Literacy news

The Better Communication Research Programme

1 Dec 2009

The Bercow Review (2008), together with the subsequent Better Communication Action Plan (DCSF, 2008) made a number of specific proposals including the appointment of a communication champion, the setting up of a communication council and the development of 16 commissioning pathfinders for services for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

Better Communication also commissioned a programme of research to support the development of these activities, and in June 2009, this was awarded to a team of four researchers with longstanding experience in the field – Professors Geoff Lindsay (University of Warwick), Julie Dockrell (Institute of Education, University of London), James Law (Newcastle University) and Sue Roulstone (University of the West of England).

Originally entitled the Speech, Language and Communication Needs Cost Effectiveness Research Programme this is now called the Better Communication Research Programme (BCRP).

The programme will run in the first instance from 2009 to 2012 with a potential extension through to 2014. The BCRP will focus on five research strands in the first year:

1) A review of best practice, making the best published research evidence, complemented by evidence from pathfinder sites in the first instance and other providers of services for children with SLCN. Researchers will ask local authorities and PCTs to report on current practice and on the way in which their services are delivered and evaluated. This information will be available online to service providers, commissioners and practitioners.
2) The analysis of national educational data sets, notably the National Pupil Database identifying school census patterns of prevalence and outcomes for pupils with SLCN across local authorities.
3) The identification of a set of economic criteria for judging the value of intervention for children with SLCN.
4) A cross-sequential prospective study comparing change in children with specific language impairment and autistic spectrum disorder for children between ages five to 14.
5) An investigation of the views of the stakeholders themselves. This will include in-depth analysis of a series of focus groups of service users, children with SLCN and their parents, those providing services and those supporting provision through professional bodies and the voluntary sector.

The second and subsequent years of the BCRP will be shaped by the continuation to some of the projects in year one and by new projects agreed by the research team and the programme steering group.

There will be a strong focus on retaining this flexibility to allow the team to the evidence as it develops. The project team also intends that a wide range of those with an interest will become involved in the programme.

Further information will become available online at www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/cedar/projects/current/slcn.

(Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists December bulletin)

Tags: Adults, Early Years, Local Authorities, Talk To Your Baby

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