{"id":227,"date":"2021-03-25T13:58:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/?p=227"},"modified":"2021-03-25T13:58:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:58:37","slug":"introducing-the-child-language-research-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/2021\/03\/25\/introducing-the-child-language-research-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing: the Child Language Research Group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Here at\u00a0Newcastle University,\u00a0members of\u00a0the\u00a0Speech and Language Sciences\u00a0department\u00a0hold a monthly Child Language Research Group\u00a0meeting.\u00a0We are a group of\u00a0academic lecturers and researchers, clinical research staff, postgraduate students,\u00a0and speech and language\u00a0therapists from around the North East.\u00a0\u00a0Our individual research areas converge around child language development, and as a group we include speech &amp; language therapists, psychologists, teachers, economists, phoneticians and linguists.\u00a0Our aim is to<em>\u00a0<\/em>support and encourage one another as researchers and clinicians,\u00a0so as to\u00a0advance\u00a0our research and clinical work in this\u00a0socially critical field.\u00a0Our research areas include (but are not limited to!) &#8230;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Understanding typical speech and language development\u00a0\u00a0<\/li><li>Impact of speech and language development on wellbeing and achievement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li><li>Assessment, intervention and service delivery for\u00a0developmental speech and language disorders\u00a0\u00a0<\/li><li>Multi-lingual language development\u00a0(typical and atypical),\u00a0assessment,\u00a0and intervention\u00a0<\/li><li>Public health approaches to child language development\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Our meetings include presentations of work being carried out by group members, discussions of\u00a0current topics in the field of language development and intervention, and discussions around\u00a0research\u00a0issues and\u00a0processes.\u00a0There is always time for questions and the sharing of\u00a0both\u00a0new ideas\u00a0and\u00a0sweet treats! (Though in our recent\u00a0online meetings we suffice to gaze at one another\u2019s home d\u00e9cor in lieu of cakes and chocolate).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each meeting is an enjoyable, encouraging, and\u00a0often\u00a0fascinating hour or two, and it provides\u00a0in a variety of ways\u00a0for our\u00a0different\u00a0members.\u00a0In the spirit of research, we conducted\u00a0an informal\u00a0survey,\u00a0asking our\u00a0members for their input on what\u00a0the CLRG means to them.\u00a0Three\u00a0key themes\u00a0arose&#8230;\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gaining Knowledge\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the most fundamental part of the CLRG, and the most cited positive aspect by our members is&nbsp;finding out about&nbsp;other&nbsp;research&nbsp;happening in the department.&nbsp;It\u2019s \u201can ongoing education\u201d for all members, and as one respondent&nbsp;highlighted,&nbsp;it&nbsp;allows&nbsp;us to<em>&nbsp;<\/em>\u201clearn from one another to enrich our research\u201d<em>.<\/em>&nbsp;Bringing questions and topics for discussion to the group is an integral aspect of our meetings. One member commented,&nbsp;\u201cI&nbsp;\u2026&nbsp;find the CLRG a really useful place to discuss topics and bring questions \u2013 everyone has different knowledge and skills that can be pooled together to generate new ideas or answer a question.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Acquiring\u00a0Skills\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CLRG is&nbsp;an informal&nbsp;space for presentations of work \u201cat different levels of \u2018finished\u2019\u201d. Feedback from the group&nbsp;has helped many members in enhancing the content of their work, written or oral,&nbsp;and their presentation skills&nbsp;more broadly.&nbsp;Lots of postgraduate students,&nbsp;in particular,&nbsp;highlighted&nbsp;this as a key aspect, for example:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201c[the CLRG] has allowed me to develop skills like providing useful feedback and asking effective questions.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Developing Connections\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our&nbsp;postgraduate&nbsp;students&nbsp;and research staff&nbsp;say&nbsp;that&nbsp;attending the&nbsp;CLRG helps to&nbsp;create and sustain&nbsp;social and professional&nbsp;relationships.&nbsp;This is especially true for newcomers to the group:<em>&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cAttending the CLRG was a great introduction to the department and allowed me to meet a range of people.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For postgraduate students, the&nbsp;CLRG&nbsp;also&nbsp;helps to&nbsp;bridge the gap between being an undergraduate and taking ownership of&nbsp;their research as a postgraduate.&nbsp;One member said&nbsp;the CLRG helps&nbsp;them to&nbsp;\u201c&#8230;[feel]&nbsp;less of a student and more a colleague.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally,&nbsp;several members commented&nbsp;on the&nbsp;importance of the relationships they had developed&nbsp;in relation to their own research practice:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cLearning what areas of&nbsp;<\/em><em>[the department]&nbsp;<\/em><em>each person came from, and then know<\/em><em>[ing]<\/em><em>&nbsp;who to go to with small questions that would have taken a much longer time to answer alone<\/em><em>.<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For attendees, it\u2019s as simple as turning up on the appointed day and time each month (or a\u00a0simple click of the \u2018join\u2019 button\u00a0in online times!).\u00a0For organisers, an email list, a Teams group (or similar) and a regular monthly meeting are the small price to pay in return for a huge range of benefits. We love our group and, we\u2019d love to know what you think. Do you have a\u00a0similar\u00a0research group\u00a0at your institution? If not, why not start one?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here at\u00a0Newcastle University,\u00a0members of\u00a0the\u00a0Speech and Language Sciences\u00a0department\u00a0hold a monthly Child Language Research Group\u00a0meeting.\u00a0We are a group of\u00a0academic lecturers and researchers, clinical research staff, postgraduate students,\u00a0and speech and language\u00a0therapists from around the North East.\u00a0\u00a0Our individual research areas converge around child language &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/2021\/03\/25\/introducing-the-child-language-research-group\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[72,73,75,71,70,32,74],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-child-language-research-group","tag-child-language","tag-clinician","tag-collaboration","tag-meeting","tag-research","tag-speech-therapy","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/slsncl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}