Dr Anja Kuschmann

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Speech and Language Therapy

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Personal statement

I am a Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Therapy with a research interest in exploring typical and atypical speech production processes across the life span.

My current research focuses on describing the acoustic properties of disordered speech and determining its impact on communication in children and adults with motor disorders. I am also interested in understanding how speech changes as children grow, and how older age affects speech production processes.

I gained my PhD on intonation in foreign accent syndrome from the University of Strathclyde. A subsequent British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship enabled me to extend my work in this field and investigate intonation and prosody in children with cerebral palsy.

My work is funded by the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.

Ongoing projects include:

  • ESRC funded research on how children‘s speech changes as they grow (VariCS) with Dr Joanne Cleland, Dr David Young (University of Strathclyde) and Prof Jane Stuart-Smith (University of Glasgow)
  • ESRC funded research into the role of cognition and speech in older adults’ communication patterns (PhD student: Laura Manderson; with Dr Louise Brown Nicholls and Prof Anja Lowit, University of Strathclyde)

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Area of Expertise

  • Motor speech disorders in adults and children 
  • Typical speech production across the life span
  • Speech development in multilingual children
  • Acoustic analyses for the assessment of motor speech disorders

Prize And Awards

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Recipient
2020
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship
Recipient
2013

More prizes and awards

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Publications

Clinical practice in childhood dysarthria : an online survey of German-speaking speech-language pathologists
Kuschmann Anja, Schoelderle Theresa, Haas Elisabet
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00076
A pilot fieldwork ultrasound study of tongue shape variability in children with and without speech sound disorder
Smith Amy, Dokovova Marie, Lawson Eleanor, Kuschmann Anja, Cleland Joanne
Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Prague 2023 International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, pp. 3874-3877 (2023)
Die sprachtherapeutische Versorgung von Kindern mit Dysarthrien – eine Onlineumfrage
Schoelderle Theresa, Haas Elisabet, Kuschmann Anja
GAB Tagung (2023)
Investigating variability in child's speech (VariCS)
Murali Mridhula, Cleland Joanne, Stuart-Smith Jane, Young David, Kuschmann Anja
19th Biennial Conference of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (2023)
Foreword – special issue II : Selected papers from ICPLA 2021
Kuschmann Anja
Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics Vol 37, pp. 315-315 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2023.2185871
A comparison of tongue shape variability in children with and without speech sound disorder using ultrasound
Smith Amy, Dokovova Marie, Lawson Eleanor, Kuschmann Anja, Cleland Joanne
19th Biennial Conference of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (2023)

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Research Interests

My research focuses on motor speech disorders in children and adults. I am interested in understanding the underlying nature of their speech problems, how these problems manifest, and how current treatment approaches target these difficulties. I harness the power of detailed acoustic analyses to aid the understanding of these aspects. My goal is to undertake research that advances our theoretical understanding of speech disorders and drives clinical practices, which can improve well-being, social and communicative participation for those affected by motor speech disorders.

While my main focus is on describing patterns of disordered speech, I am also interested in exploring speech processes in typical speech across the life span, with a particular focus on determining variability in typical speech patterns and what these can tell us about disordered speech.

PhD and MPhil students

  • Amy Smith, PhD candidate: Measuring Variability in Child Speech Using Instrumental Articulatory Techniques
  • Laura Manderson, PhD candidate: Ageing and communication: Understanding the roles of cognition, speech production, and social participation
  • Nameeka Shahid, PhD candidate: Impact of dysarthria in a Pakistani cultural context
  • Manali Sharma, MPhil candidate: Comprehension and Production of passive constructions in bilingual aphasia (Hindi and English)
  • Charya Jayasri Udara Bandara Kapurupastha Bandarage, MPhil candidate: Quantifying undifferentiated lingual gestures of children with velar fronting problem using ultrasound tongue imaging

I am happy to supervise students with research interests involving any area of motor speech disorders.

 

Professional Activities

Improving speech in children with dysarthria: clinical and non-clinical perspectives
Speaker
30/9/2022
PhD external examiner
Examiner
9/2022
ESRC Peer Review College (External organisation)
Advisor
8/2022
Engage 2022: A Speech and Language Therapy Conversation on Research and Clinical Practice
Speaker
13/5/2022
Prosodic abilities in children with cerebral palsy and dysarthria
Speaker
1/2022
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (Journal)
Peer reviewer
2020

More professional activities

Projects

Variability in child speech (VariCS)
Kuschmann, Anja (Principal Investigator) Barry, Sarah (Co-investigator) Cleland, Joanne (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2022 - 31-Jan-2026
The effect of drama workshop activities on speech production in children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy
Kuschmann, Anja (Principal Investigator) Mirihagalla Kankanamalage, Inoka Udayangani Sirimanna (Research Co-investigator)
The project investigates the effects of online drama workshop activities on the speech of children with dysarthria due to cerebral palsy. The project will advance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of speech in children with motor disorders, and determine effective rehabilitation approaches for this group.
02-Jan-2021 - 29-Jan-2022
Ageing and communication: Understanding the roles of cognition, speech production, and social participation
Brown Nicholls, Louise (Principal Investigator) Kuschmann, Anja (Co-investigator)
SGSSS ESRC studentship
01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2024
Phonetic markers of sentence stress in people with speech disorders
Lowit, Anja (Principal Investigator) Kuschmann, Anja (Co-investigator)
Phonetic markers of sentence stress in people with speech disorders
01-Jan-2016 - 31-Jan-2017
Prosodic abilities in Cerebral Palsy
Kuschmann, Anja (Fellow)
01-Jan-2013 - 31-Jan-2015

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Contact

Dr Anja Kuschmann
Reader
Speech and Language Therapy

Email: anja.kuschmann@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3102