consultancy work for the Health Professions Council, UK. I was also awarded a teaching and learning award from City University for student support for an innovative speech and language therapy outreach project in schools.

Professional Membership

• Registered Member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
• Registered Member of the Health Professions Council
• Graduate Member of The British Psychological Society
• Member of The British Audiological Society
• Member of The Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry
• Member of the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

Personal Interests

I enjoy socializing and spending time with my family and friends. I entertain often and try out different recipes on unsuspecting guests. I love traveling and exploring different countries and cultures. I enjoy reading and always have a number of unfinished books on my beside table.

Contact details

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