Postgraduate Profile
Rachael Unicomb
PhD Candidate, School of Humanities & Social Science
Faculty/Division: Education and Arts
Discipline: Speech Pathology
Email: Rachael.Unicomb@uon.edu.au
Location: Behavioural Sciences Building, Room W215
Campus: Callaghan Campus, Newcastle
Current Research
PhD Thesis title: Stuttering and speech sound disorders.
Supervisors: Dr Sally Hewat and Dr Elizabeth Spencer
Around 8% of the preschool aged population may be affected by a communication disorder known as stuttering. Stuttering occurs when the flow of conversation is interrupted by disfluencies of the speech mechanism. Stuttering typically starts between the ages of 2 and 4 and if not treated before school age, can become chronic and lead to difficulties across a range of areas. Another communication disorder common in young children are speech sound disorders. These occur when the typical developmental errors that children make when they are learning to speak, occur past an expected age. Speech sound disorders may affect between 10-15% of the preschool aged population, and again, if left untreated, can lead to a variety of problems, such as difficulties with literacy. The co-occurrence of stuttering and speech sound disorders is commonly reported to be around 30-40%. Though early intervention for both disorders is considered optimal there are no clear-cut guidelines for professionals to decide how and when to intervene with this co-occurring caseload. The objective of the current research is to further investigate the nature of the speech sound disorders in young children who stutter, and examine the effect that the timing of intervention delivery has on both disorders. This may lead to the formation of some preliminary guidelines around how and when to best treat children who have co-occurring stuttering and speech sound disorder.
Qualifications
- 2011 PhD Candidate, University of Newcastle
- BSPath (Honours First Class) University of Newcastle
Awards and Prizes
- 2009 Faculty Medal in Speech Pathology
- 2009 Newcastle University Student Clinical prize
- 2010 Australian Postgraduate Award
Membership of Professional Networks
