Children and adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) struggle to reach academic goals, and are at an increased risk for psychiatric disorders, problems with creating and maintaining social relationships and reduced employability as adults. To achieve active participation in school and society for these individuals, school and health professionals must work together to manage language problems and increase the awareness of effective intervention. Our group evaluates methods to create optimal and equal opportunities for all students to develop language and communication.

In research funded by the Swedish Institute for Educational Research we use randomized, controlled trials to evaluate the effect of a practice-embedded intervention, aimed at modifying mainstream primary school teachers’ verbal and nonverbal instructional communication, on the core language abilities of the students in the teachers’ classes.

With funding from the Swedish Research Council we examine how school students diagnosed with DLD, their parents, and their teachers the pedagogical support offered in school. We answer these questions using surveys and in-depth interviews. A central issue concerns goal attainment and academic progress. These questions are investigated using public records of approx. 30 000 individuals with DLD.

In a recent project equity in the management of dysphagia is evaluated, an area which also requires cross-professional cooperation. In this project, intervention studies are combined with evaluations of effectiveness and cost benefit evaluation. 

I am a speech-language pathologist since 2007 and earned my PhD in Clinical Medicine in 2013 at Lund University. I am an Associate Professor in Speech-Language Pathology at Logopedics, Phoniatrics & Audiology, Dept. of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University.