معرفی
Professor Rosalind Herman is a Professor of Child Language & Deafness at City St George's, University of London, where she has been employed since 1985. She established the Sign Language Assessment Clinic and trains student Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs). With over 40 years of experience as a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with Deaf People, Professor Herman is a leading researcher in deaf children's communication and reading development. She is also a research affiliate of the Deafness, Cognition & Language Research Centre at UCL (DCAL).
Professor Herman earned her BA in Linguistics & Language Pathology from the University of Reading (1976-1980), followed by an MSc in Human Communication from University College London (1984-1985), and completed her PhD at City, University of London (1996-2002). She is a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and the Health Professions Council.
Professor Herman's research focuses on language development in British Sign Language (BSL) and communication and reading skills in deaf people. She pioneered the development of standardized assessments for BSL, including the BSL Receptive Skills Test (BSL RST) and the BSL Production Test (BSL PT), which are the first norm-referenced tests of any sign language available internationally. Her work extends to reading interventions for deaf children, communication interventions with deaf children and adults, and the role of deaf language specialists. She regularly presents her research at national and international conferences and provides training to Teachers of the Deaf, Communication Support Workers, and SLT Special Interest Groups.
Analysis of Professor Herman's recent publications reveals a continued focus on sign language assessment and development, with increasing attention to interventions for deaf children with language and literacy difficulties. Her work has expanded to include collaborations on developing interventions for children with co-occurring speech and language disorders, and she has been actively involved in research on parent-child interaction with deaf infants. There is a clear trajectory toward more applied research with direct clinical implications, particularly in the areas of reading development and intervention for deaf children.
Professor Herman has secured numerous research grants from prestigious organizations including the Economic and Social Research Council, Nuffield Foundation, Erasmus+, and the Heather van der Lely Foundation. Her current major project, "Understanding variation in reading progress in deaf children" (2024-2027), is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. She has also received multiple Impact Awards from the School of Health Sciences for teacher workshops on literacy teaching with deaf children.
Professor Herman runs the Sign Language and Reading Assessment Clinic at the Roberta Williams Speech and Language Therapy Centre, an outreach service offering clinical assessments of child and adult BSL users' language and literacy skills. She collaborates extensively with colleagues at DCAL, UCL, and has a long-standing partnership with Professor Penny Roy, Dr. Chloe Marshall, and Professor Gary Morgan. Her research group focuses on understanding language development in deaf children, assessment tools for sign language, and interventions to support reading and communication skills in deaf children.
