Barry Guitar is Professor of Communication Sciences at the University of Vermont His specialty is research, teaching, and clinical work on stuttering. He has a B.A. from Dartmouth College, and M.S. from Western Michigan University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He is a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and a recipient of the Malcolm Fraser Award from the Special Interest Division on Fluency.

In addition to numerous research publications, he has published abook on stuttering known to most Norwegian SLTs: Stuttering: An Integrated Approach to Its Nature and Treatment 3rd edition.

Mira Goral, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a speech and language therapist and is also professor of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at Lehman College and the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. She also holds an appointment at the Aphasia Research Center of the Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her B.A. in Linguistics at Tel Aviv University and her Ph.D. in Neurolinguistics at the Graduate Center, The City University of New York. She has published a numerous of articles in the areas of multilingualism, aphasia, language attrition, and language and cognition in aging.

Victoria Joffe is professor of enhancing language and learning in children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) in the Division of Language and Communication Science, and Associate Dean in the School of Health Sciences at City University London.

Victoria’s area of clinical and research expertise include specific language impairment, child speech disorder, the interface between education and speech and language therapy, collaborative practice and the training of teaching staff, the relationship between language and literacy, language and communication intervention in secondary school students and evidence-based practice for children and young people with special educational needs. She is also research and development councilor for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

In March 2013 Vicky gave a talk on enhancing language and communication in adolescents with SLCN. On this occasion, she will give an interactive practical session, which will include the challenges of working in a bilingual context.

May-Britt Monsrud er utdannet Pedagogisk Psykologisk rådgiver. Hun har erfaring fra grunnskole, pedagogisk-psykologisk tjeneste samt kompetansesenter og benyttes som gjesteforeleser på høgskoler og universitet. Interesseområder er leseutvikling og lesevansker samt flerspråklige barn og unges språkutvikling og læringsutbytte. Hun har initiert og deltatt i utviklingsarbeid og kompetanseutviklingstiltak samt klinisk arbeid relatert til fagområdene, med særlig fokus på sammenhengen mellom kartlegging og tiltaksutvikling Monsrud er ansatt ved Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus med ansvar for videreutdanning i spesialpedagogikk. Hun arbeider for tiden med en PhD-avhandling om tema kartlegging av flerspråklige barn og unge.

Dr. Hazel Roddam is a speech and language therapist with extensive experience as a clinician and service manager. She has conducted research in evidence-based practice (EBP) across a wide range of health professions and now works as a researcher in the Allied Health Professions research unit at University of Central Lancashire in North West England. Hazel was the Chair of Council for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) from October 2010 until September 2012. She is also the UK representative in the Professional Practice Commission in CPLOL (the European association of Speech and Language Therapy organizations).

In March 2013 Hazel gave a talk about ‘what does EBP mean’. Now her focus will be on a more practical level; on how to undertake service evaluations and small-scale practice-based research. She also plans an interactive session so that participants will be able to build on their prior knowledge and skills.

Veslemøy Rydland er utdannet Pedagogisk Psykologisk rådgiver. De siste ti årene har hun undervist og forsket ved Pedagogisk Institutt. Hun forsker på minoritetsspråklige barns utvikling med særlig vekt på hvordan barnehagen kan støtte andrespråklig læring. Hun har vært opptatt av hvordan minoritetsspråklig barn både lærer språk, og forhandler om tilhørighet i lek med andre barn, i tillegg til å identifisere kvaliteter ved de samtalene barn får tilgang til i barnehagen og relasjonen til senere språkutvikling. Rydland har også fulgt barn i overgangen fra barnehage til skole for å se på eventuelle langtidseffekter av språkeksponering i barnehagen.