Shalini Wickremesooriya

Department of Human Communication Sciences
The University of Sheffield
31 Claremont Crescent
Sheffield
S10 2TA
UK


Tel: +44 (0) 114 22 22438
Fax: +44 (0) 114 273 0547

email : hcp07sfw@sheffield.ac.uk

Biography

As a drama and communication instructor and examiner for children and adolescents, I was always interested in children and their diverse natures. It was therefore a natural progression to choose to do my Master´s Degree in Speech and Language Difficulties at the University of Birmingham (UK). My dissertation dealt with enhancing oral language development of students with learning difficulties, in a hard-to-reach area of Sri Lanka. The proposals of this study were subsequently, successfully implemented in many rural settings and to date benefit a large population of students with a range of disabilities. After I completed my studies in 2004, I realized the deep need for Specialist Speech Therapists in Sri Lanka. Not wanting to tie myself down to one institution I began working as an independent practitioner, dividing my time between clinics, schools (special education and mainstream) and higher education institutions. I joined the University of Sheffield in October 2007 having been awarded a MPhil / PhD studentship as a remote location student.

Research Interests

My research interests are primarily focused on children and adolescents with speech and language disorders within school settings in Sri Lanka. Due to limited awareness of Special Educational Needs of students, teachers often do not act in the best interest of such students. Therefore I decided to study The Role of Adult – Child Communication in Establishing Inclusive Practices in Mainstream Schools in Sri Lanka. It is my hope that once completed the study would be a model to other mainstream schools within the island.

Collaborators

Supervisors: Dr. Hilary Gardner and Dr. Michele Moore

Recent Projects

Open University of Sri Lanka:

Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive Education: Developing and translating content.
Bachelors in Education: Special Needs - Senior consultant for programme development and Lesson Writer.

Subject Specialist and Instructional Designer for an online Programme; Diploma in Specific Learning Disabilities. This is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Education and the Asian Development Bank which is providing the funding.