Cheryl Research Fellow, Speech and Language Therapy "I work full-time in a prison for juveniles and young offenders – in other words, a prison for young people between the ages of 15 and 21. I'm collecting information to identify if there's a need for speech and language therapy in prisons. I’m also finding out how to set up a speech and language therapy service in prisons to meet these needs."

Cheryl is one of two people carrying out this research in the UK. Cheryl has qualifications in psychology and speech pathology recognised by both the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and the British Psychological Society.

Did you come straight into research after qualifying?

No. Quite a lot of the time I worked in rehabilitation – this was mostly with people who'd had strokes. I worked with them one-to-one and in groups.

What does it mean when people have to learn to speak again after a stroke?

Part of their brain that's involved with speaking may have been damaged by the stroke. Here are some of the things that can go wrong – though these could be found in other people with communication difficulties.

It might be that the parts of our body used for speaking have become weak – these could be the muscles in the face, lips or tongue. This is called dysarthria.

Another is where the person knows the word but can't say it or it comes out wrong. Like saying 'comb' when they mean 'brush', or 'pog' when they mean 'dog'. This is dysphasia.

Then there's when the person knows what they want to say but can't get speech muscles to move and work together in the right way to produce it. This is dyspraxia.

Finally there's when the person has completely forgotten the word – memory loss, called amnesia.

People with these conditions can become very frustrated and stressed – and that makes the condition worse. I can help people develop strategies to help overcome their illness.

Did you work with young people at all?

Yes, I worked in mainstream primary schools. Sometimes I was working with children with special needs like children with cerebral palsy or children with autism. A lot of the children I worked with did not have special needs. The types of things these children found hard were how to make sounds or how to use sounds in the right place in words. For instance some would say ‘tea’ when they meant to say ‘key’.

Another thing some needed help with was using and understanding language, which includes voice patterns, facial expression, posture, gesture and eye contact as well as words and sentences.

Being able to use and understand language in the right way depends on how much you know about the world and the different social rules that are used in different situations. For example young people need to know that you don’t shout out in class; you put your hand up instead or have some other means of showing that you have something to say.

And what about in the prison?

The job I have is part of a research project being run by a university professor who's also a speech and language therapist. The project's funded by the Helen Hamlyn Foundation in partnership with the prison service. There are only two of us working like this in prisons in England. It's very exciting to be involved in developing a new type of speech and language therapy service.

A lot of young prisoners have difficulties with understanding how to use language in the right way. Research is showing that a high number of young prisoners have specific speech and language problems – for instance dyspraxia or stammering. I'm finding that I can adapt and develop the skills I learned when I worked with stroke patients and children so that they're useful working with these young prisoners.

Did you come into the prison and start testing people?

Oh no. First of all, working with the other researcher (who's in a different prison), we had to develop care standards. Then we had to design all our forms and information material. We had to choose and develop our screening tools – the way we find out what the young people find difficult. We had to do all that in 4 weeks.

Then I needed to train the staff here. I still do that with articles in the prison newsletter, speaking with officers and others – like the education staff. I run workshop sessions for groups of staff.

A lot of young people in here have low self-esteem and their poor skills in communication make it worse for them. And then they're often not able to understand things that we might think are quite simple – they can't process the information, it goes flying over their heads. When I see them I assess how able they are to process language – this is different from a reading age or an intelligence measurement.

What sort of things do you do with them after assessment?

Sometimes I might work with them setting a goal like 'speak in sentences'. If they're having word finding difficulties (similar to dysphasia) we might work on helpful strategies like 'picture it first' or 'think of what the thing's for.'

I don't just work with the young people. I work with officers too so we can work towards more effective communications. I'll put a note in each boy's wing-file; I might suggest that officers give them instructions in small chunks or actually show them what to do. I encourage officers not to ask questions that can be answered with yes or no. 'Did you understand?' isn't a very useful question; the young people will tend to answer yes although they don't.

It can be useful to ask the young person to tell you in their own words what instructions they have just been given – that way you really find out if they understand.

What are the worst bits about your job?

Easy – there aren't any really. Sometimes there are a lot of referrals to cope with. And it can be frustrating when a young person has a very short prison sentence so that therapy time is limited.

And good bits?

All of it. I love it. It can be challenging, but the young people are often very motivated. I'm working in new territory, it's exciting.