We are so fortunate to have an amazing communication precinct and TV studio at CSU in Bathurst:
https://arts-ed.csu.edu.au/schools/information-communication-studies/communication-precinct
CVC features in this video (at the end):
https://media-studio.csu.edu.au/w/roej6wGkA9R?key=bab6dec7e6a9559990657cbf70b47c0a
Congratulations to A/Prof Brendon Hyndman whose TEDx talk Reimagining Schools for Belonging has now gone live. His message connects strongly with children’s voices, agency, belonging and their experiences in school environments. He stated that students want a place for: doing, thinking, feeling, and being. When these places are created he has seen teamwork, belonging, wellbeing, when those needs are ignored he has seen bullying and disconnection. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcgnwa25xr0
The International Day of People with Disability is held on 3rd December each year. Santiago Velasquez was selected for the 2025 ambassadorship program run by the Australian Government's Department of Social Services
"Santiago Velasquez Hurtado is the CEO and founder of two companies, and an accomplished innovator and designer. Santiago utilises his lived experience and degree in electrical engineering to invent solutions to make the world more accessible. As a UN panellist, Churchill Fellow and TedX speaker, he is determined to change the way the world perceives people with disability."
We have loved having Camilla Porsanger and family visiting the Children's Voices Centre over the past few months. Camilla is undertaking her PhD through Nord University in Norway focusing on Sami children's language learning. We have learned so much from Camilla and her family and will miss them. We look forward to ongoing collaborations.
Our latest edited book, "Multilingual Aspects of Children's Speech Sounds (2nd edition)" is almost ready to submit to Multilingual Matters. The book is edited by Helen Blake, Kate Margetson, Brian Goldstein and myself. It contains 32 chapters written by authors from across the world. We met with Brian and some of the authors in Washington DC at the ASHA convention last week - then with Kate in Australia today. We have benefited from the excellent copy editing from Mark Filmer at CSU. Nearly finished.
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| Helen, Sharynne and Kate - 2 December |
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| Sharynne, Brian, Christina Gildersleeve-Neumann (chapter author) and Helen in Washington DC - 21 November |
The Sound Effects Study Drawing Protocol is now online
https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-assessments/
The Children's Voices Centre has worked with children to create a number of submissions:
Our Children's Voices Centre has collaborated to write another paper based on the informative Children Draw Talking data set - and it has just been accepted for publication. Hooray!
Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., Davies, J. (2025, in press November). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102
Here is the abstract:
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015) represent a global agenda for achieving a sustainable future for people and the planet to inform decision and policy making at all levels. Children should have a significant voice in shaping the world they will inherit; indeed, SDG 17 is focussed on partnership for the goals. The aim of the present study was to investigate which SDGs are depicted in children’s drawings of themselves talking to provide researchers and policy makers insights into their perceptions about, and solutions for, the SDGs. The Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-voices) included 200 drawings from children from 24 countries. Children aged 2–12 years responded to the online prompt “draw yourself talking” and submitted their drawing and explanation. A 15-member interdisciplinary research team analysed the drawings to determine their alignment with the seventeen SDGs. Most of the 200 drawings (n = 191, 95.5%) could be coded with at least one SDG. Overall, there were 359 representations of SDGs coded across the data set of 200 drawings. Many children highlighted access to green public spaces and housing (SDG11), education (SDG 4), and decision-making (SDG 16) while others portrayed reducing inequality (SDG 10) and addressing poverty (SDG 1). This research demonstrated that children may be implicitly aware of factors related to the Sustainable Development Goals across their lives and provides an exemplar of how children’s voices could be included by inviting them to contribute drawings.
It is an honour to have our research included in the CSU Research Showcase for November 2025
https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/4517562/The-research-showcase_November25.pdf
Giitu (thank you) Camilla Porsanger for your excellent presentation to the students in the School of
Indigenous Australian Studies (SIAS) organised by Sharnie Hurford. Camilla is a visiting scholar in the Children's Voices Centre and SIAS - we have learned so much from her.
It is such a joy to return to the Children's Voices Centre and The Treehouse after two weeks of travel to WHO in Geneva and ASHA in Washington DC. What a welcoming place. Our team has been so productive during November - and we have enjoyed catching up on the exciting happenings.
It was a pleasure to have Matt Stapleton visit CVC this week. Matt has collaborated with colleagues at CSU on an ARC project Babies in Groups and his work is centred on infants’ groups, communication, belonging and participation, and how research sits alongside day-to-day practice in his two early childhood education and care services in NSW. We look forward to ongoing conversations and collaborations.
Here are some of his publications:
Stapleton, M., Bradley, B. S. & Selby, J. (2025). Adopting a Group-Based Approach to Infant Sociability, Peer Relations and Wellbeing. In G. Quinones, A. Delaune (Eds.). Wellbeing for Infants and Toddlers in Education and Care. Springer.
Bradley, B. S., Selby, J., & Stapleton, M. (2024). Babies in Groups: Expanding Imaginations. Oxford University Press.
It is hard to get research grants - there is limited funding and lots of amazing ideas being generated across the world. We have been working hard to submit a number of grants over the past year - including in the past two weeks. I hope that some of our grants that are currently in submission are funded - we have capacity to change practices that impact children across the world.
Today I learned that one large collaborative grant that I submitted with colleagues at universities across Australia was not funded in the ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2026 announcement yesterday. https://www.arc.gov.au/news-publications/media/network-messages/announcement-grants-linkage-infrastructure-equipment-and-facilities-2026 What a shame it was a good project bringing amazing minds together to do good work. Congratulations to the teams working on the important projects that were funded.
