Today I met with Claire Price who is undertaking her PhD at Southern Cross University with Prof Nat Munro, Prof Elise Baker, and Prof Pam Hadley to discuss using the Intelligibility in Context Scale in her research. Best wishes for your research Claire and team.
At the end of this month Dr Helen L. Blake and I will be visiting Ha Noi National University of Education in Vietnam. Today we had a meeting with A/Prof Ben Pham to discuss the visit. While we are in Vietnam we have a number of meetings and presentations. We will be presenting:
*Keynote address: Saturday
3rd
October
HNUE-Conference
Topic: Supporting speech, language and communication for children with disabilities in Vietnam
*Workshop on ethics on Friday, 2nd October, 2016
Topic: Ethical considerations in conducting research with children (2 hours including interpretation into Vietnamese)
Host: HNUE, Department of Science and Technology and HNUE ethics council
*Workshop on Monday, 5th October, 2026, 9:00AM-11:30AM and 14:00PM-16:30PM
Topic: Children’s speech assessment and intervention: What’s new? and What’s evidence?
Participants: special education teachers, SLPs and other related professionals
Host: Faculty of Special Education, School of Child Development Sciences-HNUE
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| Helen, Sharynne, Ben |
Today was the sixth meeting of Workstream 4 of the WHO Disability Health Equity Network.
Scheduling WHO meetings is difficult. Here are the timezones we each were meeting on:
We discussed the outcomes of each of the subcommittees to date. I am in subcommittee 3. We are focusing on research and evidence mobilization.
Today Dr Kate Margetson and I had a wonderful opportunity to learn from our colleague Prof Annette Fox-Boyer from Germany about her use of the Multilingual Children's Speech website and the SACHL. She mentioned that 40% of Germans now speak a language other than German - with common languages including Turkish, Polish, Arabic, Ukrainian, Russian, Farsi/Persian, Romanian. Thanks Annette for sharing your insights and wisdom.
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| Annette Fox-Boyer, Sharynne McLeod, Kate Margetson |
I just graduated from my 8 year cancer journey. Thank you Prof Fran Boyle, Prof Andrew Spillane, Prof Gillian Lamoray, my wonderful family and friends. I'm so glad to be alive.
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| My oncologist, Prof Fran Boyle celebrating my cancer graduation (and I'm wearing my PhD bonnet that was at hand for the photo) |
Today Helen Blake and I were able to meet with Dr. Karla N. Washington, Editor in Chief of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools to discuss papers in our clinical forum: Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The kangaroos have come onto campus for spring. We even had two hop by The Treehouse this week!
I am delighted that last week (4th September 2026) the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has voted to change their world map from the Mercator projection (created in 1569) to the Equal Earth projection aimed at "a more accurate representation" of the world: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168284
The UN Equal Earth projection is here: https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/map-world-1
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Equal Earth projection adopted by the United Nations |
Here is a map from my book showing the distribution of Afrikaans:
I have published 50 articles in American Speech-Language-Hearing Association journals. Here is a summary of these publications
https://pubs.asha.org/action/doSearch?ContribRaw=McLeod%2C+Sharynne
I am very proud that more than one quarter (28%) are with my students as first authors.
From Mike Cannon: Senior Director, Serial Publications and Editorial Services
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Dr. Sharynne McLeod is a Distinguished Professor of Speech and Language Acquisition at Charles Sturt University in Australia. She has received honors from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and served six times on the ASHA Convention Program Committee. She has served as an editorial board member for ASHA journals, was the lead author on articles that received ASHA Journals Editor’s Awards in 2018 and 2019, and has received worldwide acclaim for transformative research on communication rights.
Dr. McLeod has authored or co-authored 50 articles in ASHA journals, dating back to 1994. Together, these articles have amassed more than 2,800 citations and have been read more than 700,000 times. One article, "Children's English Consonant Acquisition in the United States: A Review," which she co-authored with Dr. Kathryn Crowe and published in American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP) in 2020, has recently surpassed 300,000 downloads, and "Children's Consonant Acquisition in 27 Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Review," co-authored with Dr. Kathryn Crowe and published in the November 2018 issue of AJSLP) surpassed the 200,000-download mark.
Here is my acceptance speech
I am so grateful to ASHA for the honour of receiving the Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications. This award has been previously won by people who have shaped my research and career including Larry Shriberg, Ray Kent, and Marc Fey. While most people who have won this award are from the United States, two of my Australian colleagues have also won this award in 2014: Mark Onslow and Ann Packman.
I’m proud to have published 50 articles in ASHA journals (so far…) including receiving ASHA Editor’s Awards – in JSLHR and AJSLP. I am honoured to have written these 50 papers with 110 different co-authors. My colleague, Kathryn (Kate) Crowe and I published two papers about children’s consonant acquisition that have had over half a million downloads influencing research, policy and practice around the world. Building research capacity is a focus of my work and 30% (15) of the papers have my PhD students as first authors. Other colleagues who have co-authored a number of ASHA journal articles include: Sarah Verdon, Elise Baker, Jane McCormack, Kate Margetson, Sarah Masso, Helen Blake, Suzanne Hopf, Ben Pham, Linda Harrison, Cen Wang, Van Tran, Nicole McGill, and Karla Washington. ASHA journals are such an important place to publish high quality evidence that can change children’s lives. They have a substantial global reach across North America and the entire world. Thank you for publishing our work and for this important recognition.
It was wonderful to host Felicity Laurence, my PhD student at The Treehouse in Bathurst this week. The kangaroos all came onto campus to meet with her. We were able to meet with Dr Audrey Wang, Dr Nicola Ivory, Emma Hayes and Emma Scanlon in person and Sarah Verdon online during the very productive week. Felicity also won a CSU cap during the student promotion of RUOK? day!
The Royal Society of NSW is voting on the following
At its 26 August 2026 meeting, the Council of the Royal Society of NSW considered changes to the Rules of the Society that will support the increased participation of, and engagement by, young people by broadening the category of Associate Membership and providing for an appointed Early Career Researcher member of the Council.
This week we have hosted the Children's Voices Conference 2026 (CVC2026) at The Treehouse and online: https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/2026/
CVC2026 Snapshot
Registrations
Presentations
CVC committees
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| CVC2026 conference launch with the Vice Chancellor and CVC staff and affiliates (Photo: Amy Whitfield) |
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| Some of our CVC staff and affiliates on the first morning of CVC2026 (Photo: Amy Whitfield) |
Statistics
Registrations
1434 registrations | 64 countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Ghana, UK, Greece, Hong Kong SAR China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macao, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, United States, Vietnam.
7 Keynotes
STREAM 1: Creating a more inclusive world for children: International interdisciplinary research https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/2026/
STREAM 2: Children Draw Health Global Online Galleries https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-health
200 children from 18 countries (including 101 from Mongolia!)
LAUNCH: Children Draw|Share|Create Belonging
Children and families came to launch this new research initiative that aligns with the theme of CVC2026
Yarning circles
THANK YOU
Charles Sturt University Sponsors
Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University Sponsors
Children's Voices Centre staff, affiliates, adjuncts, HDRs
Conference Co-Chairs
Conference Secretary
Conference Administrator
Digital Media Curator
Organisation Committee
Children’s Voices Committee
Scientific Review Committee
Publications Committee
Promotion/Social Media Committee
Participant Network and Fun Committee
Professional Recognition Committee
CVC 2026 Facebook group to keep the discussion going!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/240093224084969
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| CVC staff and affiliates outside The Treehouse |
Today for our CVC2026 face-to-face workshop, our CVC Visiting Scholar led a workshop titled:
Sticks and stones, flowers and gnomes: Generative listening and the art of provocation
Dr Zinnia Mevawalla, University of Strathclyde, UK
We not only learned about generative listening - but also practiced listening to one another using a range of artifacts as provocation. It was a valuable session. Thank you Zinnia.
CVC affiliates gathered at the Kangaroo Walk behind CSU to spend an hour acknowledging the traditional custodians and Wiradjuri land as the first event of CVC2026. Over 100 local kangaroos were there to greet us.
CVC2026 starts tomorrow. Many of our CVC affiliates travelled to Bathurst to participate in the conference face-to-face (one travelled over 1200 kms!).
Today (Monday 31st August) we met for afternoon tea, a celebration of CVC books, a tour of the campus, then dinner together in The Treehouse.
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| Carolyn, Kate F, and Helen in The Beehive |
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| Dr Carolyn Gregoric at The Treehouse |
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| Afternoon tea at The Treehouse |
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| CVC book celebration |
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| Dinner at The Treehouse |
To begin the Children's Voices Conference 2026 (CVC2026) live events, CVC hosted a Children's Voices Centre Book Celebration to celebrate books, edited books and special issues by CVC authors.
What a feast!
CVC EDITED BOOKS
CVC SPECIAL ISSUES
Our Children's Advisory Group is so creative!
Theme: Creating a more inclusive world for children
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to answer these 6 impossible questions. Each one comes with its own challenges, and your answers will all come together to make an amazing video! Remember, the fate of this children’s advisory group contribution to the CVC2026 conference is in your hands!
The answers will be recorded on the top tier spy cameras (the ones that are built into your parent’s smart phones) in a landscape format (parents, please film the videos horizontally not vertically). It will then be sent to mission control (my house), where it will be thoroughly analysed and compiled into a spectacular collaborative video message before the big day arrives!
Here are your 6 impossible tasks:
• What is your name, what country are you on, and one thing about you?
• What does creating a more inclusive world for children mean?
• When do you feel included?
• What makes you feel like you are not included?
• What have you/others done in the past to make people feel included?
• What do you think children/grown-ups need to do to make sure everyone is included?
• Why does it matter to you to be part of the children’s advisory group and to contribute to informing the work of the government in Australia and the work of governments and organisations around the world (like the World Health Organization and the United Nations)?
These answers are due by the 18th of August 2026 (18/8/26), please send them to xxx
Written and not illustrated by Super-secret-spy McInconspicuousFace (xxx).
I am so excited to welcome back Dr Audrey (Cen) Wang to work with me for 2 days/week as a statistician on our Catholic Education Tasmania research grant. Audrey has published so many important papers with our team. It will be wonderful to work with her again.
I enjoy my mentoring conversations. Today Prof Jillian Marsh and I discussed many interesting issues.
