March 28, 2024

Culturally responsive practice in speech-language pathology

Today our team was very honoured to learn from A/Prof Sarah Verdon today about culturally responsive practice.

Cultural responsiveness was defined by Sarah as:

  • An understanding of, and respect for, cultural and linguistic differences among individuals
  • Knowing how to respond in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner when working with children and families


 

March 25, 2024

Developing a proposal for the second edition of Multilingual Aspects of Speech Sound Disorders in Children

We have been invited to develop a proposal for the second edition of our book published by Multilingual Matters. Here are the details of the first edition: 

McLeod, S. & Goldstein, B. A. (Eds). (2012). Multilingual aspects of speech sound disorders in children. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. (ISBN: 9781847695123, 289 pages) 

https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/Multilingual-Aspects-of-Speech-Sound-Disorders-in-Children/?k=9781847695123

Today Helen Blake, Kate Margetson and I worked on the proposal. We are recommending a slight change in the title to "Multilingual Aspects of Children's Speech Sounds (2nd ed.)" as well as a comprehensive update. The first edition was last published in 2012 - and there has been a lot of new research conducted since this time. 

Kate Margetson, Sharynne McLeod, Helen L. Blake

Visiting UTS

Today I visited University of Technology Sydney. I am an Adjunct Associate Professor at UTS, and was able to catch up with colleagues and students as well as hold a meeting with CSU colleagues to progress some of our current research. I was thrilled to learn that Prof Bronwyn Hemsley has just received the UTS Vice Chancellor's UTS Medal for Research Impact 2023.

Prof Emma Power, Kate Margetson (CSU), Prof Sharynne McLeod (CSU),
Prof Bronwyn Hemsley (UTS), Dr Helen Blake (UTS and CSU)

Congratulations Prof Bronwyn Hemsley!

I enjoyed meeting year 2 UTS students: Annushka and Suruthi

Preparing our invited presentation for the 100th anniversary of IALP

The International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) https://ialp-org.com/ will be hosting a Composium event entitled "Contemporary Perspectives, in Communication Sciences and Disorders" 27th - 29th June 2024 in Vienna to celebrate the 100th anniversary of IALP. Dr Antony Duttine, Technical Lead for Rehabilitation at the WHO has confirmed his attendance https://ialp-org.com/ialp-centennial-registration-now-open/

We have been invited to present this session, and because we are unable to attend, recorded the presentation today:

A contemporary perspective of children’s speech development in languages of the world 

Sharynne McLeod, Helen L. Blake and Kate Margetson Charles Sturt University, Australia   

Bakcground information: I was the foundation chair of the Child Speech committee of IALP and have been the IALP representative at a 2023 meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) since IALP is officially recognized as as Non-State Actor.  We also attended and presented papers at the 32nd IALP World Congress held in Auckland in August 2023 which attracted 1,000 delegates. 

 

March 22, 2024

ECV2024 subcommittees' preparation

Our ECV2024 subcommittees have been meeting and preparing for our upcoming conference to be held in November.

ECV2024-Secretary and conference co-chairs
Carolyn, Sharynne, Belinda

ECV2024 - Organising committee
Patrick, Sharynne, Nic, Janelle, Simone, Carolyn


ECV2024 - Scientific review committee
Suzanne, Emily-Jane, Sharynne, Kate, Carmen, Jessamy, Carolyn, Helen, Kelly, Cherie, Nicola, Belinda

ECV2024 - Children's voices committee
Kate, Belinda, Azizur, Marie, Shukla, Suzanne, Jenny, Kate, Sharynne


ECV2024 - CSU and Faculty of Arts and Education
staff working on the assets and website
Carolyn, Brooke, Annette, Patrick, Simone, Brooke, Belinda, Sharynne


March 21, 2024

Speech-Language-Multilingualism team

Our Speech-Language-Multilingualism team is a great support to me and each other. The team is made up of my current and past PhD students. We usually see each other online. We enjoy meeting together at national and international conferences. We create opportunities for collaborative research, publications and presentations. This week we had a few meetings where we we caught up with one another.


 Speech-Language-Multilingualism (SLM) Team 

  • Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod – Bathurst, Australia 
  • A/Professor Jane McCormack – Sydney 
  • A/Professor Kathryn Crowe – Iceland 
  • A/Professor Sarah Verdon – Albury, Australia 
  • Dr Suzanne C. Hopf – Fiji/Albury, Australia 
  • Dr Sarah Masso – Sydney, Australia 
  • Dr Ben Phạm – Viet Nam 
  • Dr Helen L. Blake – Sydney, Australia 
  • Dr Anna Cronin – Brisbane, Australia 
  • Dr Nicole McGill – Shepparton, Australia 
  • Dr Van H. Tran – Sydney, Australia 
  • Dr Marie Ireland – USA 
  • Dr Audrey (Cen) Wang – Bathurst, Australia 
  • Kate Margetson – Sydney, Australia 
  • Holly McAlister – Albury, Australia 
  • Sarah Bartlett – Sydney, Australia 

*Affiliated members Anniek Van Doornik - University of Utrecht, The Netherlands Dr Natalie Hegarty - University of Ulster, Northern Ireland Caitlin Hurley - University of Western Australia

Reporting Sustainable Development Goals at CSU

Today I met with the CSU team who document our engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

Dale Curran, Ben Heard, Sharynne McLeod, Dr Emmaline Lear
I have just found the updated URL for our Speech Pathology Australia pages reporting our SDGs research: https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Public/Public/About-Us/Advocacy/Communication-swallowing-SDG.aspx


March 20, 2024

Discussing future collaborations in Hong Kong


I have been in contact with A/Prof Thomas Law over many years. I was pleased to receive a request to present a workshop to speech and language therapists in Hong Kong later this year. We had a productive discussion this afternoon about possible content that would be of maximum benefit to supporting children's speech in Hong Kong.


March 19, 2024

ECIR Report for School of Education School Board Meeting

Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research (ECIR) Sturt Scheme 

Presented by Prof Sharynne McLeod, Co-lead ECIR 

  • https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains 
  • ECIR presents a transformative research program promoting social justice for children, families and practitioners within early childhood. 
  • ECIR’s research emphasises enhancing children’s access to, participation in and outcomes from equitable, quality early childhood programs and services, workforce sustainability, children’s rights, communication rights, and transformation of the social, policy and organisational conditions that enable social justice.

We build capacity for engaging in transformative research within our group and with other researchers.

CSU Research Excellence Award Winners 

  • Research Winners: Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR) 
  • Recognises and celebrates outstanding contributions of individuals and teams who engage in research excellence that contributes to the success of Charles Sturt and drives regional outcomes with global impact. 
  • What the nomination was for: This nomination is for excellence in research capacity building. ECIR provides an internship model where early career researchers are well supported by more experienced researchers in a wide range of research activities including organising conferences, editing books, writing book chapters, running research projects, analysing data, writing journal articles, and applying for promotion and grants. Members work collaboratively on projects such as the hosting of the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2022), recent submission of an edited book arising from ECV2020 presentations, and analysis of children’s drawings from across the globe. These joint projects develop knowledge, skills and experience for members to pursue their own research interests.

BOOK Early Childhood Voices (Springer)

  • Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., Dwyer, J. (Eds.) (in press). Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/9783031564833 
  • Following on from the internationally successful Early Childhood Voices Conferences in 2020 and 2022 (ECV2020 and ECV2022) members of ECIR have co-edited and co-authored a book to be published by Springer in 2024 that brings together professionals across multiple disciplines from 17 countries. 
  • Here are some of the reviews: "Voice has been explored in early childhood before, but the focus of this book from a social justice perspective contextualizes voice work in a powerful way." "The interdisciplinary nature of the book is to be commended!" "The images of children and drawings by children bring the book to life and are a wonderful addition." "The book also tackles head on the diversity of experience and culture. It moves away from a privileged perspective on voice work and includes many chapters on complexity and challenges in life"

United Nations Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration

Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2024) 

  • 25-28 November 2024 
  • Call for abstracts opens in April 2024 
  • Opportunities for CSU staff and research students to submit abstracts, be on conference committee, attend the conference, encourage children to participate. 
  • “Children draw/create playing” will be one way children’s voices are profiled. 
  • See ECV2022 https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2022/ The conference attracted 1,956 registrations from 72 countries as well as 6 keynote presentations and 95 oral presentations from 25 countries. During the week of the conference there were 6,431 page views from 1,358 users. In addition, there were over 3,517 YouTube views of the presentations and 243 hours of viewing. • ECV2022 was included in CSU's 2022 Sustainable Development Goals report 
  • ECV2024 website is coming soon.

