History

Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) is one of the most common reasons for referral to speech and language therapy. It is therefore an area which has attracted much research activity. Back in 2010, following the publication of the first edition of the book, ‘Interventions for Speech Sound Disorders in Children’, edited by Lynn Williams, Sharynne McLeod, and Rebecca McCauley (Brookes Publishing, Interventions for Speech Sound Disorders in Children, Second Edition), Yvonne Wren arranged a meeting for all those who had contributed chapters to the book who were based in the UK. The intention was to bring together researchers in the field of SSD so that our research can be collaborative, given our common aim of wanting to improve life chances for children with SSD. 

This first meeting in Bristol led to the establishment of the Specialists in Speech Sound Impairment with Yvonne as chair. The group developed a database of current research activity which members were involved in and also carried out an exercise with speech and language therapists working with children with SSD at the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists conference in Leeds in 2014 to determine research priorities for the field. The group changed its name to the Child Speech Disorder Research Network and continued to meet to develop resources to assist the workforce deliver evidence based practice through the development of a series of guidelines for transcription and analysis of child speech in 2017 and 2020. New members joined as original ones retired to ensure continuity of the Network. 

Network Chairs

2022-        : Silke Fricke

2018-2022: Joanne Cleland

2010-2018: Yvonne Wren 

We limit membership of the network to 15 members at any one time.  Members should be research-active speech and language therapists with  clear expertise in Speech Sound Disorder, usually evidenced by publication in the area. From time to time we advertise for vacancies in the network, usually via social media and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists research news bulletin. 

To contact the network email Silke Fricke