Dr Thomas Klee

  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 7452
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 6518
  • Address: Room 1.1 KGVI
    School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences
    & Institute of Health and Society
    Newcastle University
    King George VI Building
    Queen Victoria Road
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 7RU
    UK

Background

After graduating from Indiana University in Speech-Language Pathology I completed a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in child language development and disorders. Since then I have held posts at Vanderbilt University and the University of Wyoming in the USA and, since 1994, Newcastle University in the UK, where I was Head of the Department of Speech from 1998-2002.

Roles and Responsibilities

Speech & Language Sciences Steering Group
Speech & Language Sciences Research Ethics Committee
University Library Advisory Group

Member, Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University, 2006-present

Qualifications

BS (Speech Pathology & Audiology), Indiana University, 1975
MA (Speech-Language Pathology), Indiana University, 1976
PhD (Child Language Development & Disorders), University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1981

(As I do not hold a clinical qualification, I am unable to offer advice on individual children. For information on how to find a speech and language therapist in the UK, visit www.rcslt.org/aboutslts/howtofind).

Previous Positions

Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University, 1981-90
Associate Professor, University of Wyoming, 1990-94
Professor, University of Wyoming, 1994
Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, Newcastle University, 1997-98
Head of the Department of Speech, Newcastle University, 1998-2002

Memberships

Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists (Affiliate member, A456)
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (Associate member, 1005198)
Health Professions Council (Partner)
International Association for the Study of Child Language
International Clinical Phonetics & Linguistics Association
British Association for Clinical Linguistics
Centre for Communication Disorders, University of Hong Kong, 2005-present

Honours and Awards

Marden Foundation Visiting Research Fellow, University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Education, 2002

Visiting Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2008

Research Interests

Improving how children with language difficulties are identified
Evidence-based assessment and diagnosis of developmental language disorders
Language assessment of children in naturalistic contexts (language sample analysis)
Early word learning in typically-developing children and late talkers

Current Work

My current research is concerned with improving the way in which children who are at risk of developing speech and language problems are identified as early in life as possible. The challenge in this research is to find ways of accurately differentiating children with language learning difficulties from those who begin to talk late but then catch up with children of their own age. To this end, Stephanie Stokes and I recently completed an ESRC-funded research project of young two-year-old children, the aims of which were to identify demographic, behavioural, socio-emotional, linguistic and psycholinguistic factors that contribute to variability in toddlers’ early language development and to suggest a combination of such factors that may put them at risk for language learning disorders. I am also part of a new international research consortium headed up by Chris Dollaghan and Tom Campbell, based at the University of Texas-Dallas Callier Center on New Evidence for Communication Treatments (CONNECT), where we are currently engaged in a multi-site collaborative project exploring early clinical markers of language delay in children.

Another strand of my research involves using the methodology of evidence-based medicine to isolate a reliable clinical marker of specific language impairment (SLI) in young children, and to this end, Stephanie Stokes, Anita Wong (Hong Kong University), Paul Fletcher (University College Cork), William Gavin (Colorado State University) and I examined an index based jointly on the child’s age and measures of utterance length and lexical diversity in Cantonese- and English-speaking children. We are currently running a replication study funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council.

I am also co-ordinating the development of a new MSc and linked PhD in Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders, to be jointly delivered by the Institute of Health and Society.

From 1 July 2009, I will be in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Research Roles

Editorial Board, Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention
Editorial Board, Child Language Teaching and Therapy
Associate Editor, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (1988-91 and 2003-06)

Reviewer for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Arts and Humantities Research Council (AHRC), NHS National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA) and NHS Research for Patient Benefits

Co-organiser, Child Language Seminar 2003 and 2006, Newcastle University

Postgraduate Supervision

Current
PhD supervision (primary): Thóra Saeunn Úlfsdóttir, Yalda Kazemi
PhD supervision (secondary): Juliane Girndt, Thóra Masdóttir

Completed
PhD supervision (primary): Ann Michaels (Vanderbilt), Deborah Vigil (Newcastle)
PhD supervision (secondary): Valerie Brooks (Newcastle)

Funding

External Funding

Klee, T. A developmental description of verb-forms in normal and language impaired children. The Spencer Foundation, RG 5432-AA, 1983

Klee, T. & Kenworthy, O.T. Language acquisition of children with specific language impairment. The Spencer Foundation, RR 5432-HH, 1984

Klee, T., Li, W., Walshaw, D. & Gavin, W. Development of a reference profile of children's grammatical development. London: The Nuffield Foundation, 1996-8

Pennington, L., Bond, S. & Klee, T. A pilot investigation of a speech and language therapy programme for parents and their preschool children with cerebral palsy. The Health Foundation, 2004-6

Stokes, S.F. & Klee, T. Influences on vocabulary development in two-year-old children. Economic and Social Research Council, RES-000-22-0712, 2004-5

Wong, A., Fletcher, P., Stokes, S. & Klee, T. Differentiating Cantonese children with specific language impairment (SLI) from children with typical language skills. Hong Kong Research Grants Council CERG, 2004-6

Internal Funding

Robbins, J. & Klee, T. Assessment of oral/speech motor functioning in children. Biomedical Research Support Grant, Vanderbilt University, RR 05424, 1983

Kenworthy, O.T. & Klee, T. The effects of selected amplification systems on the speech discrimination of children with unilateral deafness. Vanderbilt University Research Council, 1985

Klee, T. & Kenworthy, O.T. Development of the Vanderbilt Child Language Laboratory. Vanderbilt University Research Council, 1985

Klee, T. Children's event knowledge and language sampling. Biomedical Research Support Grant, University of Wyoming, S07RR07157 15, 1990

Klee, T. & Carson, D. Screening language development in two-year-old children: a pilot project. Faculty Grant-in-Aid, University of Wyoming, 1994

Klee, T. & Lesser, R. Development of a language analysis laboratory. University Equipment Fund Committee, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1995

Li, W. & Klee, T. Development of joint attention and language in cross-cultural context. University research studentship, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1996-9

Pennington, L., Klee, T., & Letts, C. A preliminary investigation of the effects of speech and language intervention for children with cerebral palsy. Newcastle University Arts and Humanities Research Fund, 2002-4

Undergraduate Teaching

Child Language Development (lectures)
Child Language Disorders (case-based learning)
Linguistics I (Syntax) (lectures and practicals)
Linguistics II (Clinical Linguistics) (lectures and practicals)
Research Methods (seminars)
Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders (lectures and seminars)
Undergraduate Dissertation (supervision)

Postgraduate Teaching

Child Language Development (lectures)
Child Language Disorders (case-based learning)
Linguistics I (Syntax) (lectures and practicals)
Linguistics II (Clinical Linguistics) (lectures and practicals)
Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders (lectures and seminars)
Extended Case Study (supervision)
PhD Thesis (supervision)