This morning Jane McCormack and I met - and created a child version of the Intelligibility in Context Scale by considering all of the work we have done together on the ICS, SPAA-C, Children Draw Talking, and other research listening to children. We will pilot it before using it in research. We have been discussing this for a long time - but this morning we worked out exactly what it should look like :)
The following important article has just been published:
McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., McMahon, C., Wang, C., & Evans, J. R. (2025). Parent-reported speech and language in early childhood is an early indicator of Indigenous Australian children's literacy and numeracy outcomes. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(3), 730-746. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-23-00200
Here is the abstract
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to longitudinally investigate parent-reported children's speech and language in early childhood as an early indicator of Indigenous Australians' school-age educational outcomes.
Method:
Participants were 1,534 children from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) whose parents reported on expressive and receptive speech and language concern (SLC) at 3–5 years using the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status. A total of 467 children (30.4%) were identified as having SLC, of whom 308 had only expressive SLC, 65 had only receptive SLC, and 81 had both expressive and receptive SLC. Educational outcomes included (a) National Assessment Program–Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests (Grade 3, 8–9 years), (b) teacher-reported literacy and numeracy on the Academic Rating Scale (ARS; 8–9, 9–10 years), and (c) research officer–administered Progressive Achievement Tests in Reading (PAT-Reading; 6–7, 7–8, 8–9, 9–10 years) and Progressive Achievement Tests in Mathematics (PAT-Maths; 8–9, 9–10 years).
Results:
After controlling for covariates (child age, sex, having hearing problems, having a disability, speaking an Indigenous language, parent education, family life events, community socioeconomic status, and remoteness), SLC was associated with significantly lower scores on all NAPLAN subtests (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar, Numeracy), teacher-rated ARS for Language and Literacy (9–10 years), and PAT-Reading (6–7 years) and PAT-Maths (9–10 years). Subgroup comparisons indicated that children with both expressive and receptive SLC had the poorest outcomes on NAPLAN and ARS subtests.
Conclusion:
Parental reporting of Indigenous Australian children's SLC in early childhood is an important early indicator of education outcomes at school, indicating the importance of families throughout a child's trajectory of learning and development.
A/Prof Kathy Cologon is having Koffee with Kathy sessions to meet each of the Children's Voices Centre affiliates in her role as Associate Director. This morning I had a wonderful Koffee with Kathy session where we were able to update one another about all the work we have been doing for the CVC.
This evening Prof Elise Baker and I continued our work on the second edition of our book Children's Speech. This edition will be published by Oxford University Press. So much has happened since the first edition was published in 2017 - there is a lot to update.
At the Children's Voices Centre we have a number of research opportunities where CVC affiliates to collaborate. Dr Carolyn Gregoric is leading the analysis of the Children Draw Playing data presented at the ECV2024 conference and available online in the Children Draw Playing Global Online Galleries: https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/children-draw-playing/
We have four teams who are spending 20-30 minutes per drawing to answer 60+ questions to create the data for analysis. Today our team worked for 1.5 hours and analysed three drawings from the Mongolian dataset. We had rich discussions and were impressed by what the children could convey in their drawings.
Today was Charles Sturt University's Foundation Day. Each year staff are invited to come together for coffee and cupcakes. It is a great time to chat with key people
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| Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod, Professor Renée Leon (Vice Chancellor), Bruce Andrews (CSU Media), Professor Zahid Islam, (Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Business, Justice & Behavioural Sciences), and Dr Sharon Schoenmaker (Chief of Staff, Office of the Vice-Chancellor) |
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| Orange cupcakes |
This morning Cathie Matthews and I discussed her examiners' feedback for her Masters of Philosophy. She is close to finalising her thesis for resubmission. Congratulations Cathie.
This morning I enjoyed meeting with Prof Lynn Williams from East Tennessee State University (ETSU). She introduced me to her intern, Anna Hill, who will be applying for grad school soon. Anna has been working with Lynn on some of our current research projects.
Today Charles Sturt University launched the Asia Pacific Hub for the Community-Based Global Learning Collaborative.
We are working with Adam Lavelle from CSU to create an online course for the Speech Assessment of Children's Home Language(s) (SACHL)
https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-assessments/sachl
Today we spent time focusing on partners to head towards the SPRINT process in August.
Sustainable Development Goals - Speech Pathology Australia podcast
The Speech Pathology Australia Sustainable Development Goals podcast has been released: https://soundcloud.com/speechpathologyaustralia/rebroadcast-un-sustainable-development-goals-s7e19?si=cee835ba2d994b928d6381f9823712b8&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Resources:
I have had a wonderful week on leave with my young friends (aka members of our Australian advisory panel). As well as exploring the beach and playing games, one of our activities this week has been to complete the Children Draw Health activity for the Children's Voices Centre.
