Deema Turki

Aud-SLT, BSc, MSc

Division of Human Communication Sciences, Health Sciences School

PhD research student

dfturki1@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2400
362 Mushroom Lane

Full contact details

Deema Turki
Division of Human Communication Sciences, Health Sciences School
362 Mushroom Lane
Sheffield
S10 2TS
Profile

I am a Saudi qualified speech-language and hearing therapist who graduated from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2005. Following my graduation, I began my clinical career as a certified SLT. I worked in a private clinic for almost five years, where I received excellent hands-on training in handling different cases in which there were speech and language problems. In 2009, I was awarded a scholarship to pursue a postgraduate diploma in Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA).

In 2012, I obtained my board certification in ABA, becoming the first Saudi SLT honoured to receive this certification. After this, I joined King Abdulaziz University Hospital to work as a speech and hearing specialist and provide therapy for children and adults with various communication disorders, simultaneously working as an aural rehabilitation therapist in the cochlear implant unit.

In 2015, I became a demonstrator in the medical rehabilitation college at KAU, where I was awarded a scholarship to continue my postgraduate education.

I completed my Master degree in Speech Difficulties from the University of Sheffield in September of 2017, and immediately beginning my PhD in October of 2017.

Research interests
  1. Language development in bilingual and monolingual children from various social backgrounds.
  2. Parent perspectives about language development and their role in supporting their children’s development of typical language skills.
  3. Phonological development in bilingual and monolingual children.
  4. Language development in hearing-impaired children.
  5. Communication difficulties in children with autism or other pervasive developmental disorders.

PhD research project:

My project is a cross-sectional study that will investigate the phonological development of typical, monolingual Hejazi Saudi children between 2;06 and 5;00 years of age Due to the lack of a standardized phonological assessment tool for Arabic speakers, the study will include the creating of an Arabic phonological assessment tool in order to gather initial normative data regarding Hejazi Saudi phonological skills among the monolingual children.

The ultimate aim of this project is to describe the typical phonological acquisition in the Hijazi-Saudi Arabic-speaking children and to analyse and identify the patterns of speech sound acquisition during the aforementioned age range.

PhD supervisors: