Dr Carol Stow
Consultant Speech and Language Therapist (Retired)
Dr Sean Pert and Dr Carol Stow, FRCSLT, Hebden Royd Consort and Mayor celebrating Yorkshire Day
Career
Carol worked as a speech and language therapist in the NHS for over thirty years. Initially working as a specialist in adult neurological and voice disorders she subsequently focussed on working with bilingual children. As a consultant SLT she built and led a highly specialist team of speech and language therapists, bilingual assistants and interpreters who worked with children speaking languages other than English as their main or mother tongue. This team developed an international profile for its work delivering therapy in the child's mother tongue rather than the therapists' mother tongue of English. Carol was twice the recipient of the RCSLT Sternberg Award for Clinical Innovation.
Publications
Carol has published widely on the subject of bilingual children with speech disorders, including the first standardised speech assessment of Pakistani heritage languages spoken by children living in England. She has given many international conference presentations, led workshops, taught at undergraduate and graduate level and contributed to and reviewed guidelines for speech and language professionals working with bilingual children both in the UK and internationally.
You can see a full list of Carol's research and publications here.
You can download PDFs of conference presentations and posters here.
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
For many years Carol was a trustee of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and chaired their Professional Development and Standards Board. Her contribution to the profession was recognised when she was elected a Fellow of RCSLT in 2009.
Carol is now retired from clinical practise.
Community-focused work
Since her retirement, Carol has been elected as a local Labour councillor in Hebden Bridge. She was Mayor of Hebden Royd for two years from 2018-2020. The council owns the local cinema and Carol oversaw Hebden Bridge Picture House becoming the UK's first ever Cinema of Sanctuary. Carol has been a supporter of the LGBTQIA community, including being a committee member for Out in the Valley and Board Advisor for Happy Valley Pride.