Pre-conference workshop

FREE Pre-conference Workshop on Pragmatic Development

When: Wednesday 10th July 2019, 11:00am – 6:30pm

Where: The Diamond; University of Sheffield (same as CLShef19; see Venue and travel)

Registration: REGISTRATION FOR THE PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP IS NOW OPEN! This event is free to attend but you will need to register through eventbrite (see link below).

Overview:

Pragmatic development - learning to use language effectively and appropriately in interaction - has recently been established as uniquely important for children’s social wellbeing. Some children develop pragmatic skills effortlessly while others struggle for a number of reasons. For example the majority of deaf children show delays in pragmatic development that are closely associated with their social wellbeing. However, these delays are thought to be largely avoidable with good access to a language model. Impairments in social communication are also one of the two diagnostic features of autism, although less is known about the basis of disorder in this case. This workshop will bring together researchers working on pragmatic development in typical and atypical development. It will help us to arrive at a consensus regarding 1) how best to go about developing a mechanistic model of pragmatic development in terms of how the child’s cognitive and social skills combine with effects of the communicative practice to drive change; 2) interventions to promote development in at risk populations. Speakers include researchers working in psychology, linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and speech and language therapy.

Programme and Speakers:

10:30 Reception

11:00 Danielle Matthews, Department of Psychology - Intro to Pragmatic Development: How children learn to use language for social communication

11:30 Alexander Wilson, Department of Psychology, University of Oxford - Are pragmatics and core language skills dissociable?

12:00 Dianne Toe, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University - Pragmatic development in deaf children and young people who use spoken language: Challenges and opportunities.

12:30 Dylan McKinley, NHS SLT and University of Sheffield - Childhood Deafness and Pragmatics: A perspective from Speech and Language Therapy

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Kirsten Abbot-Smith, School of Psychology, University of Kent - Shared intentionality and pragmatic language in autistic and typically developing children

14:30 Megan Freeth, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield - Why is social communication different in autism? The contributions of atypical social attention and gaze following ability

15:00 Jenny Gibson, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge - Language in action: How children use language skills to make friends and have fun.

15:30 Kath Bransby, Sheffield Hallam University - Better Communication in the Classroom - whole class strategies

16:00 Break

16:30 Cristina Martins Halpern , Centre for Infant and Child Studies, Dona Estefani Hospital, Lisbon - Pragmatic development in clinical practice - our FAQs

17:00 Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer, Department of Psychology, University of York - Neurocognition of Perspective Taking during Language Comprehension in Adults

17:30 Courtenay Norbury, Psychology and Language Studies, University College London - Identifying pragmatic language deficits in a population sample

18:00 Wrap up and audience comments

18:30 End of event and drinks reception (please note that the drinks reception will take place 18:00 - 20:00 as CLS Evening Welcome Reception)

Organisers:

Danielle Matthews & Claire Mangham

Travel bursaries for Speech and Language Therapists, and Practitioners:

If you are a practitioner attending for CPD, we have a number of travel bursaries of up to £200 available to cover the cost of your travel, please contact Claire Mangham (c.mangham@sheffield.ac.uk) and Danielle Matthews (danielle.matthews@sheffield.ac.uk) if you would like to apply for one of these.

Registration:

Please click on the embedded eventbrite URL below or use the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pre-conference-workshop-on-pragmatic-development-tickets-53131412485