About

I am Associate Professor of Inclusion and Special Educational Needs & Disabilities, based within the ISEND Research Cluster in the Institute of Education. 

Teaching responsibilities

I am open to enquiries about doctoral supervision in the areas of learning disability, special schools, SLD, PMLD, autism, Augmentative & Alternative Communication and lived experiences of families of disabled children.

Research interests

My research centres on children and young people with S/PMLD (severe learning difficulties/profound and multiple learning disabilities). Most of my work focuses on issues of communication, interaction and interpersonal connection, particularly where spoken language is limited or absent. This communication may involve formal modes of Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) and idiosyncratic embodied communication such as particular gestures, vocalisations or facial expressions which a familiar person can interpret. 

I am also particularly interested in everyday experiences of families of disabled children and how they draw on valuable tacit knowledge accrued over many years to enable successful and satisfying communication and interaction with the young person. 

Membership of professional bodies

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 
• Member of Editorial Board of Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs (JORSEN)
• Member of British Education Research Association (BERA)
• Member of UK Literacy Association (UKLA)
• Member of British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD) 
• Member of Learning Disability England

Qualifications

• Ph.D Exploring the multimodal communication and agency of children in an autism classroom (Sheffield Hallam University) Available here
• MA Special & Inclusive Education (University of Nottingham)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Nottingham Trent University)
• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (University of Reading)
• BSc. (Hons) Psychology (Open University)
• LL.B (Hons) Law (Queen's University Belfast)

Recent conferences

Doak, L. (2024) Understanding how young, minimally-verbal autistic learners communicate in the classroom and at home. Invited Talk, University of Southampton, 22 Nov.

Doak, L. (2023) Rethinking play and ‘play deficits’ in autism through multimodal analysis of playground video data. Multimodality Talks Series, University College London Centre for Multimodal Research, 19 May. 

 Doak, L. (2023) Do all children have the right to express views? Nordic Disability Network 16th Research Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland, 10-12 May. 

 Doak, L. (2022) Agency in iPad story making by children and young people with learning disabilities. 22nd European Conference on Literacy, Dublin City University, Ireland, 4-6 July. 

Doak, L. (2022) How children and young people with learning disabilities participate in creating iPad stories: probing the boundaries of 'agency' and 'authorship'.  UK Literacy Association International Conference, Birmingham, 1-3 July. 

Doak, L. (2021) Doing play without speech in the special school playground: a multimodal perspective. British Educational Research Association [BERA] Conference, online, 13-16 September. 

Doak, L. (2021) Parent perceptions of the meaning of 'literacy' for children identified as having 'learning disabilities'. UK Literacy Association 56th International Conference, online, 2-4 July 2021. 

Recent publications

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

Doak, L. (2024) Exploring the value of family shared reading for young people who have Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD). Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. doi: 14687984241235124 

Doak, L. (2023) Rethinking the contributions of young people with learning disabilities to iPad storymaking: a new model of distributed authorship.  Literacy, 57(3), 315-326.

Doak, L. (2021) 'To start talking phonics is crazy': how parents understand 'literacy' in the lives of children with learning disabilities. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 32(1), 41-59. 

Doak, L. (2021) Rethinking family (dis)engagement with Augmentative & Alternative Communication. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 21(3), 198-210.

Doak, L. (2020) Realising the 'right to play' in the special school playground. International Journal of Play, 9(4), 414-438.

Doak, L. (2019). But I’d rather have raisins! Exploring a hybridized approach to multimodal interaction in the case of a minimally verbal child with autism. Qualitative Research, 19(1), 30-54.

Book Chapters

Doak, L. (2023) Do all children have the right to express views? Listening to ‘differently-voiced’ communicators. In Beckett, A. E., & Callus, A. M. (Eds.) The Routledge International Handbook of Children's Rights and Disability. Taylor & Francis.

Research Reports

Doak, L. (2023) Understanding the challenges of enacting national education policy for special school Headteachers in England. University of Nottingham.

Paechter, C., Doak, L., Dymoke, S., Kent, J., Marriott, M., Wood, C., Chantrey Wood, K., Burke, P., McDonald, A., Pettigrew, C. and Taylor, M. (2020). Commons Education Select Committee: The impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services. Commons Education Select Committee.

Practitioner-facing Publications

Doak, L. (2023) Remembering Special Schools in Education Policy: 'Addendums' and 'Bookends'?  Schools Week, 6 Dec.

Doak, L. (2023) Storymaking with Pictello on iPad. SEN Magazine, May/June 2023.

Doak, L. (2023)  Forgotten or misrepresented: Special Schools deserve better policy.  Schools Week, 26 May.

Doak, L. (2022) 'Using the Pictello App with young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD)'. PMLD Link Magazine.

Doak, L. (2021) 'Repeated omission of special schools points to an ableist department'. Schools Week, 9 January.