I graduated in Speech Science at UCL and as a speech and language therapist in 1997. I went to work in the NHS in a child development centre. I soon returned to study and to UCL - exploring the development of language and literacy in Deaf/deaf children and children with language learning difficulties at the Brain and Behaviour Sciences Unit in the Institute of Child Health. After that, I returned to practice as a Speech and Language Therapist, working in a boundary spanning role across health and education to deliver joined-up systems for children in the early years. I enjoyed that post - working collaboratively with a specialist teacher for children with autism within the early years system. I got drawn back to academia and began my career as a clinical academic at Reading University. The back and forth between practice and academia has, in many ways characterised my academic career. Not only health, but also education and social care services have found a way of including me in their practice, service, and systems development. I consider myself privileged because of this. I now work in Manchester Metropolitan University as Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for Health and Social Care and Professor of Educational Psychology, and I continue to develop ideas by working with people in the situated realities of the practice context.
