Research

Moor House Therapy Department continues to be at the forefront of research into the effectiveness of therapy interventions for school aged students with severe (developmental) language disorder. This ensures the work we do with students is driven by the most current evidence. Our research studies are led by Dr Susan Ebbels, Director of Research and Training and Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist.

Current intervention studies

We are currently carrying out the following studies into the effectiveness of intervention for:

1. comprehension and production of complex language. Many children with developmental language disorder have difficulties understanding and using sentences where the word order is crucial to comprehension. We are focusing our intervention at different levels according to the needs of the children. The primary focus is on comprehension, but we are also measuring expression
2. students aged 16-19 years
3. comprehension and use of idioms (this is being carried out by Lucy Benjamin as part of her PhD)

Published articles by Moor House professionals
Moor House staff are shown in bold

in press

Tobin, L. M., & Ebbels, S. H. (in press). Effectiveness of intervention with visual templates targeting tense and plural agreement in copula and auxiliary structures in school-aged children with complex needs: a pilot study. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 1-16. doi:10.1080/02699206.2018.1501608. Link, accepted version

2019

Ebbels S.H., McCartney, E., Slonims, V., Dockrell, J. E., & Norbury, C. F. (2019). Evidence-based pathways to intervention for children with language disorders. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 54(1), 3-19. doi:10.1111/1460-6984.12387. Link. 

Norbury, C. F., McCartney, E., Slonims, V., Dockrell, J. E., & Ebbels, S. H. (2019). Public health approaches still have room for individualized services: response to commentaries on ‘Evidence-based pathways to intervention for children with language disorders’. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 54(1), 28-29. doi:doi:10.1111/1460-6984.12436. Link.

2018

Wright, L., Pring, T. & Ebbels, S. (2018) Effectiveness of vocabulary intervention for older children with (developmental) language disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 53, 480–494. DOI:10.1111/1460-6984.12361. Link

2017

Ebbels, S. H., Wright, L., Brockbank, S., Godfrey, C., Harris, C., Leniston, H., Neary, K., Nicoll, H., Nicoll, L., Scott, J. and Marić, N. (2017), Effectiveness of 1:1 speech and language therapy for older children with (developmental) language disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 52: 528–539. doi:10.1111/1460-6984.12297. Link. Accepted version

Ebbels, S. H. (2017) Intervention research: appraising study designs, interpreting findings and creating research in clinical practice. International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 19, 218-231. doi:10.1080/17549507.2016.1276215 Link. accepted version

Gallgaher, A.L & Ebbels, S.H. (2017) Language, literacy and numeracy outcomes of adolescents with (Developmental) Language Disorder following a collaborative model of SLT delivery in specialist education. Moor House School & College, Surrey, UK. Link

Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & Catalise-consortium*. (2017). Phase 2 of CATALISE: a multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58: 1068–1080. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12721. Link

*Catalise consortium includes S.H. Ebbels

2016

Bishop, D. V., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T & Catalise consortium*. (2016). CATALISE: a multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study. Identifying language impairments in children (2167-9843). Link

*Catalise consortium includes S.H. Ebbels

2014
Ebbels, S (2014) Introducing the SLI debate.International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. 49, 377-380. Link

Ebbels, S. H. (2014). Effectiveness of intervention for grammar in school-aged children with primary language impairments: a review of the evidence.Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 30: 7-40. Link

Ebbels, S. H., Maric, N., Murphy, A., & Turner, G. (2014) Improving comprehension in adolescents with severe receptive language impairments: a randomised control trial of intervention for coordinating conjunctions. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 49: 30-48. Link

Kulkarni, A., Pring, T. & Ebbels, S.H. (2014). Evaluating the effectiveness of therapy based around Shape Coding to develop the use of regular past tense morphemes in two children with language impairments. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 30: 245-254. Link. Accepted version

Conti-Ramsden, G., Bishop, D., Clark, B., Frazier Norbury, C., & Snowling, M. (2014). Specific Language Impairment (SLI): The internet campaign to raise awareness of SLI. Psychology of Language and Communication, 18: 143 -148 Link

2012
Ebbels, S.H., Nicoll, H., Clark, B., Eachus, B., Gallagher, A., Horniman, K., Jennings, M., McEvoy, K., Nimmo, E., Turner., G. (2012). Effectiveness of semantic therapy for children with word finding difficulties in pupils with a persistent language impairment: a randomised control trial. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 47: 35-51. Winner of the 2012 IJLCD Article Prize Link. Accepted version 

