I am a Research Associate working under PI Professor Ghada Khattab on the 'Language in the Early Years: Tackling the roots of academic and social inequalities in Arabic-speaking children' ESRC GCRF funded project 'bulbul'.

My research interests include child language development and disorders, early intervention and trial methodology.

I previously completed my PhD at Newcastle with Professor Cristina McKean, Dr Helen Stringer, Professor James Law and Dr Lauren Ackerman evaluating the efficacy of Building Early Sentences Therapy (BEST) through a quasi-experimental pilot study.

I also hold a BSc (hons) in Psychology and an MSc in Research Methods in Psychology from the University of Liverpool. 

My research is mainly focussed in the following areas:

• Early intervention for children with language difficulties
• Language development in Arabic speaking children
• Development of assessments for Arabic speaking children
• Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)

I have previously taught the following modules:

Module Lead- SPE8214 Research Methods in Clinical Practice (Undergraduate level)

Module Tutor- SPE4050 Research Methods (Postgraduate level)

I have supervised BSc and MSc Speech and Language Therapy student dissertations examining the Building Early Sentences Therapy intervention and use of screen media.

• Trebacz A, McKean C, Semaan G, Khattab G. A rapid review of the nature and influence of responsive parent/caregiver-child interactions on early language development cross-culturally with a focus on Arabic speaking children. CRD42022371188. London: National Institute for Health Research, 2022. Available at: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022371188.
• Khattab G, Abdelwahab AGS, Al-Shdifat K, Alsiddiqi Z, Floccia C, Kouba Hreich E, McKean C, Moitel Messarra C, Odeh T, Trebacz A. Promoting early language development in the Arab world and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 4, 10 and 17. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 2023, 25(1), 96-101.
• Letts C, Garrido-Tamayo T, Ashton E, Trebacz A. Developmental Language Disorder and bilingual children: what you need to know. EAL Journal 2021, (16), 36-39.
• McKean C, Benson K, Jack C, Letts CA, Pert S, Preston E, Trebacz A, Stringer H, Wareham H. Language intervention in the early years - comparing the effectiveness of language intervention approaches for pre-school children with language difficulties. BioMed Central Ltd, 2020. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10974028.
• McKean C, Stringer H, Letts C, Pert S, Masidlover M, Jack C, Trebacz A, Wareham H, Preston E, Baker J, Benson K. Staying faithful: Exploring the challenges of treatment fidelity. In: North East SLT Research Network: Symposium. 2020, North East SLT Research Network.
• Letts C, Pert S, Czaplewska E, Ashton E, Benson K, Preston E, Stringer H, Trebacz A, Wareham H, McKean C, Jack C. Working with bilingual children at risk of developmental language disorder: adapting assessment and intervention for the nursery-aged bilingual child. In: NALDIC 28 Conference 2020: Multilingual Britain: Successes, challenges and future directions. 2020, Virtual: National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum.
• Trebacz A, McKean C, Stringer H, Law J. A protocol for the refinement and evaluation of language intervention for children with language difficulties in the early years. In: Child Language Symposium. 2019, Sheffield, UK.
• Trebacz A, McKean C, Stringer H, Law J. Evaluating Building Early Sentences Therapy (BEST); a Novel Speech & Language Intervention. In: Great North Children's Research Community Conference. 2019.
• Trebacz A. Determining the Efficacy of a Usage-Based Language Intervention in the Early Years: A Non-Randomised Pilot Study. PhD Thesis, Newcastle University UK, 2021.