Roganie Govender is a British-South African speech and language therapist. She is a consultant clinical academic speech and language therapist at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. [1]
Govender trained as a speech pathologist and audiologist in South Africa. [2] She gained a master's degree in Communication Pathology in 1998 and, in 2018, a PhD in Behavioural Science and Health from UCL. [3] From 2000 she worked at the Royal Free Hospital in London until June 2005 when she joined the UCLH. [3]
She was awarded a MBE in the 2021 New Year Honours for her services to speech and language therapy. [1]
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. CBT focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions and their associated behaviors to improve emotional regulation and develop personal coping strategies that target solving current problems. Though it was originally designed to treat depression, its uses have been expanded to include the treatment of many mental health conditions, including anxiety, substance use disorders, marital problems, and eating disorders. CBT includes a number of cognitive or behavioral psychotherapies that treat defined psychopathologies using evidence-based techniques and strategies.
Dysphagia is difficulty in swallowing. Although classified under "symptoms and signs" in ICD-10, in some contexts it is classified as a condition in its own right.
Cognitive disorders (CDs), also known as neurocognitive disorders (NCDs), are a category of mental health disorders that primarily affect cognitive abilities including learning, memory, perception, and problem solving. Neurocognitive disorders include delirium, mild neurocognitive disorders, and major neurocognitive disorder. They are defined by deficits in cognitive ability that are acquired, typically represent decline, and may have an underlying brain pathology. The DSM-5 defines six key domains of cognitive function: executive function, learning and memory, perceptual-motor function, language, complex attention, and social cognition.
Discrete trial training (DTT) is a technique used by practitioners of applied behavior analysis (ABA) that was developed by Ivar Lovaas at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). DTT uses direct instruction and reinforcers to create clear contingencies that shape new skills. Often employed as an early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for up to 30–40 hours per week for children with autism, the technique relies on the use of prompts, modeling, and positive reinforcement strategies to facilitate the child's learning. It previously used aversives to punish unwanted behaviors. DTT has also been referred to as the "Lovaas/UCLA model", "rapid motor imitation antecedent", "listener responding", errorless learning", and "mass trials".
Specific language impairment (SLI) is diagnosed when a child's language does not develop normally and the difficulties cannot be accounted for by generally slow development, physical abnormality of the speech apparatus, autism spectrum disorder, apraxia, acquired brain damage or hearing loss. Twin studies have shown that it is under genetic influence. Although language impairment can result from a single-gene mutation, this is unusual. More commonly SLI results from the combined influence of multiple genetic variants, each of which is found in the general population, as well as environmental influences.
Autism therapies include a wide variety of therapies that claim to help Autistic individuals or their families. Such methods of therapy also seek the increase of functional independence in autistic people. Many therapies marketed towards autistic people and/or their parents claim outcomes that have not been supported by Level of Research (LOE) Level 1 Level 1 research includes evidence from a systematic review or meta-analysis of all relevant RCTs or evidence-based clinical practice guidelines based on systematic reviews of RCTs or three or more RCTs of good quality that have similar results.
Telerehabilitation (or e-rehabilitation is the delivery of rehabilitation services over telecommunication networks and the internet. Telerehabilitation allows patients to interact with providers remotely and can be used both to assess patients and to deliver therapy. Fields of medicine that utilize telerehabilitation include: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, audiology, and psychology. Therapy sessions can be individual or community-based. Types of therapy available include motor training exercises, speech therapy, virtual reality, robotic therapy, goal setting, and group exercise.
Speech–language pathology is a field of expertise practiced by a clinician known as a speech–language pathologist (SLP) or a speech and language therapist, both of whom may be referred to as a speech therapist. Speech–language pathology is considered a "related health profession" or "allied health profession", along with audiology, optometry, occupational therapy, rehabilitation psychology, physical therapy and others.
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists is the professional body for speech and language therapists in the UK and a registered charity. It was established on 6 January 1945 to promote the study of speech therapy in the UK, to seek improvement and maintain a high standard of knowledge and to unite all members of the profession. The RCSLT’s current patron is the Countess of Wessex. The RCSLT has offices in Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and London..
The International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders is a peer-reviewed medical journal that covers topics relevant to speech and language disorders and speech and language therapy. Article types published are research reports, reviews, discussions, and clinical fora. It is the official journal of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. The journal is published by Wiley-Blackwell and edited by Dr Steven Bloch and Dr Cristina McKean. The journal was established in 1966 and has a 2018 impact factor of 1.504. The journal is available online and is published 6 times a year.
Muriel Elizabeth Morley (1899–1993) was an English speech and language therapist who specialised in the management of cleft palate. She was the president of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
Developmental language disorder (DLD) is identified when a child has problems with language development that continue into school age and beyond. The language problems have a significant impact on everyday social interactions or educational progress, and occur in the absence of autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability or a known biomedical condition. The most obvious problems are difficulties in using words and sentences to express meanings, but for many children, understanding of language is also a challenge. This may not be evident unless the child is given a formal assessment.
Ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI) has been used for speech production and linguistics research since it came into regular clinical use in the 1960s and 1970s. It is a non-invasive technique allowing researchers to view the shape, position and movements of the tongue in real time during speech.
The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is an augmentative and alternative communication system developed and produced by Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc. PECS was developed in 1985 at the Delaware Autism Program by Andy Bondy, PhD, and Lori Frost, MS, CCC-SLP. The developers of PECS noticed that traditional communication techniques, including speech imitation, sign language, and picture point systems, relied on the teacher to initiate social interactions and none focused on teaching students to initiate interactions. Based on these observations, Bondy and Frost created a functional means of communication for individuals with a variety of communication challenges. Although PECS was originally developed for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), its use has become much more widespread. Through the years, PECS has been successfully implemented with individuals with varying diagnoses across the aged span. PECS is an evidence-based practice that has been highly successful with regard to the development of functional communication skills.
Nonverbal autism is a subset of autism where the person does not learn how to speak. It is estimated that 25% to 50% of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) never develop spoken language beyond a few words or utterances.
Pamela Mary Enderby, FRCSLT is a British Speech Therapist and Professor of Community Rehabilitation at the University of Sheffield.
Caroline Bowen is a speech therapist who was born in New Zealand, and who has lived and worked in Australia most of her life. She specialises in children's speech sound disorders. Her clinical career as a speech-language pathologist spanned 42 years from 1970 to 2011.
Catherine Easton Renfrew,, was a British speech therapist.
Nicola Botting is a language and communication scientist whose work focuses on language and psychological outcomes of children with low birth weight, autism spectrum disorder, developmental language disorder, and other developmental disabilities. She is Professor of Developmental Disorders, Language & Communication Science at the City University of London. Botting is Editor in Chief of the journal Autism & Developmental Language Impairments.
Alison Patricia McCullough is a speech and language therapist and the current head of the Northern Ireland office of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. McCullough was appointed MBE for services to speech and language in the 2009 Birthday Honours. In March 2019 she was a joint winner of the 'Lifetime Commitment to the Third Sector' award from the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce.