Dr Susan Ebbels
Director, Moor House Research & Training Institute, Moor House School & College
Specialist topics: Developmental Language Disorder; Speech & Language interventions; research; the SHAPE CODING™ system
Susan is highly experienced Speech and Language Therapist and intervention researcher and has worked predominantly at Moor House with children with Language Disorder, including Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
Prior to this, she worked in mainstream and special schools, language units, nurseries and clinics both as a speech and language therapist and earlier as a speech and language therapy assistant. She has an honorary lectureship at UCL (where she completed her PhD in 2005) and is also a fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and their specialist advisor on school-aged children with language disorders.
She is on the editorial boards of two peer reviewed journals, the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders (where she was previously an associate editor) and Child Language Teaching and Therapy.
She is passionate about the need for evidence based practice and has carried out, coordinated and published many intervention studies on a range of areas, but with a particular focus on improving the comprehension and production of grammar in children with language disorders using her SHAPE CODINGTM system. She delivers regular courses both on the SHAPE CODINGTM system and on the current evidence base for school-aged children with DLD.
To arrange an interview with any member of our team, please contact James Skitt, Marketing & Communications Officer on 01883 719021 or use our contact form.
Barilaro, M., Osana, H. P., Ebbels, S. H., Nicoll, H., Achim, É., Pétel-Despots, A., & Lafay, A. (in press) Instructional supports can reveal the word-problem solving challenges of children with language difficulties. School Science and Mathematics. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12691
Burridge, D., Hughes, L., Titterington, J., Dawson, N., & Ebbels, S. (in press) Daily living skills in adolescents with and without language disorder, measured using the WHEEL OF INDEPENDENCE framework. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/03080226241280732
Ebbels, S. H., Gadd, M., Nicoll, H., Hughes, L., Dawson, N., Burke, C., Calder, S. & Frizelle, P. (2024). The effectiveness of individualized morphosyntactic target identification and explicit intervention using the SHAPE CODING system for children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and the impact of within-session dosage. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 55, 803-837. Accepted version. Poster.
Calder, S. D., Visentin, D., Claessen, M., Hollingsworth, L., Ebbels, S. , Smith-Lock, K., & Leitão, S. (2023). The grammaticality judgement of inflectional morphology in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 1-16. Link.
Hardman, G., Herman, R., Kyle, F. E., Ebbels, S. , & Morgan, G. (2023). Identifying Developmental Language Disorder in Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants: A Case Study of Three Children. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(17), 5755. Link.
Davies, C., Ebbels, S., Nicoll, H., Syrett, K., White, S., & Zuniga-Montanez, C. (2023). Supporting adjective learning by children with Developmental Language Disorder: Enhancing metalinguistic approaches. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 58(2), 629-650. Link
Frizelle, P., McKean, C., Eadie, P., Ebbels, S., Fricke, S., Justice, L. M., Kunnari, S., Leitao, S., Morgan, A. T., Munro, N., Murphy, C.-A., Storkel, H. L., Van Horne, A. O. (2023). Editorial Perspective: Maximising the benefits of intervention research for children and young people with developmental language disorder (DLD) – a call for international consensus on standards of reporting in intervention studies for children with and at risk for DLD. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 64(3), 474-479. Link.
Kulkarni, A. A., K. E. Chadd, S. B. Lambert, G. Earl, L. M. Longhurst, C. McKean, C. Hulme, K. K. McGregor, A. Cunniff, E. Pagnamenta, V. Joffe, S. H. Ebbels, S. Bangera, J. Wallinger and C. F. Norbury (2022). Editorial Perspective: Speaking up for developmental language disorder – the top 10 priorities for research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 63(8): 957-960. Link
Ebbels, S. H., Bannister, L., Holland, B., & Campbell, L. (2022) Effectiveness of intervention focused on vocational course vocabulary in post-16 students with (developmental) language disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 57(6), 1334-1353. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12758 Link
Leniston, H & Ebbels, S (2022): Investigation into the effectiveness of electropalatography in treating persisting speech sound disorders in adolescents with co-occurring developmental language disorder, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 36(2-3), 111-126. DOI:10.1080/02699206.2021.1957022 Link Accepted version
Calder, S. D., Claessen, M., Leitão, S., & Ebbels, S. (2022). A profile of expressive inflectional morphology in early school-age children with developmental language disorder. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 36(4-5), 341-358. doi:10.1080/02699206.2021.1931454 Link
Calder, S. D., Claessen, M., Ebbels, S., & Leitão, S. (2021). The Efficacy of an Explicit Intervention Approach to Improve Past Tense Marking for Early School-Age Children With Developmental Language Disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(1), 91-104. doi:10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00132 Link
Calder, S. D., Claessen, M., Leitão, S., & Ebbels, S. (2021). Evaluating two different dose frequencies and cumulative intervention intensities to improve past tense production for early school-aged children with developmental language disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 56(6), 1278-1295. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12667 Link
Wright, L., Pring, T. & Ebbels, S. (2018) Effectiveness of vocabulary intervention for older children with (developmental) language disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 53, 480–494. DOI:10.1111/1460-6984.12361. Link. Accepted version.
Ebbels, S. H., & Spencer, S. (2018). Interventions for grammar for adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). In S. Spencer (Ed.), Supporting Adolescents with Language Disorders. Guildford, Surrey, UK: J & R Press. Link
Ebbels, S. H., Wright, L., Brockbank, S., Godfrey, C., Harris, C., Leniston, H., Neary, K., Nicoll, H., Nicoll, L., Scott, J. and Marić, N. (2017), Effectiveness of 1:1 speech and language therapy for older children with (developmental) language disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 52: 528–539. doi:10.1111/1460-6984.12297. Link. Accepted version
Ebbels, S. H. (2017) Intervention research: appraising study designs, interpreting findings and creating research in clinical practice. International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 19, 218-231. doi:10.1080/17549507.2016.1276215 Link. Accepted version.
Gallgaher, A.L & Ebbels, S.H. (2017) Language, literacy and numeracy outcomes of adolescents with (Developmental) Language Disorder following a collaborative model of SLT delivery in specialist education. Moor House School & College, Surrey, UK. Link
Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & Catalise-consortium*. (2017). Phase 2 of CATALISE: a multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58: 1068–1080. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12721. Link
*Catalise consortium includes S.H. Ebbels
Bishop, D. V., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T & Catalise consortium*. (2016). CATALISE: a multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study. Identifying language impairments in children. Link
*Catalise consortium includes S.H. Ebbels
Ebbels, S (2014) Introducing the SLI debate. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. 49, 377-380. Link
Ebbels, S.H. (2014). Effectiveness of intervention for grammar in school-aged children with primary language impairments: a review of the evidence. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 30: 7-40. Link. Most downloaded paper 2016-2018
Ebbels, S.H., Maric, N., Murphy, A., & Turner, G. (2014) Improving comprehension in adolescents with severe receptive language impairments: a randomised control trial of intervention for coordinating conjunctions. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 49: 30-48. Link.
Kulkarni, A., Pring, T. & Ebbels, S.H. (2014). Evaluating the effectiveness of therapy based around Shape Coding to develop the use of regular past tense morphemes in two children with language impairments. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 30: 245-254. Link. Accepted version
Ebbels, S.H., Nicoll, H., Clark, B., Eachus, B., Gallagher, A., Horniman, K., Jennings, M., McEvoy, K., Nimmo, E., Turner., G. (2012). Effectiveness of semantic therapy for children with word finding difficulties in pupils with a persistent language impairment: a randomised control trial. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 47: 35-51. Winner of the 2012 IJLCD Article Prize Link. Accepted version
Ebbels, S.H., Dockrell, J.D. & van der Lely, H.K.J (2012) Production of change-of-state, change-of-location and alternating verbs: a comparison of children with specific language impairment and typically developing children. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27 (9), 1312-1333. Link. Accepted version
Ebbels, S.H., Dockrell, J.D. & van der Lely, H.K.J (2012). Non-word repetition in adolescents with SLI.International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 47, 257-273. Link. Accepted version
Ebbels, S.H. (2008). Improving grammatical skill in children with specific language impairment. In Norbury, C.F.., Tomblin, J.B. & Bishop, D.V.M (Eds.), Understanding developmental language disorders: from theory to practice (pp. 149-174). Hove: Psychology Press.
Ebbels, S.H. (2007). Teaching grammar to school-aged children with Specific Language Impairment using Shape Coding. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 23, 67-93. Most downloaded paper 2007-2015 Link. Accepted version with update notes. Vodcast.
Ebbels, S.H., van der Lely, H.K.J., and Dockrell, J.E. (2007). Intervention for verb argument structure in children with persistent SLI: a randomized control trial. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research,50, 1330-1349. Link. Accepted version.
Marshall, C, Ebbels, S, Harris, J, van der Lely, H. (2002) Investigating the impact of prosodic complexity on the speech of children with Specific Language Impairment. UCL Working Papers in Linguistics, 14,43-66
Ebbels, S. & van der Lely, H. (2001). Meta-syntactic therapy using visual coding for children with severe persistent SLI. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 36(supplement), 345-350. Submitted article.
Ebbels, S. (2000). Psycholinguistic profiling of a hearing-impaired child. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 16, 3-22.
