Our presenters

Alexandra John is a qualified Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) and researcher with experience working with children with paediatric speech and language difficulties. She is interested in research on the effectiveness of speech and language therapy and on intervention outcomes. This includes the development of assessment tools and outcome measures, such as the Therapy Outcome Measures for Health professionals. She has also collaborated with researchers on the development of the Cleft Palate Audit Tool for Speech, which is used as a national tool at Cleft Centres in the United Kingdom.

Her Doctorate was on Therapy Outcome Measures used by SLTs across the United Kingdom. She has worked for 36 years with Professor Pamela Enderby on Therapy Outcome Measures (TOMs), their development, use, training and data analysis.  She is co-author of the TOMs handbooks. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists has developed the RCSLT Online Outcome Tool (ROOT) for SLTs nationally to enter TOM data.  This has allowed TOM data to be generated, enabling SLTs to utilise outcome data.

Carly Hartshorn is a Speech and Language Therapist with over ten years experience of working in the NHS and in independent practice. She is the Clinical Lead of a Children’s Speech and Language Therapy team.

Carly holds an honorary lectureship with the University of Manchester on the Speech and Language Therapy degree programme. She delivers workshops around communication on the UCL Disabilities of Sight course and provides workshops around language and communication development to trainee teachers.

Carly Hartshorn’s areas of clinical specialism include developmental language disorders, bilingualism, and visual impairment. She has extensive experience in these areas and continues to support the development of new pathways and working practices to support children and young people to reach functional outcomes into adulthood.

Carly sits on the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) North West Hub Executive Committee. She has been a part of the author groups for the RCSLT Clinical Guidelines for Bilingualism and the RCSLT Assistant Practitioner Professional Framework. She is a part of the National Visual Impairment Framework advisory group and has contributed to publications around bilingualism in practice.

Carly Hartshorn is a keen advocate of innovative clinical placements particularly those that build capacity within service delivery while safely supporting students to develop autonomy and independence in clinical practice.

Claire Neaves is a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist.  She became a Licenced Talking Mats trainer in 2022 and joined Talking Mats Ltd as a Consultant in 2025.

Formerly, Claire worked for Leicestershire Partnership Trust as their Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) for the Children’s Service.  She worked with children and young people who used AAC as part of a total communication approach in a range of mainstream and specialist educational settings.

Claire is an independent Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, working in multi-disciplinary teams with children, young people and adults with brain injuries.  Claire is passionate about developing awareness and knowledge around AAC, and facilitating AAC users to give their views and opinions.  Outside Speech and Language Therapy, Claire works as a classical singer and a qualified Vinyasa yoga teacher (Yoga Pros).

The Course Beetle training team is an in-house professional team of HCPC Registered Speech and Language Therapists and Specialist Advisory Teachers.  This team provide advisory and expert input to in-house projects. They also act as specialist assessors within the organisation’s NCFE Qualification Centre.