Joanne Cleland, BSc(Hons) PhD MRCSLT

I have been at the University of Strathclyde since 2015 where I teach on the undergraduate Speech and Language Pathology Course. I am a HCPC registered Speech and Language Therapist with a PhD in Communication Disorders. 

My research focuses on developmental Speech Sound Disorders.  I have a particular interest in Visual Biofeedback, that is, technologies which can be used to image the articulators (principally the tongue) moving when we speak. My research has focused both on electropalatogrpahy (EPG) and ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI) as two of the main techniques which provide both ways of measuring tongue movement and of allowing children with speech sound disorders a method of using real-time visual biofeedback of their own tongue movements to modify incorrect articulations and therefore improve their speech.

Current projects include clinical studies looking the efficacy of visual biofeedback in children with persistent speech sound disorders and cleft lip and palate and assessment of speech disorders using ultrasound. At the theoretical level I am interested in the underlying nature of persistent speech sound disorder, especially with regards to theories which implicate the speech motor control system. I am interested in speech motor control in children with both primary speech sound disorders and those with other diagnoses including Down syndrome, autism and cleft lip and palate. 

I am a Speech and Language Therapist with an interest in clinical phonetics and articulatory analysis (mostly ultrasound tongue imaging). My area of expertise is visual biofeedback techniques for the assessment and treatment of motor speech disorders. I am interested in research which looks at speech disorders in children, particularly in children with developmental disabilities. I am interested in motor speech disorders in autism spectrum conditions, Down syndrome, cleft lip and palate and persistent speech sound disorders. 

I welcome enquires from prospective research students interested in the above topics.