Professor Susan Edwards

Responsibilities:

Head of Clinical Language Sciences; Director of the BSc and MSc in Speech and Language Therapy; Module convenor for: UG and PG Communication Impairment 3; Linguistic Aspects of Aphasia; Language Pathology (taught to Applied Linguistic students)

Areas of interest:

Acquired and developmental language disorders in adults and children: nature, assessment and treatment

My early work in the field of speech and language disorders was as a clinician working with paediatric and adult clients. This experience has influenced and informed my subsequent research and teaching. My first experimental work (undertaken as part of a master's degree) was conducted while working in a neurological rehabilitation unit. It was a large group study investigating the relationship between non-verbal intelligence and aphasic language. In my doctoral work, she looked at verbal interaction between adults and children with severe learning difficulties. Since joining academic life, I have investigated a range of speech and language difficulties including acquired apraxia, speech disorders in children, fluency and aphasia. My publications include papers in Brain & Language, Aphasiology; Behavior & Brain Sciences; International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders; Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. I am the author of Fluent Aphasia; Language and Mental Retardation (with Rondal) and the lead author of the Reynell Developmental Language Scales. I have contributed to local and national BBC programmes, served on the Council and Academic Board of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, as a visitor; for the Health Professions Council, and a member of the Board of the Academy of Aphasia. I am a member of the editorial board of Aphasiology. I am head of Clinical Language Sciences and direct the undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in speech and language therapy.

Research groups & Centres:

Language and Cognition

Qualifications:

Diploma, Speech and Language Therapy, Central School of Speech & Drama, London; MSc Human Communication, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London; PhD, Clinical LInguistics, Reading; Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists; Registered member of the Health Professions; Council Member of the Academy of Aphasia