Supporting Spoken Language in the Classroom (SSLiC) Knowledge Exchange Programme Case-Study

SSLiC is a knowledge exchange programme that aims to improve communication and learning outcomes for all children. It seeks to achieve this aim by providing a forum for knowledge exchange between practitioners and researchers. There is a growing evidence base in the area of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), although there are still major gaps in our understanding of how to apply this in practice in schools and the best ways to support school practitioners to embed communication in their school’s policy and practice. If we as practitioners and researchers wish to see greater improvements in outcomes for all children starting in school and beyond, it is critical that we come together, over a sustained period of time, to investigate how the existing evidence base related to communication and oral language can be applied to settings and then how this collective knowledge might be used to inform the wider community of ‘what works’ in schools for children. To support this process the SSLiC programme has identified five evidence-informed domains around which schools can focus their professional development and learning: i) Language Leadership ii) Staff Professional Development and Learning iii) Communication Supporting Classrooms iv) Identifying and Supporting Speech, Language and Communication Needs v) Working with Others. The following describes four case-studies that implemented the SSLiC knowledge exchange programme

School-university partnerships: a model for knowledge co-creation for inclusive education. Research Brief

This report is an account of the development of one model of school-university partnership working, that has yet to be externally evaluated, that began at UCL Centre for Inclusive Education in 2013, and the subsequent contribution this has made to investigating and developing knowledge, in particular developing an increased understanding of aspects of inclusive pedagogy for both practice and research. This account presents an overview of the structure of these partnerships, describes the four main principles upon which the school-university partnerships are based with illustrative vignettes and offers a commentary by the authors, more broadly, of the benefits and challenges to be overcome to support stronger and more sustained school-university partnerships

23Na MRI: Inter-reader reproducibility of Normal Fibroglandular Sodium Concentration Measurements at 3T

Purpose: To study the reproducibility of sodium-23 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (23Na MRI) measurements in healthy volunteers’ breast tissue. Methods: Using a dual-tuned bilateral 23Na/1H breast coil at 3T MRI, high-resolution 23Na MRI 3D cones sequences were used to quantify total and fluid-attenuated sodium concentration (TSC and FASC, respectively). B1-corrected TSC and FASC maps were created. Two readers manually measured TSC mean, minimum and maximum and mean FASC concentrations using two sampling methods (large (LROI) and small (SROI) regions of interest encompassing fibroglandular tissue (FGT) and the highest signal area at the level of the nipple, respectively). The reproducibility of the measurements and correlations between density, age and FGT apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were evaluated. Results: Nine healthy volunteers were included. The inter-reader reproducibility of TSC and FASC using SROIs and LROIs was excellent (intra-class coefficient range: 0.945 -0.979, P < 0.001), except for the minimum TSC LROI measurements (P = 0.369). The mean/minimum LROI TSC and mean LROI FASC values were lower than the respective SROI values (P < 0.001); the maximum LROI TSC values were higher than the SROI TSC values (P = 0.09). TSC correlated inversely with age and FGT ADCs. The mean and maximum FGT TSC and FASC concentrations were higher in dense breasts in comparison to non-dense breasts (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The chosen sampling method and the selected descriptive value affect the measured TSC and FASC concentrations, although the inter-reader reproducibility of the measurements is in general excellent.This work was funded by Cancer Research UK (A25922). The authors would also like to acknowledge the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215-20014). OA is the recipient of grants from the Osk. Huttunen Foundation, Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, Relander Foundation, Finnish Medical Foundation, Cancer Foundation Finland, and Orion Research Foundation. The funders had no role in the design of this study, its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, or the decision to publish the results

23Na MRI: inter-reader reproducibility of normal fibroglandular sodium concentration measurements at 3 T

Abstract Background To study the reproducibility of 23Na magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements from breast tissue in healthy volunteers. Methods Using a dual-tuned bilateral 23Na/1H breast coil at 3-T MRI, high-resolution 23Na MRI three-dimensional cones sequences were used to quantify total sodium concentration (TSC) and fluid-attenuated sodium concentration (FASC). B1-corrected TSC and FASC maps were created. Two readers manually measured mean, minimum and maximum TSC and mean FASC values using two sampling methods: large regions of interest (LROIs) and small regions of interest (SROIs) encompassing fibroglandular tissue (FGT) and the highest signal area at the level of the nipple, respectively. The reproducibility of the measurements and correlations between density, age and FGT apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were evaluatedss. Results Nine healthy volunteers were included. The inter-reader reproducibility of TSC and FASC using SROIs and LROIs was excellent (intraclass coefficient range 0.945−0.979, p &lt; 0.001), except for the minimum TSC LROI measurements (p = 0.369). The mean/minimum LROI TSC and mean LROI FASC values were lower than the respective SROI values (p &lt; 0.001); the maximum LROI TSC values were higher than the SROI TSC values (p = 0.009). TSC correlated inversely with age but not with FGT ADCs. The mean and maximum FGT TSC and FASC values were higher in dense breasts in comparison to non-dense breasts (p &lt; 0.020). Conclusions The chosen sampling method and the selected descriptive value affect the measured TSC and FASC values, although the inter-reader reproducibility of the measurements is in general excellent. Relevance statement 23Na MRI at 3 T allows the quantification of TSC and FASC sodium concentrations. The sodium measurements should be obtained consistently in a uniform manner. Key points • 23Na MRI allows the quantification of total and fluid-attenuated sodium concentrations (TSC/FASC). • Sampling method (large/small region of interest) affects the TSC and FASC values. • Dense breasts have higher TSC and FASC values than non-dense breasts. • The inter-reader reproducibility of TSC and FASC measurements was, in general, excellent. • The results suggest the importance of stratifying the sodium measurements protocol. Graphical Abstract </jats:sec