Shapwick School

Sally is a senior lecturer at University College Plymouth, St. Mark & St. John where she lectures on the BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy.

Her main teaching responsibilities lie in the areas of: linguistics, clinical phonetics and phonology, psycholinguistics, language acquisition and early literacy development. In addition to this Sally also holds the following positions: <br/> • External Examiner for linguistics on the BSc (Hons) programme in Speech and Language Therapy at DeMontfort University, Leicester. <br/> • EYPS (Early Years Professional Status) Assessor (freelance). <br/> • LEA Governor (voluntary) for Millbrook CEVA Primary School with special responsibility for literacy and special educational needs. <br/> • Book Reviewer for Journal of Child Language, Teaching and Therapy. Recently reviewed Clinical Approaches to Emergent Literacy Intervention Justice (2006), Plural Publishing Inc. <br/> <br/> Academic/professional qualifications <br/> • PhD Acoustic Phonetics, Edinburgh University <br/> • Msc General Linguistics, Edinburgh University <br/> • BA (Hons) Human Communication Studies (1st), Marjon <br/> • MA (Hons) German Language and Literature (2.1), St. Andrews University. <br/> <br/> Member of <br/> • Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists <br/> • Higher Education Academy <br/> • National Association of Professionals Interested in Language Impairment in Children <br/> <br/> Publications <br/> • Bates, S. A. R., Scobbie, J. M. & Watson, J. M. M. (2001). Context-conditioned error patterns in disordered speech. In M. Ball & F. Gibbon (Eds.) Vowel Disorders (pp. 145-185), Butterworth-Heineman. <br/> • Harris, J., Watson, J. M. M. & Bates, S. A. R. (2000). Prosody and melody in vowel disorder. Journal of Linguistics. <br/> <br/> Projects in development <br/> Phonetic Transcription Self-study Programme, Marjon College Fellowship. <br/> <br/> The Jolly Phonics Speech Pack, a therapy resource for use with children presenting with speech and/or early literacy difficulties, commissioned by SpeechMark Publications Ltd. <br/> <br/> Practice based professional learning project bid to develop a re-usable learning object on children’s play as a vehicle for assessment and therapy, a collaborative project between the Open University and Marjon led by John Oates (Open University). <br/> <br/> Sound Sensitising, a therapy resource designed to improve children’s ability to analyse and synthesise sounds in words, in collaboration with colleagues from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. <br/>

Sean currently holds the position of Reader in Child Development and Disability at University College Plymouth, St Mark and St John. Sean previously worked as an Educational Pyschologist in Somerset and Belfast.

Prior to this Sean worked as a Lecuturer at Bridgwater College and taught for a number of years in mainstream and independent schools. Sean also worked as a specialist teacher in the Language Development Unit at Millfield Preparatory School.

Sean’s interests include walking, travelling and writing. <br/> <br/> Recent Publications include:<br/> <br/> Long, L., MacBlain, S.F. and MacBlain, M.S. (2007). Supporting the pupil with dyslexia at secondary level: mechanistic or emotional models of literacy, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (October 2007). <br/> <br/> MacBlain, S.F., O'Neill, A., Weir, K. and MacBlain, M. (2006). Supporting pupils with dyslexia: emotional or mechanistic approaches to literacy in, Hickey, T.M. (ed.) (2006) Literacy and Language Learning: Reading in a First or Second Language, Dublin: Reading Association of Ireland <br/> <br/> MacBlain, S.F., McKee, B. and MacBlain, M.S. (2006). The curriculum: confronting neglect and abuse, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Vol. 10, 2 <br/> <br/> McCurry, N. and MacBlain, S.F. (2005). Inclusion in Northern Ireland: cracking the code, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Vol. 9, 3. <br/> <br/> MacBlain, S.F., Hazzard, K. and MacBlain, F.M. (2004). Dyslexia: the ethics of assessment, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Vol. 9, 1. <br/> <br/> MacBlain, S.F. and MacBlain, M. S. (2004). Addressing the Needs of Lone-parent Pupils, Academic Exchange Quarterly, Vol. 8, 2. <br/> <br/> MacBlain, S.F. and MacBlain, M.S. (2004). Is There a Role for School Social Workers in Addressing the Needs of Children from Lone-parent Households? The Journal of School Social Work, Vol. 13, 2 . <br/> <br/> <br/>

Recent Conference papers include:

MacBlain, S. F., and James, S.L. (2007). Responding to pupils with dyslexia whose first language is not English: the need for a conceptual framework, Paper presented at the 15th. European Conference on Reading, Berlin, August, 2007; <br/> <br/>

Colfer, C., MacBlain, S.F., and James, S. (2007). Analyzing language into literature along three dimensions, Descriptive, Reflective and Speculative: preparing teachers for the future, Paper presented at the 15th. European Conference on Reading, Berlin, August, 2007; <br/> <br/>

MacBlain, S. F., O’Neill, A. and Weir, K. (2005). Supporting pupils with dyslexia: emotional or mechanistic approaches to literacy, Paper presented at the annual conference of the Reading Association of Ireland, Dublin, October 2005; <br/> <br/>

MacBlain, S. F. (2004). Responding to loss in childhood: a new module of intervention. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, Crete, September, 2004; <br/> <br/>

MacBlain, S.F. (2003). Supporting the pupil with dyslexia at secondary level: an emotional or mechanistic model of learning. 54th Annual Conference of the International Dyslexia Association, San Diego, California, November 2003; <br/>

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MacBlain, S.F. (2003). The Long-term effects of bereavement on Children: the need for a conceptual framework. 2nd International School Social Workers Conference, Stockholm, May 2003; <br/>