The Treehouse 

  • UNDER DEVELOPMENT. Virtual and physical child-focussed space for research, teaching and the community. 
  • Building 1451 on Bathurst campus.

March 16, 2024

Invited lectures in 2024 (so far)

I am very honoured to be speaking to a wide range of people across the world during 2024. Here is my invited lecture/keynote schedule so far (in reverse chronological order): 

  1. McLeod, S., Blake, H. L., Margetson, K., & Verdon, S. (2024, December). Culturally appropriate assessment in international contexts. [Invited 1-hour session]. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Seattle, WA, USA. https://convention.asha.org/ 
  2. McLeod, S. & Margetson, K. (2024, Oct 19-20). Multilingual speech development, assessment, analysis and intervention [Invited workshop]. Hong Kong, SAR China. 
  3. McLeod, S. (2024, September 12-14). Multilingual children’s speech development, assessment and interventions [Invited keynote]. 23rd Congress of Otorhinolaryngology Foundation [23o Congresso da FORL], Sao Paulo, Brazil https://www.congressoforl.org/ 
  4. McLeod, S. (2024, September 12-14). Communication rights and the Sustainable Development Goals [Invited keynote]. 23rd Congress of Otorhinolaryngology Foundation [23o Congresso da FORL], Sao Paulo, Brazil https://www.congressoforl.org/ 
  5. McLeod, S., Blake, H. L. & Margetson, K. (2024, June 27-29). Multilingual speech development and disorders: A contemporary perspective of children’s speech development in languages of the world [Invited presentation]. 100th Anniversary Celebration of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP), Vienna, Austria (online). https://ialp-org.com/event/9853/ 
  6. McLeod, S. (2024, June). Are we really listening to children? [Invited keynote]. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 2024 Summer Lecture, London, UK (online). 
  7. McLeod, S. (2024, May 23). Multilingual children’s speech. [Invited lecture]. Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor Presentation. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/international-research-development/visiting-researchers/visitors-for-202324/sharynne_mcleod/ 
  8. McLeod, S. (2024, May 15). Communication professionals need to advocate for communication rights and the Sustainable Development Goals. [Seminar]. School of Arts, Culture and Language, Bangor University. Bangor, UK. https://www.bangor.ac.uk/arts-culture-language/dlelb 
  9. McLeod, S. (2024, May 3). Communication rights and social justice: Enhancing communicative participation for children with speech, language and communication needs. [Seminar]. Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Cambridge, UK. https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/ 
  10. McLeod, S. (2024, April 30). All children should be seen AND heard: The importance of communication so children can thrive. [Invited lecture]. Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit and Underwood Trust Annual Lecture, Bristol, UK. https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/Bristol-Speech-Language-Therapy-Research-Unit 
  11. McLeod, S. (2024, April 29). Speech, language and communication: An overview for dentists. [Invited lecture]. Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor Presentation. Bristol Dental School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/international-research-development/visiting-researchers/visitors-for-202324/sharynne_mcleod/ 
  12. McLeod, S. (2024, April 24). Communicating with children and families in a multilingual world. [Invited lecture]. School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University Lecture, Llandaff, Wales, UK. 
  13. McLeod, S. & Margetson, K. (2024, April 18). Assessing children’s speech in unfamiliar languages: Insights from Vietnamese-English children [Invited keynote]. XI LLDI Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.  
  14. McLeod, S. (2024, February). Supporting monolingual and multilingual children’s phonological development. [Invited keynote]. 2024 Nancy McKinley Lecture organised by the American Board of Child Language & Language Disorders (online).  https://www.speechpathology.com/slp-ceus/course/supporting-monolingual-and-multilingual-children-10849 
  15. McLeod, S. (2024, February). PhD by Publication (or prior publication). [Invited presenter] Charles Sturt University Faculty of Arts and Education, Canberra

Two chapters published in Health and Wellbeing in Childhood 4th edition

Jane McCormack and I have just had two chapters published in the fourth edition of Health and Wellbeing in Childhood

  • McCormack, J., & McLeod, S. (2024). Classifying health and wellbeing: Applying the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health to early years learners. In S. Garvis & D. Pendergast (Eds.), Health and wellbeing in childhood (4th ed., pp. 18-32). Cambridge University Press. 
  • McCormack, J., & McLeod, S. (2024). Communication development. In S. Garvis & D. Pendergast (Eds.), Health and wellbeing in childhood (4th ed., pp. 123-138). Cambridge University Press. 


March 14, 2024

Are public funding models for speech-language pathology reflecting recommended evidence?

