Staff Profile

Introduction  

My work is driven by a fascination with mechanisms of language acquisition and language impairment in children. This motivates me to explore what language acquisition in typically developing children can tell us about factors underpinning language impairment, and to search cross-linguistically and across bilingual populations for evidence of these factors. I take an emergentist view of language acquisition, i.e. that different emerging skills underpinning language interact with each other and with characteristics of environmental input to influence outcome. I am particularly interested in how typical language development occurs in children in different linguistic and socio-economic contexts.

Background

Qualified Speech and Language Therapist with interests and experience in paediatrics

Areas of expertise

Bi- and monolingual child language acquisition

Child language impairment

Qualifications

BA French/Linguistics

MRCSLT (Diploma)

PhD

Previous Positions

Lecturer, University of Reading

Memberships

Retired Member of Royal College of Speech and language Therapists

Languages

French

Some knowledge of German

Google scholar: Click here.

Research Interests

Early characteristics of language impairment.

Assessment of children's language.

The assessment and treatment of language impaired children from bilingual backgrounds.

 Typical trajectories of language acquisition in bilingual children.

Current Work

Developing research on factors influencing early second language acquistion in children.

Specific aspects of bilingual language acquisition.

Socio-economic status and child language. 

Postgraduate Supervision

Language assessment in children.

Language impairment in children.

Bilingual language development and impairment in bilingual children.

Assessment and impairment of language in children with first language other than English.

Please note that I am no longer taking on new PhD students.

Funding

gl-assessment: 'The New Reynell': Redevelopment and re-standardisation of the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (4th Edition). £134,000 (2009-11)

Undergraduate Teaching

Clinical Linguistics; 
Child language impairment: case-based problem solving;
Child language acquisition;
Bilingualism
Research supervision at undergraduate, masters and MPhil/PhD levels.

Postgraduate Teaching

As above, for MSc in language Pathology

• Articles

  • Barnett SE, Levickis P, McKean C, Letts C, Stringer H. Validation of a measure of parental responsiveness: Comparison of the brief Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale with a detailed measure of responsive parental behaviours. Journal of Child Health Care 2021, 26(1), 56-67.
  • 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.
  • Riches NG, Letts C, Awad H, Ramsey R, Dabrowska E. Collocational knowledge in children: a comparison of English-speaking monolingual children, and children acquiring English as an Additional Language. Journal of Child Language 2022, 49(5), 1008-1023.
  • Hasselaar J, Letts C, McKean C. Verb morphology in German-speaking children with developmental language disorder and phonological impairment. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 2020, 34(7), 671-691.
  • Hasselaar J, Letts C, McKean C. Case marking in German speaking children with specific language impairment and with phonological impairment. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 2019, 33(1-2), 117-134.
  • McKean C, Letts CA, Howard D. Triggering word learning in children with Language Impairment: The effect of phonotactic probability and neighbourhood density. Journal of Child Language 2014, 41(6), 1224-1228.
  • Mroz M, Letts C. Early years education, language and social background: A decade of changing policy and practice. European Journal of Applied Linguistics 2014, 2(1), 79-100.
  • Letts C, Edwards S, Schaefer B, Sinka I. The New Reynell Developmental Language Scales: Descriptive account and illustrative case study. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 2014, 30(1), 103-116.
  • Letts C, Edwards S, Sinka I, Schaefer B, Gibbons W. Socio-economic status and language acquisition: children's performance on the new Reynell Developmental Language Scales. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 2013, 48(2), 131-143.
  • McKean C, Letts CA, Howard D. Functional reorganization in the developing lexicon: separable and changing influences of lexical and phonological variables on children's fast-mapping. Journal of Child Language 2013, 40(2), 307-335.
  • McKean C, Letts CA, Howard D. Developmental Change Is Key to Understanding Primary Language Impairment: The Case of Phonotactic Probability and Nonword Repetition. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 2013, 56(5), 1579-1594.
  • Gatt D, Letts CA, Klee T. Lexical mixing in the early productive vocabularies of Maltese children: implications for intervention. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 2008, 22(4-5), 267-274.
  • Mroz M, Letts C. Interview stories: Early years practitioners' experiences with children with speech, language and communication needs. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 2008, 24(1), 73-93.
  • Pert S, Letts CA. Codeswitching in Mirpuri speaking Pakistani heritage preschool children: Bilingual language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism 2006, 10(3), 349-374.
  • Letts C, Hall E. Exploring early years professionals' knowledge about speech and language and development and impairment. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 2003, 19(2), 204-229.
  • Pert S, Letts CA. Developing an expressive language assessment for children in Rochdale with a Pakistani heritage background. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 2003, 19(3), 266-289.
  • Letts CA, Edwards S, Garman M, Hughes A. Clinical Forum Assessing the comprehension and production of language in young children: an account of the Reynell Developmental Language Scales III. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 1999, 34(2), 151-171.

• Authored Books

  • Letts CA, Sinka I. The Multilingual Toolkit. London: GL Assessment, 2011.
  • Letts CA, Leinonen E, Smith BR. Children's pragmatic communication difficulties. London: Whurr, 2000.

• Book Chapters

  • Letts C. Language disorder versus language difference: The impact of socioeconomic status. In: Bar-On A; Ravid D, ed. Handbook of Communciation Disorders. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2018, pp.585-600.
  • Letts CA. Multicultural issues in assessment and management. In: Kersner, M., Wright, J, ed. Speech and Language Therapy: The Decision Making Process When Working with Children. Oxford: Routledge, 2012, pp.135-142.
  • Letts CA. Communication impairment in a multilingual context. In: Ellis, S., McCartney, E, ed. Applied Linguistics and Primary School Teaching: Developing a Language Curriculum. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp.267-275.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • 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.
  • 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.

• Device/Product

  • Edwards S, Letts CA, Sinka I. The New Reynell Developmental Language Scales. 2011. London: GL-Assessment, Language assessment toolkit.

• Editorial

  • Letts C, Sinka I. Research and practice in working with children who are bilingual or have English as an additional language and who have language and communication needs. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 2013, 29(1), 7-9.

• Online Publications

  • 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, Benson K, Jack C, Letts CA, Pert S, Preston E, Trebacz A, Stringer H, Wareham H. ISRCTN10974028: Language intervention in the Early Years - comparing the effectiveness of language intervention approaches for pre-school children with language difficulties. 2020. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10974028.