Newcastle University

Introduction

I am a research speech and language therapist and hold a National Institute of Health Research Career Development Fellowship. My research focusses on the the health and well-being of children and young people who have motor impairments and the impact and acceptability of health and social care interventions.

Qualifications

PhD, MSc, BSc(Hons)

Memberships

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists

Health Professions Council

Cochrane Collaboration: Movement Disorders Review Group

British Academy of Childhood Disability

European Academy of Childhood Disability

Research Interests

1. The development of communication by children and young people with motor impairments.
2. Clinical effectiveness of health and social care interventions for young people with motor impairments.
3. Acceptability of interventions for young people with motor impairments.

Current Work

1. Prospective study of the communication development of children with motor disorders.
2. Effects of intensive dysarthria therapy on the speech intelligibility of young people with cerebral palsy.
3. Change in acoustic parameters of the speech of young people with cerebral palsy following intensive intervention.
4. Subjective rating of speech impairment and the effects of dysarthia intervention for young people with cerebral palsy.
5. Impact of speech disorder type on literacy. 
6. Systematic reviews of the effectiveness of: speech therapy interventions for children with cerebral palsy; dysarthria therapy children who acquired dysarthria below three years of age; treatments to reduce the drooling of children with cerebral palsy (led by Dr Maragret Walshe, Trinity College Dublin).
7. Development of clinical recommendations for children with cerebral palsy.
8. Classification of the communication skills of children with cerebral palsy for surveillance across Europe (with Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe).
9. Development of scales to classify the eating and drinking skills of oung poeple with cerbral palsy (led by Diane Sellers, South Downs NHS Trust)
10. Decision making around gastrostomy feeding of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Esteem Indicators

INVITED PRESENTATIONS
Invited lectures: Novita Children's Services, Adelaide, Australia, April 2004; Vilnius, Lithuania, November 2007; Barcelona Val Hebron Hospital, November 2008; Melbourne University, February 2009; 1st Turkish National Cerebral Palsy Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, September, 2009; 3rd Turkish National Cerebral Palsy Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, Novemeber, 2010; European Paediatric Neurological Society, Cavtat, Croatia, 2011

MEMBERSHIPS
Child: care health and development, member of Editorial Board, systematic reviews editor

Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, member of Editorial Board
Cochrane Collaboration Movement Disorders Review Group, member
European Academy of Childhood Disability, member of General Management Committee, President Elect 

Funding

Current and recent funding

Pennington, L (2010-2011) Decision making in childhood dysphagia. NHS North of Tyne. £24,721
Sellers D, Pountney T, Mandy A, Hankins M, Pennington L, Morris C, Parker K (2010-2013) To Develop a Functional Classification System of Eating and Drinking Abilities for Children and Young People with Cerebral Palsy. NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme £163,116
Pennington L (2008-2012) Communication of Children with motor disorders. Career Development Fellowship. National Institute for Health Research, £394,775
Pennington L, Miller N, Steen N Intensive speech therapy for young children with cerebral palsy, Remedi, 2009-2010, £60,088
Pennington L, Miller N, Steen IN, Robson S (2008-2009) Are improvements in speech intelligibility by children with cerebral palsy associated with changes in the loudness and clarity of their voice? Children’s Foundation, £9,277
Pennington L, Craft AW (2008) Speech and language therapy for children with cerebral palsy. Children’s Research Fund, £13,000
Pennington L, Colver A, Pearce M, Gibson M (2007-2008) Predicting the development of intelligible speech by children with cerebral palsy: a pilot study. Paul Polani Award, British Academy of Childhood Disability, £6,816
Pennington L, Craft AW (2006-2008) Speech and language therapy for children with cerebral palsy. Children’s Research Fund, £72,000
Pennington L, Miller N, Steen IN (2005-2007) Intensive speech and language therapy for older children with cerebral palsy: a systems approach. Cerebra, £65,350
Roddam H, Burton C, Pennington L, French B, Thomas L (2005-2006) Building Research Capacity in Allied Health Professions. Benchmarking for departmental culture. Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority (SHA), £16,500
Pennington L, Bond S, Klee T (2004-2006) A pilot investigation of a speech and language therapy programme for parents and their preschool children with cerebral palsy. The Health Foundation, £121,888
Pennington L (2004) Travel grant. Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, £500
Pennington L (2002-2006) Outcomes of a training programme for parents to aid the development of communication skills by children with cerebral palsy. Department of Health / The Health Foundation Primary Care Post Doctoral Fellowship, £225,089

Post Graduate Supervision

I supervise PhD students whose research focuses on health and social care interventions for children and young people with neurodevelopmental disabilties. 

Undergraduate teaching

I teach on the BSc and MSc Speech and Language Sciences courses on the Exceptional Development Module. I also supervise dissertation BSc Speech and Language Sciences students.

• Pennington L. Drooling interventions for children with cerebral palsy. In: European Journal of Paediatric Neurology: 9th Congress of the European Paediatric Neurology Society. 2011, Cavtat, Croatia: Elsevier Ltd.
• Parr JR, Buswell CA, Banerjee K, Fairhurst C, Williams J, OHare A, Pennington L. Management of drooling in children: a survey of UK paediatricians' clinical practice. Child: Care, Health and Development 2011, (epub ahead of print).
• Pennington L, Miller N, Robson S, Steen N. Intensive speech and language therapy for older children with cerebral palsy: a systems approach. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 2010, 52(4), 337-344.
• Pennington L, Miller N, Robson S. Speech therapy for children with dysarthria acquired before three years of age. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, (1), CD006937.
• Pennington L, Thomson K, James P, Martin K, McNally RJ. Effects of It Takes Two to Talk - The Hanen program for parents of preschool children with cerebral palsy: findings from an exploratory study. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 2009, 52(5), 1121-1138.
• Pennington L, Noble E. Acceptability and usefulness of the group interaction training programme It Takes Two to Talk to parents of pre-school children with motor disorders. Child: Care, Health and Development 2010, 36(2), 285-296.
• Pennington L. Measuring communication outcomes. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 2010. London, UK: Mac Keith Press, 52(1), 7-8.
• Pennington L, James P, McNally R, Pay H, McConachie H. Analysis of compositional data in communication disorders research. Journal of Communication Disorders 2009, 42(1), 18-28.
• French B, Thomas LH, Baker P, Burton CR, Pennington L, Roddam H. What can management theories offer evidence-based practice? A comparative analysis of measurement tools for organisational context.. Implementation Science 2009, 4(28).
• Pennington L. Cerebral palsy and communication. Paediatrics and Child Health 2008, 18(9), 405-409.
• Walshe M, Smith M, Pennington L. Interventions for drooling in children with cerebral palsy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, (2), CD008624.
• Pennington L, Reilly S. Management of oromotor disorders in childhood. In: Roig-Quilis, M., Pennington, L, ed. Oromotor disorders in childhood. Barcelona: Viguera, 2012, pp.213-224.
• Roig-Quilis M, Pennington L, ed. Oromotor Disorders in Childhood. 2012. In Press.
• Miller N, Pennington L. Speech therapy for children with dysarthria and cerebral palsy. In: Roig-Quilis, M., Pennington, L, ed. Oro-motor Disorders in Childhood. Barcelona: Viguera Editores, 2012, pp.265-284.