Julia Pollock
Research title: Exploring the relationship between psychophysiological regulation and communication in care experienced young people and young people on the edge of care
Research summary
This research explores the relationship between psychophysiological regulation and communication difficulties in care-experienced young people and young people on the edge of care. It considers how the body’s stress responses, emotion regulation, sensory processing and executive functioning (the skills involved in managing attention, holding information in mind, planning and adapting) relate to communication skills.
The study focuses on complex communication skills (pragmatics and higher order language skills) such as understanding and responding to social situations, and using language to reason, solve problems and reflect on experiences. These skills are particularly important when navigating social work, the justice system and mental health services, where young people may need to understand unfamiliar information, explain their experiences and communicate under pressure. Communication difficulties in these situations can be misinterpreted as a negative attitude, non-compliance or disengagement, leaving underlying support needs unrecognised and the young person unable to access the services they need.
This mixed methods project will include three linked studies:
- A scoping review mapping existing research on the relationship between regulation and communication in children and young people.
- A quantitative study examining communication alongside various measures of regulation, including sensory processing, emotion regulation, executive functioning, and physiological measures (i.e. heart rate variability, an index of cardiac vagal control).
- A qualitative study exploring young people’s own experiences of communication and regulation, placing their lived experience at the centre of the research.
By bringing together psychophysiological measures, communication assessments and young people’s accounts, this research aims to build an understanding of how regulation and communication may interact. The findings aim to inform more responsive, communication-aware support across care, education, health and justice settings.
Supervisors
Conferences
Pollock, J. (2026). 'From Dysregulation to Connection: A new lens for SLT advocacy in care experienced and trauma affected young people' (workshop), RCSLT Scotland Day, Glasgow, 10 September 2026.
Egan, F. and Pollock, J. (2024). 'Michael's Story: a case study in supporting an autistic young person with intellectual disability to negotiate his sexual development following an incident of harmful sexual behaviour' (presentation and workshop). Pride in Practice: The Annual Children and Families Social Work Gathering, University of Dundee, 29 May 2024.
Additional information
Julia is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and Sensory Integration Practitioner, embedded in the REACH social work team at Perth and Kinross Council since 2018. She chairs the speech and language therapy Care and Justice Clinical Excellence Network Scotland, regularly delivers training to social work and education teams and has also trained Police Scotland and the Care Inspectorate.
Julia led the development of the 'Sexual Health and Relationships' Talking Mats resource, originally created to support the assessment of young people with harmful sexual behaviour. This was developed through a collaboration between REACH (Perth and Kinross Council) and Talking Mats. Julia created the original draft of the resource, initiated the collaboration, secured funding, convened the joint working group and has jointly delivered the training on the resource to practitioners in the UK and internationally.
Academic
Pollock, J., Moroke, H., Davidson-Jamieson, C., & Minnis, H. (2026, October 24). Exploring the relationship between regulation and communication: a scoping review protocol. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/E94C6
Professional Practice
Pollock, J. (2026) 'Talking About Sex', RCSLT Bulletin, Issue 846, April, pp. 36-37
Holmes, L., Cameron, L., Mackinnon, A., Pollock, J. and Scott, J. (2024) Sexual Health and Relationships. Stirling: Talking Mats.
Pollock, J. (2024) 'Let's Talk about Sex: Opening up Conversations with Talking Mats' - Parts 1 and 2. Talking Mats. Available at: https://www.talkingmats.com/lets-talk-about-sex-opening-up-conversations-with-talking-mats-part-1/