Our Children Draw Health global online gallery is now an exhibit at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
https://bathurstart.com.au/exhibitions-events/cvc-children-draw-health/
A/Prof Tamara Cumming spoke about our artwork at the BRAG launch last night
Here is the information from BRAG about the exhibition
BRAG presents Children Draw Health by the Children's Voices Centre on the OUT THERE Digital Platforms | Forecourt Projector.
The Children’s Voices Centre is a Charles Sturt University Research Centre that conducts world-leading, transformative interdisciplinary research with, for and about children. It creates opportunities for all children to express their perspectives, share their knowledge, and be listened to with respect and action.
The Children Draw Health project invited children from across the world to draw or create a picture of their perspectives about health and healthcare, then answer a few quick questions to describe their creation. 126 drawings by children from 18 countries (Australia, Botswana, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Kenya, Malta, Netherlands, Rwanda, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States) were received in response to the prompts: What makes you healthy? Who helps you be healthy? Where do you go to get healthier? What would your ideal hospital or health service look like?
In 2025 the Children’s Voices Centre presented this research at the 76th Session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western Pacific (RCM76) in Nadi, Fiji.
At BRAG, Children Draw Health will be visible after dark in the Gallery/Library Forecourt, showcasing the incredible drawings and responses by children from Bathurst and the world until 25 January 2026.
In amongst all of the business in Bathurst and across the world for CVC staff members - we have also submitted grants to (hopefully) work on a new exciting project promoting the voices of unheard children. Thanks especially to A/Prof Tamara Cumming and A/Prof Kathy Cologon and the support from the CSU grants office. Fingers crossed.
A colleague at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention alerted me to the fact that our team has had THREE papers published in the latest issue of ASHA's Q1 journal - Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. Congratulations CVC team!
McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Davies, J., Dealtry, L., Delli-Pizzi, L., Downey, B., Elwick, S., Hopf, S. C., Ivory, N., McAlister, H., Murray, E., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Tran, V. H., & Zischke, C. (2025). Children Draw Talking Around the World. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1088-1109. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-23-00190
Margetson, K., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2025). Cross-Linguistic Transfer in Vietnamese–English Speech. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1192-1216. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-25-00046
Doornik, A. v., Franken, M.-C., McLeod, S., Terband, H., & Gerrits, E. (2025). Children's, Parents', and Experts' Perception of Speech and Communication. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1042-1053. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-24-00140
From Regional Roots to Global Impact: Kids Interview UN Changemaker David Ohana
The CSU Advancement Office worked with the Children's Voices Centre (CVC) to create an online event to celebrate World Children’s Day on 20 November. The event profiled CSU alumnus David Ohana, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, United Nations Foundation as a guest speaker https://unfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-people/david-ohana/
WOW! The children's questions were so enlightening - and David's stories were so inspiring. Congratulations to A/Prof Kathy Cologon and A/Prof Tamara Cumming who organised the event. I was in Washington DC - so watched online...
Join us this World Children’s Day for an inspiring free online event celebrating the power of children’s voices. Hosted by the Children’s Voices Centre, this free event features Charles Sturt alumnus David Ohana, now Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at the United Nations
Foundation (based in Washington DC), with a panel of curious young interviewers. In a playful reversal of roles the children will lead the discussion, asking David about his journey from
regional Australia to the global stage, his work in international advocacy, and what it means to create real change for young people around the world. Alongside this conversation, the Children’s Voices Centre will share stories from their inspiring, child-led research projects and their vision for a future where every child is heard, valued, and supported to thrive. Join us in celebrating the voices that shape tomorrow, because when children are heard, the world changes for the better.
Date: Thursday 20 November 2025
Time: 10.00am - 11.00am AEDT
Where: Online via Zoom.
Cost: Free (donations to the Children’s Voices
Centre Little Library Project welcomed).
If you are unable to attend the livestream, we encourage you to register regardless. A recording of the event will be sent to all registered participants. From regional roots to global impact: Kids Interview UN Changemaker David Ohana
This week Dr Helen Blake and I are attending and presenting at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention in Washington DC. This year ASHA is celebrating its centenary - 100 years.
Here are our presentations:
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| Culturally Appropriate Assessment of Multilingual Children in International Contexts - Helen L. Blake, Sharynne McLeod, Krisztina Zjado |
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| Culturally Appropriate Assessment of Multilingual Children in International Contexts |
ASHA is always a time of catching up with friends and colleagues from across the world - and making new friends and colleagues.
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| Sharynne McLeod, Gregg Lof, Rhea Paul |
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| Sharynne McLeod, Rebecca McCauley, Lynn Williams |
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| Helen Blake and Sharynne McLeod on day 1 |
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| Prof Karla Washington, Sharynne McLeod, Nicole Bazzocchi, Helen Blake |
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| Current and Past ASHA staff: Brooke Hallowell, Vicki Deal-Williams (ASHA CEO) Lynn Williams, Arlene Pietrantron, Sharynne McLeod |
This morning Dr Helen Blake, Bob McKinney, and I went with our family members to visit the Planet Word Museum https://planetwordmuseum.org/. What an amazing place for people who love words. Three floors of extremely creative and interactive exhibits that feature words. Even the lockers and bathrooms featured words in many languages. We could have stayed all day.
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| International Phonetic Alphabet for the numbers of the lockers - written in world languages |
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| Shelley Velleman (US), Eddie Wong (Hong Kong) Helen Blake (CSU), Sharynne McLeod (CSU), Bob McKinney (US) |
A/Prof Tamara Cumming and A/Prof Kathy Cologon have been advocating for early childhood workforce policy recently, with a number of radio interviews based on the CSU media release:
