Author Archives: Carla Magdalani

New Year, New Skills: the MOON course is launching in January! 

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A large red waxing crescent moon cradling a smaller purple crescent moon with stars and lines radiating outwards

We are thrilled to introduce our latest offering: LUNA MOON (MOving On with Narrative). MOON is a new short course designed for Speech and Language Therapists who want to master the art of discourse analysis. This course will empower you with the tools and knowledge to analyze the language of your clients beyond the level of words and sentences. With the skills you’ll acquire, you’ll be better equipped to assess connected speech, unpacking language at all levels: word, sentence, and discourse macrostructure. 

MOON distils the expertise of a clinical linguist and a speech and language therapist with knowledge gained from LUNA (Language Underpins Narrative in Aphasia) research, funded by the Stroke Association. 

When will MOON take place? 

MOON will run for 7 weeks between Monday 22nd January 2024 – Friday 15th March 2024 but materials are available for 9 months. There will be two live online webinars at 8:30-9:30am on Friday 26th January and Friday 15th March. There is also an optional webinar 6 months after the course has ended – 8:30am-10:30am Friday 13th September 2024 – providing an opportunity to share experiences of carrying out discourse analysis in clinical practice. The course offers up to 18 hours of learning and practice to add to your CPD diary. 

Here’s what you can expect: 

  • A brief introduction to the evidence base for discourse analysis 
  • Key principles to consider when analysing discourse 
  • A step-by-step process for discourse analysis, including practical advice to save time and effort 
  • Guidance on how to perform several discourse analyses using tried and tested methods, including worked-through examples, templates, and practice activities. 
  • Interactive online activities to test your knowledge of key concepts and build confidence 
  • Guidance on how to interpret analyses and how these might be used in goal setting and/or outcome measurement, including video clips from LUNA therapy sessions 
  • Guidance on how to identify suitable clients and overcome potential barriers to discourse analysis in the work setting 
  • Support to formulate an action plan to carry out discourse analysis with at least 1 client within 6 months of the course ending 

Why choose our course? 

  • Tailored for Therapists: This course is specifically designed for Speech and Language Therapists, ensuring the content is highly relevant to your practice. MOON is designed to cater to therapists of all backgrounds and levels of experience. The course focuses on the analysis of personal narratives for adults with post-stroke chronic aphasia but has relevance across a broader range of discourse genres and communication disorders. 
  • Expert Instructors: LUNA’s co-leads Professor Madeline Cruice and Professor Lucy Dipper are your course tutors and will support you throughout the course. With their guidance, you will learn how to apply and embed what you are learning to your clinical practice.  
  • Hands-On Learning: Gain skills and confidence through practice activities which use real personal narratives from speakers with aphasia collected during LUNA’s feasibility trial. What’s more, there are plenty of interactive exercises and opportunities for peer discussions to consolidate your learning.  
  • Flexible Learning: Our course is available online, allowing you to learn at your own pace. Access the course materials at your convenience and fit your learning around your schedule. 

Mastering discourse analysis can be a game-changer for therapists seeking to deepen their understanding of their clients’ language, identify meaningful goals, and improve therapeutic outcomes. 

There are up to 20 places per course. The course costs £300 per person. You can be self-funded, or funded by your employer or an external sponsor. 

To learn more and register for the course, visit https://www.city.ac.uk/prospective-students/courses/city-health/luna-moving-on-with-narrative-moon  

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact us at luna@city.ac.uk 

Introducing MOON – a new LUNA course for clinicians coming soon!

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We are delighted to announce to our newest initiative: MOON – MOving On with Narrative.

We know that connected speech is complex not only for stroke survivors with aphasia, but also for speech and language therapists to assess and treat. LUNA is an innovative treatment project designed to help with these challenges.

This Autumn, we will be launching MOON – MOving On with Narrative. MOON is an online module designed to help busy clinicians analyse connected speech. The course will aim to give speech and language therapists the knowledge, skills, and confidence to embed discourse analysis into their practice. The course will show how you can use discourse analysis for both target identification and outcome measurement.

MOON will cover the current evidence base, and teach how to elicit, transcribe, and analyse discourse. There will be plenty of real examples from LUNA participants, opportunities to practise, feedback and reflection. The course will use tried and tested methods as well as time-saving tips. MOON can contribute towards your continuing professional development. Initially, the course will be available to Speech and Language Therapists based in the UK, but if there is interest, it can be rolled out internationally in the future.

Carla Magdalani, formerly a LUNA assessor, is helping to develop this online course. Our thanks to the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) at City, University of London, for supporting this initiative. Thanks to the Stroke Association, too, for their generous funding for phases 1-5 of LUNA.

So, how do you like to learn?

In Spring 2020, we ran a short questionnaire to understand SLTs’ views on what helped most when learning about the evidence base. We were so grateful that 37 clinicians took part, and we used this information to help produce some resources on the City Access – Resources for Aphasia (CARA) Hub – see below for more information on this!

We think that what clinicians told us then probably still holds true today, and we will use these principles to guide us as we develop MOON, but given how much the world has changed since 2020, we would love your input in our Twitter poll next week. It’ll be open for 7 days from today until Monday 4th April.

Here is a snapshot of what clinicians told us back in 2020:

What do you use to review the evidence base? 

  • 1st – Reading research literature
  • 2nd – Supervision discussions
  • 3rd – CEN events

How effective do you find the following for developing knowledge, skills, and confidence? 

  • 1st – Reading research literature 
  • 2nd – CEN events 
  • 3rd – Journal clubs (in person and virtual) and
  • 3rd – Discussing research papers in team/CPD meetings

In your experience, what most effectively brings about a change in practice? 

  • 1st – Having the opportunity to practice a skill as part of, or following, training 
  • 2nd – Scenarios encountered in clinical practice 
  • 3rd – Receiving feedback from patient/support networks and
  • 3rd – Having time dedicated to developing clinical skills

They also told us that they liked materials that could be downloaded and indicated interest in attending online webinars and listening to podcasts. 

This valuable feedback helped shape two free LUNA resources we released on the CARA Hub*: 

  • a summary and guide to complement two LUNA journal articles, designed to be used by individual clinicians and teams 
  • a toolkit to support discourse assessment and treatment in clinical practice  

* access to the LUNA resources on the CARA Hub is free, and everyone is welcome to check them out and use them.

Join us on Twitter this week 

To build on this, we are inviting SLTs/ SLPs to take part in our Twitter thread this week which will feature several polls (e.g., how much time can you dedicate to working on your discourse analysis skills? How many live sessions could you fit into your schedule?), and the chance to share what good learning looks like for you. We’ll use these results to inform the development of MOON, our online CPD module for clinicians. If you don’t already, please follow our Twitter account @LUNA_Aphasia, and keep an eye out for our thread for your chance to share some intel! Poll responses are anonymous, and once you’ve voted, you’ll get instant feedback on how others are voting, too.  

Take care everyone, and as always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions, suggestions, or comments.