I enjoyed speaking with Tristan Nickless at the IALP conference in Auckland about his research into policies and practices impacting speech pathology services in Australia. He has just informed me about the publication of this important article: 

Nickless, T., Davidson, B., Finch, S., Gold, L., & Dowell, R. (2024). Aligned or misaligned: Are public funding models for speech-language pathology reflecting recommended evidence? An exploratory survey of Australian speech-language pathologists. Health Policy OPEN, 100117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpopen.2024.100117

Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank all participants who shared their experiences and time for this study. In addition, the authors would also like to acknowledge the following colleagues for their assistance with identifying differential treatment intensity studies: Associate Professor Suze Leitao and Dr Samuel Calder (language); Professor Tanya Serry, Professor Pamela Snow and Dr Lisa Furlong (literacy); Dr Katherine Sanchez and Ms Carly Veness (infant feeding); Professor Sharynne McLeod (speech); and Associate Professor Debra Phyland (voice).

Australian definitions of a "child"

There is variance in how State and Territory Legislation defines a child. 

Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2024). Australian legal definitions: When is a child in need of protection? https://aifs.gov.au/resources/resource-sheets/australian-legal-definitions-when-child-need-protection 

Here are the definitions: 

  • NSW: Section 3 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 No 157 (NSW) defines a child as a person who is under the age of 16 years and a young person as a person who is aged 16 years or above but who is under the age of 18 years. 
  • VIC:  Section 3 of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic.) defines a child as: ‘(a) in the case of a person who is alleged to have committed an offence, a person who at the time of the alleged commission of the offence was under the age of 18 years but of or about the age of 10 years but does not include any person who is of or above the age of 19 years when a proceeding for the offence is commenced in the Court’ and ‘(b) in any other case, a person who is under the age of 17 years or, if a protection order, a child protection order within the meaning of Schedule 1 or an interim order within the meaning of that Schedule continues in force in respect of him or her, a person who is under the age of 18 years’ 
  • NT: Section 13 of the Care and Protection of Children Act 2007 (NT) defines a child as a person less than 18 years of age, or a person apparently less than 18 years of age if the person's age cannot be proved. 
  • WA: Section 3 of the Children and Community Services Act 2004 (WA) defines a child as a person who is under 18 years of age, and in the absence of positive evidence as to age, means a person who is apparently under 18 years of age. 
  • SA: Section 16 of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 (SA) defines a child or young person as a person who is under 18 years of age. 
  • TAS: Section 3(1) of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1997 (Tas.) defines a child as a person under 18 years of age. 
  • ACT: Section 11 of the Children and Young People Act 2008 (ACT) defines a child as a person who is under 12 years old, and section 12 defines a young person as a person who is 12 years old or older but not yet an adult. The Children and Young People Act 2008 (ACT) refers to the Legislation Act 2001 that defines an adult as a person who is at least 18 years old. 
  • QLD: Section 8 of the Child Protection Act 1999 (Qld) defines a child as an individual under 18 years. 

Thanks to Dr. Helen L. Blake for this information

March 13, 2024

Nord University - Visit to CSU and conversations about the future

We have been honoured to have visitors from Nord University (https://www.nord.no/en) at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst over the past three weeks. Susanne Francisco has coordinated the visit of 

  • Professor Wenche Rønning and 
  • Associate Professor Kathrin Olsen 

from Fakultet for lærerutdanning og kunst- og kulturfag [Faculty of Teacher Education and Arts and Culture]. We look forward to working on a Memorandum of Understanding between the two universities.

Dr Susanne Francisco, Prof Wenche Rønning, A/Prof Kathrin Olsen,
Dr Kate Smithers, Prof Sharynne McLeod and Dr Leanne Gibbs

Kathrin and Sharynne saw 9 kangaroos near CSU.


 

Preparing to be the Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor

I am looking forward to being the Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor in April/May 2024. https://www.bristol.ac.uk/international-research-development/visiting-researchers/visitors-for-202324/sharynne_mcleod/

 


During my visit, I will be presenting a number of lectures in England and Wales, as well as undertaking collaborative research with colleagues at the University of Bristol including:

"...this year’s BSLTRU Underwood Trust Annual lecture is taking place on Tuesday 30th of April. We are thrilled to announce that our guest speaker this year is Professor Sharynne McLeod from Charles Sturt University, Australia who will be speaking on Communicating with Children and Families in a Multilingual World."