PhD Studentship: Identifying and supporting the communication needs of care leavers to maximise the

Looked after children and young people are in the care of the local authority. Over 62% of looked after children are taken into care due to abuse or neglect.

Leaving care is a key moment in these young people’s lives, and events at this stage in their life will have a lasting impact on their adult life chances. Care leavers are forced to be independent much younger than their peers; in England 21% leave care as young as 16, 16% leave care at 17 and 62% leave care at 18.

Care leavers need support at events in their lives such as moving into their first home, perhaps getting a job at a far earlier age than their peers and all without the support network and safety net of a family. Care leavers are often young people who have earlier diagnoses of developmental disorders including autism, and developmental speech, language and communication disorders as well as attachment disorders. They have experienced chaotic childhoods with temporary foster and residential placements through childhood and into adult life. Education is disrupted with significant periods of missed education as well as school exclusion. Social, emotional and mental health difficulties are also common with high rates of substance abuse and anti-social behaviour. Young people leaving care are some of the most vulnerable young people in our society and they are expected to make this transition at a young age without the family support experienced by most other young adults.

Although developmental disorders are over represented in this population, very little is known about the prevalence of speech, language, literacy and communication impairments in these care leavers and how these impairments impact on their transition into independence. This project is in collaboration with the Sheffield City Council and aims to identify the prevalence of SLCN and how these impact on the young people at this time of transition as well as supporting Sheffield City Council to understand how to meet these needs by enabling more effective communication with these young people through this transition. The project will involve direct standardised assessment of a cohort of care leavers to identify the prevalence of SLCN, data collection from care leavers themselves to understand their perspectives about their communication skills and data collection from staff in the Permanence and Through-Care Service, Sheffield City Council to establish how the communication needs of care leavers can be supported to facilitate more effective transitions.

This project will answer the following key research questions:
1) What is the prevalence of speech, language, literacy and communication needs (SLCN) of care leavers between 16 and 25 years in Sheffield?
2) How do care leavers perceive their own speech, language, literacy and communication?
3) Do these perceptions align with the prevalence of SLCN identified?
4) Is communication between staff supporting care leavers effective and if not, how can staff enable more effective communication?
5) How should research be designed to enable the most effective engagement with these vulnerable young people?

Funding Notes

The Faculty Scholarships for Medicine, Dentistry & Health cover fees and stipend at Home/EU level. Overseas students may apply but will need to fund the fee differential between Home and Overseas rate from another source.

References

Hopkins, T., Clegg, J. & Stackhouse, J. (Accepted May 2017). Examining the association between language, expository discourse and offending behaviour: an investigation of direction, strength and independent. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders.
Spencer, S. Clegg, J., & Stackhouse, J. (April 2017) Increasing adolescents’ depth of understanding of cross-curricular words: an intervention study. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984
Spencer, S., Clegg, J., Stackhouse, J. & Rush, R. (2017)The contribution of spoken language and socioeconomic background to adolescents’ educational achievement at age 16 years. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 52,2,184-196
Hopkins, T., Clegg, J., & Stackhouse, J.(2016) Young offenders’ perspectives on their literacy and communication. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 51,1,95-109
Clegg, J. Law, J., Rush, R., Peters, T.J., & Roulstone, S. (2015). The contribution of early language development to children's emotional and behavioural functioning at 6 years: an analysis of data from the Children in Focus sample from the ALSPAC birth cohort. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 56, 1, 67-75
Clegg, J., Ansorge, L., Stackhouse, J., & Donlan, C. (2012). Developmental communication impairment in adults: outcomes and life experiences of adults and their parents. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 43, 4, 521-535.