This paper reports on a longitudinal study in the North of England with 13 educators in schools, colleges and universities during two lockdowns. The project was designed to 'unlock' education by providing spaces to co-create new ways of thinking about education in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus groups were conducted with school and college…

The educational inclusion of deaf students in England is usually interpreted as placement in mainstream settings alongside hearing students, creating unintended pressure for assimilation to the communicative needs of hearing people. In this context, it is deaf students and their communication support staff who are left to deal with communicative…

On average, groups of autistic individuals are more likely than groups of non-autistic individuals to exhibit unconventional conversational behaviours. We examined autistic and non-autistic children's social impressions of unconventional responding, as well as actual conversational behaviours in the same participants. Across two studies, 36…

Selective mutism (SM) is typically identified in early childhood and is characterised by a lack of speech in specific social situations, usually at school. This study interviewed 11 teachers and used qualitative methods to develop an explanatory framework to represent the lived experience of teaching pupils with SM. Interviews were analysed using…

Background: Obesity is common in adults with intellectual disabilities, yet little is known about how weight management interventions are provided for this population. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were held with 14 healthcare practitioners involved in weight management interventions in an English county. A study topic guide was developed to…

Background and aims: A high rate of children in mental health services have poor language skills, but little evidence exists on how mental health support is delivered to and received by children with language needs. This study looked at parental experiences, asking parents of children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) about…

Little research has been undertaken into how children with complex communication needs living in residential care are encouraged to express their views, be involved in decision-making, and importantly, make it known when they are unhappy. This group are often placed a long distance from home and can be some of the most vulnerable children in the…

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects approximately 1% of the general population. The prevalence of ASD, or symptom complexes compatible with ASD, amongst young people residing within Secure Children's Homes (SCH's) remains ill understood. There are critical implications for the resourcing and understanding of the management of young people…

The paper offers insight into pragmatic aspects of English as a lingua franca (ELF) and potential implications for intercultural communication by presenting the results of research into rapport carried among Czech, English and German university students. The three cultural groups were compared in terms of their cultural independence in rapport…

Many schools in Western countries like the United Kingdom have become increasingly diverse communities in recent years, and children are likely to be exposed to a variety of accents that are different from their own. While there is a wide body of research exploring accent comprehension in the adult population and in infancy, little has been done…

The increasing ethnic diversity in the UK has highlighted the importance of supporting primary school pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL), some of whom also have special educational needs (SEN). However, there is relatively little research carried out in the UK on children with both EAL needs and SEN. This paper presents the…

Background: While the prevalence of language and communication difficulties among young people in custody is well established, holistic understanding of the complexity and co-occurrence of additional vulnerabilities among this population are rare. Methods: Ninety-three young people in a young offenders institution in England were assessed using…

Background: Effective co-practice is essential to deliver services for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The necessary skills, knowledge and resources are distributed amongst professionals and agencies. Co-practice is complex and a number of barriers, such as "border disputes" and poor awareness of respective…

"Talk of the Town" is a community led approach to supporting the speech, language and communication (SLC) skills of children and young people, aged 0-19, living in areas of social disadvantage. It is delivered by the Communication Trust. This evaluation reports on a randomised controlled trial undertaken with 2696 pupils in 64 primary…

This paper considers how pre-service primary teachers in England (trainees) are supported to work with children with special educational needs (SEN) using a personalized learning task. The focus, in particular, considers how speech, language and communication skills are foregrounded in the reports describing children with moderate learning…