Ebbels, S.H., Dockrell, J.D. & van der Lely, H.K.J (2012) Production of change-of-state, change-of-location and alternating verbs: a comparison of children with specific language impairment and typically developing children. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27 (9), 1312-1333. Link. Accepted version

Ebbels, S.H., Dockrell, J.D. & van der Lely, H.K.J (2012). Non-word repetition in adolescents with SLI.International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 47, 257-273. Link. Accepted version

Bishop, D.V.M., Clark, B., Conti-Ramsden, G., Frazier Norbury, C., & Snowling, M. (2012). RALLI: An internet campaign for raising awareness of language learning impairments. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. 28: 259 -262 Link

2008
Ebbels, S.H. (2008). Improving grammatical skill in children with specific language impairment. In Norbury, C.F.., Tomblin, J.B. & Bishop, D.V.M (Eds.), Understanding developmental language disorders: from theory to practice (pp. 149-174). Hove: Psychology Press.  

2007
Ebbels, S.H. (2007). Teaching grammar to school-aged children with Specific Language Impairment using Shape Coding. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 23, 67-93. Most downloaded paper 2007-2015 Link. Accepted version with update notes. Vodcast.

Ebbels, S.H., van der Lely, H.K.J., and Dockrell, J.E. (2007). Intervention for verb argument structure in children with persistent SLI: a randomized control trial. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research,50, 1330-1349. Link. Accepted version

Joffe, V. L., Cain, K. and Maric, N. (2007), Comprehension problems in children with specific language impairment: does mental imagery training help? International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 42: 648–664. Summary. Link

Pre-2007
Marshall, C, Ebbels, S, Harris, J, van der Lely, H. (2002) Investigating the impact of prosodic complexity on the speech of children with Specific Language Impairment. UCL Working Papers in Linguistics, 14,43-66

Ebbels, S. & van der Lely, H. (2001). Meta-syntactic therapy using visual coding for children with severe persistent SLI. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 36(supplement), 345-350. Submitted article

Ebbels, S. (2000) Psycholinguistic profiling of a hearing-impaired child. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 16, 3-22.  Link

Dent, H. and Clark, B. (1996) A two-pronged approach to assessment: combining psycholinguistic and instrumental procedures in the investigation of a developmental speech and language disorder. UCL Department of Human Communication Science Work in Progress (Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London WC1N 1PG). 6, 44-54

Dent, H. and Clark, R. (1996) Applying psycholinguistic and instrumental procedures to assessment: A description of a single case study. Issues in Normal and Disordered Child Language: from Phonology to Narrative. Proceedings of the Child Language Seminar. The University of Reading.

Conference presentations (not published elsewhere)

Ebbels, S.H., Bell, L., Brockbank, S., Harris, C.,Heine, C., Leniston, H., Marić, N., Morrison, M., Nicoll, H., Nicoll, L., Perovic, A., Roberts, V., Scott J. (2015) Intervention on comprehension of complex language for adolescents with developmental language impairments. Oral Presentation at Child Language Symposium, 20-21 July 2015, Warwick, England.

Nicoll, L., & Ebbels, S.H (2014) Developing the ability of 14-15 year olds with developmental language impairments to explain the meaning of idioms: A comparison of 1:1 and classroom intervention. Poster presented at conference of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, 18-19 Sept 2014, Leeds, England.

Campbell, L., & Ebbels, S.H (2014) Effectiveness of Speech and Language Therapy within a Post-16 Provision. Poster presented at conference of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, 18-19 Sept 2014, Leeds, England. Link

Nicoll, H., Godfrey, C. O’Sullivan, S., & Ebbels, S.H (2012) Can we improve comprehension of vocabulary in secondary-aged students with language impairments? Evaluating the effectiveness of speech and language therapy in a Key Stage 3 Science lesson. Poster presented at conference of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, 11-12 Sept 2012, Manchester, England. Link

Nicoll, H & Ebbels, S.H (2011) Semantic therapy to improve developmental word finding difficulties: Does the method of delivery impact effectiveness? Oral presentation at “Lost for Words: Lost for Life?” conference on SLCN in older children and young people. 15-17 June 2011, City University London, England. Slides

Middleton, H., Campbell, C., Scott, J., Vallance, J. & Carter, D. (2011) Enabling students with SLI to access the English Curriculum in Key Stage Four. Poster presented at “Lost for Words: Lost for Life?” conference on SLCN in older children and young people. 15-17 June 2011, City University London, England. Poster

Nicoll, H. & Middleton, H. (2007) English G.C.S.E and severe language impairment. Poster presented at Afasic 4th international symposium,Warwick,UK. Poster