The children created pictures that answered the following questions:
Submissions and details here: https://csu.submittable.com/submit/b5678c57-814b-493e-8579-cc4ddc2df88c/children-draw-health
After 18 months our research project with OAMS has ended. This week we said farewell to Emily-Jane Woodhead as our amazing research assistant (0.4FTE) and wrapped up our research.
Throughout the project we purchased books and toys to use with the children during the research. Now we are able to donate them to OAMS for future children and families to use them. The books were donated to four Little Libraries as well as to some of the elders and families who participated.
This year, the Charles Sturt Foundation are profiling the Children's Voices Centre as a focus for philanthropic donations to advance research and deliver meaningful change across our communities. Page 27-28 of the 2024 Donor Impact Report provides details: https://issuu.com/csu4/docs/2024_donor_impact_report_-_charles_sturt_foundatio
Recently, the Children's Voices Centre received a $30K donation to support the development of The Treehouse as the site for the Children's Voices Centre. Justin Williams from CSU Advancement was instrumental in coordinating this. We are extremely grateful for this generous donation that has enabled us to make the building (1451 on the Bathurst campus) safe and fun for children, families, staff and visitors to the Children's Voices Centre.
We are now up to the fun part of building The Treehouse. The rug and lounge have arrived for our Billabong room.
Sarah Bartlett has been working hard running Hanen language groups with three groups of children and families in Sydney and the Central West. This week the data collection finishes. She has worked so well with the families - and it was a pleasure to discuss their gains during her PhD meeting today.
The day finally has arrived! We are so excited to welcome A/Prof Kathy Cologon as Associate Director and our colleague in the Children’s Voices Centre. We look forward to all of the wonderful things we will do together to make a difference in children’s lives around the world. Welcome!
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| Sharynne, Kathy, Tamara and Lorraine at The Treehouse |
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| The billabong rug arrived while Kathy was visiting The Treehouse this week |
Kate Margetson has worked with me 2 days a week for 18 months on her postdoc - which concludes now. Her postdoc was funded by a Commonwealth grant to the Rural Health Research Institute.
It has been a VERY productive time focusing on supporting speech-language pathologists to work with multilingual children in unfamiliar languages.
The end of Kate's postdoc coincided with the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) conference in Patras, Greece. Kate presented two papers from her PhD and postdoc and had so many opportunities to network and plan the next steps of her research journey.
It has been such a privilege to work with Kate and learn from her. I am glad she has a continuing position as a lecturer in the speech pathology course at Charles Sturt University so that we can continue to collaborate as colleagues.
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| Kate presenting work from her postdoc at ICPLA |
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| Kate and Sharynne in Corinth on the way home from ICPLA |
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| Helen Blake, Sharynne and Kate Margetson at the ICPLA conference dinner |
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| Kate Margetson discussed the SACHL with the President of the International Phonetics Association (IPA) |
While in Patras at the ICPLA conference, I was able to have a PhD meeting with Anneik van Doornik. Anniek is studying through Utrecht University, and I am her co-supervisor. She had done a huge amount of work - and will finish soon. Her presentation at ICPLA provided an excellent summary of her work. Here are her publications so far:
The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World edited by Charles Sturt University Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod presents a transformative approach to overcome traditional English- and Western-centric biases by respecting and acknowledging longstanding traditions of research, theories, and knowledge from a wide range of countries and cultures – including knowledge not previously translated into English. Languages spoken by First Nations people and traditionally marginalized groups are given equivalent status to majority languages, and the language maps, resources, and pronunciation guides have been created using a rights-based, social justice approach, acknowledging the impact of colonization.
This remarkable book was written by 173 authors from across the globe. It contains 1008 pages and 80 chapters covering 49 languages and 27 dialects with companion audio recordings of children and adults. A Charles Sturt YouTube channel presents a free summary of each chapter in English and the target language (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/multilingual-childrens-speech-development).
The Handbook was launched at the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) conference in Patras, Greece on Thursday 26th June 2025. The CSU authors in the book are: Prof Sharynne McLeod , Dr Helen L. Blake, Dr Suzanne C. Hopf, A/Prof Sarah Verdon, Dr Kate Margetson, Holly McAlister. CSU Adjunct staff authors are: A/Prof Kate Crowe, Dr Van H. Tran, A/Prof Ben Pham.
This volume presents a paradigm shift in the world’s knowledge about children’s speech development. Each of the chapters follows the same structure, facilitating comparison across languages and dialects. Researchers and students can identify relationships between common and unique elements of children’s speech to develop new theories and enhance understanding. Crucially, the curated data in the chapters can be used by communication specialists to collaborate with families and communities, in order to support children’s home language maintenance and speech development.
More information: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-speech-development-in-languages-of-the-world-9780192868862
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| Chapter authors presenting in our 3-hour seminar based on the book's content |
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| No one wanted to "eat the children" until we asked some children who were attending with their parents for permission! |
