Catch up with Prof Yvonne Wren

 There are so many projects and areas of overlap with Prof Yvonne Wren from University of Bristol and Cardiff that we needed a 2026 catchup tonight. Topics included

• The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World (Yvonne co-authored the English English chapter and the Welsh chapter - and has colleagues who may be able to write chapters in the next edition of the book) 
• Two papers with Amy Davis about using the Intelligibility in Context Scale with the Cleft Collective Cohort
• MISLToe studies - now there are 3 manuals for replications in other countries and with other populations to consider: core outcomes, list of definitions, and diagnostic protocols.
• AMS grant with our colleagues from Brazil 

 

Maximising the Impact of Speech and Language Therapy for children with Speech Sound Disorder (The MISLToe-SSD Study)

I have been invited to be on the international Delphi panel for the Maximising the Impact of Speech and Language Therapy for children with Speech Sound Disorder (The MISLToe-SSD Study). The aim of MISLToe-SSD is to develop a core outsome set (COS) and mimimum dataset of common data elements (CDE) for interventions for speech sound disorder (SSD). This study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and sponsored by the North Bristol NHS Trust. 

Background to MISLToe-SSD study 

"Prevalence of speech sound disorder (SSD) is high, with upwards of 76,000 children referred to NHS Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) services annually. NHS SLT is provided to children with SSD via a range of care pathways, typically defined by resource constraints, rather than robust evidence. These care pathways and methods for collecting data on their outcomes vary between services making it difficult to determine which care pathways lead to better outcomes. This diversity in service provision and lack of uniformity in the collection of important data also makes it very difficult to carry out much needed research in a clinical setting for this population of children.  

There is a need to identify which care pathways are associated with the best outcomes and are most cost-effective within the service constraints of the NHS. Effective treatment will reduce the number of children with SSD who have persistent problems and associated impacts. It will reduce time missed from school and burden of care for families and maximise efficiency and cost of NHS SLT services. Ultimately, this research will support the NHS to deliver the national government priority of providing high quality, safe and sustainable health care"