PSYCHOLOGY AND CLINICAL LANGUAGE SCIENCES
Research Division

Members of our team regularly respond to requests for practical advice to help people face unusual circumstances they find themselves in. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team from the AnDY Clinic developed an online course to provide guidance for young people who may be experiencing low mood and depression during the pandemic. Professor Helen Dodd and Dr Tim Gill wrote widely circulated advice for parents trying to work at the same time as care for school-age children, reassuring them that just letting children play will help them cope. And Professor Patricia Riddell reflected on how our beliefs and experiences shape our responses, and why some people find it harder to observe social distancing measures than others.

We work closely with partners in the NHS to support three on-site clinics as well as the independent Autism Centre, bringing research on clinical disorders into lab-based settings:

Research centres

• Centre for Autism 
• Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) 
• Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CELM) 
• Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health

Research clinics

• Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY) Research Unit and Clinic 
• Charlie Waller Institute (mental health in young people)
• Speech and Language Therapy Clinic 

Development of cannabidiol as a treatment for severe childhood epilepsies

In recent years there has been a growing appreciation of the role that cannabis-based medicines can play in disease therapy. Professor Claire Williams, working with Professors Gary Stephens and Ben Whalley from the School of Pharmacy, led research to investigate the anti-convulsant and anti-epileptic potential of individual phytocannabinoids in a range of seizure and epilepsy models. This in vivo work identified the anti-convulsant potential of cannabidiol (CBD) and led to the scientific demonstration of its efficacy and safety in clinical trials in young adults with difficult-to-treat epilepsies. This has led to further clinical trials of CBD for other indications. The introduction of CBD as the medicine Epidiolex in the US (in 2018) and as Epidyolex in the EU (in 2019) was the first cannabis-derived therapeutic for the treatment for seizures resulting from this research. The team was awarded the British Pharmacological Society Sir James Black Award for Contributions to Drug Discovery 2019. Read the full story of the drug's discovery and development.

Supporting parenting to promote early child development

Some of a child’s most valuable learning takes place before they go to school. Indeed, school ‘preparedness’ strongly predicts how well a child will fare in school. Professor Peter Cooper and Professor Lynne Murray have developed an evidence-based programme to train parents from disadvantaged backgrounds to interact and share picture books with pre-school children to support their child’s development. The research in South Africa showed that mothers developed greater sensitivity and reciprocity towards their children, who in turn showed improvements in language, attention and social understanding. This programme has been adopted by the World Health Organization and used in Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, India, Brazil and Colombia. There is also ongoing work in France, Greece and Italy, as well as in the UK, demonstrating the universal appeal and application of this evidence-based intervention to promote child development. Find out more about how bonding over books benefits parents and children.

Tackling adolescent depression with evidence-based treatment

Adolescent depression is common, significantly increasing young people’s risk of self-harm and suicide, and with serious consequences for their future health and wellbeing. Many young people cannot access an evidence-based psychological therapy or must wait many months for treatment, which may only have a modest outcome due to low levels of engagement. This led Professor Shirley Reynolds and Dr Laura Pass of the Charlie Waller Institute to involve young people, parents, school staff and therapists in designing a simple, short and adolescent-friendly treatment programme. The resulting Brief Behavioural Activation programme can be delivered by non-specialists making treatment more easily available and is now part of the national curriculum for the new NHS-funded low-intensity therapist workforce, with training being delivered internationally as well. Find out more about how teenagers suffering from depression can now get treated faster.

Improving access to treatment for children with anxiety disorders 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders in children and young people, with far-reaching educational and social consequences. Nevertheless, very few children with an anxiety disorder can access specialist cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT). Professor Cathy Cresswell and Dr Polly Waite worked with a team at the ANDY Clinic to develop a brief treatment programme that can be delivered by non-specialists to improve access to psychological treatments for these children. Their Guided Parent-Led Cognitive Behaviour Therapy programme can be delivered by trained child and adolescent wellbeing practitioners who work to guide parents in applying cognitive-behavioural principles in their children’s day-to-day life, addressing parental factors as well. This cost-effective programme leads to improvement in three-quarters of children treated, with high levels of satisfaction from parents and practitioners. It is now the standard first-line treatment for many NHS Trusts as well as local authorities and schools across the UK, and further afield in countries such as China, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, and Japan. Find out how more young people with anxiety are able to get help faster.

Focus on children’s vision 

For over 23 years staff at the University’s Infant Vision Laboratory have been working to develop a model of how infants and children learn to coordinate their eyes. Focusing both eyes for close work is a complex skill that babies learn in their first few months of life. It involves physical anatomy, eye and image optics, muscle coordination, and many aspects of brain function, all developing and coordinating in parallel. If any of these processes goes wrong in infancy, the secondary consequences can mean that children develop visual problems which can be lifelong and irreparable. The research model developed by Professor Patricia Riddell and Professor Anna Horwood has helped explain clinical findings and apparent inconsistencies that had puzzled clinicians for decades, clearly showing that the visual system is more flexible and tolerant of variability than previously thought. Their work has moved into mainstream practice and is taught to professional trainees across the world as a framework by which to understand binocular vision. Find out more about how this research has changed clinical practice.

Embark on a postgraduate programme at the School of Psychology and and Clinical Language Sciences and benefit from a vibrant and supportive research environment, staffed by internationally recognised researchers. Find out more.

Access our latest publications here.

For news and updates:

• Follow us on Twitter:@UniRdg_Psych and the Psychology Department Facebook page 
• Find out about our annual symposium: Reading Emotions
• Follow the Bilingualism in the Brain blog and on Twitter: @Christos_lab

For specific enquiries, please contact:

Professor Carien Van Reekum
Research Division Co-Lead
Email: c.vanreekum@reading.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)118 378 5556

Professor Claire Williams
Research Division Co-Lead
Email: Claire.williams@reading.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 118 378 7540

Find out how we can support your business:
Email: rdl-pcls@reading.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 118 378 5380