Week 4 of CeTasSSD

Week 4 of our CeTasSSD data collection has included Easter and time for checking our data.

So far 

• we have assessed students from 30 of the 32 schools across Tasmania so far
• we have consent from 867 of 1203 parents 
• we have commenced assessments for 680 students (187 to assess)
• 669 children gave assent (11 children did not give assent to undertake the assessment)
• we have completed 668 speech assessments using the Intelligibility in Context Scale 
• we have learned how children feel about their speech from 667 students using a question from the SPAA-C 

We have just over 1 more week of data collection - so look forward to learning more from the students this week and next. 

 

Our Italian book has arrived

Our chapter, written in Italian has arrived - it is an honour to be in this important book that has been created for the 

Margetson, K., McLeod, S., & Blake, H. L. (2025). Gli Speech Sound Disorders nei bambini plurilingue [Speech sound disorders in multilingual children]. In S. Piazzalunga, R. Salvadorini, N. Pizzorni, F. Todaro, & A. Schindler (Eds.). Speech sound disorders: Evidenze scientifiche e buone prassi riabilitative [Scientific evidence and best rehabilitative practices] (pp. 415-432). Erickson University & Research. https://www.erickson.it/it/speech-sound-disorders

Technical Expert Group for WHO Global Health Policy and Systems Research Agenda on Disability Health Equity (2026 - 2030)

I am one of 25 people across the world who have been selected by the World Health Organization to be a member of the Technical Expert Group for WHO Global Health Policy and Systems Research Agenda on Disability Health Equity (2026 - 2030). What an honour.

Objectives of the Global Research Agenda
Overall Goal: The WHO Global Research Agenda will guide research that generates the evidence policymakers need to reduce health inequities experienced by persons with disabilities.  

1. Define the key knowledge gaps and research areas for evidence generation on health equity for persons with disabilities at a global level over the next five years (from 2026 – 2030).
2. Strengthen knowledge production for evidence-informed policies, plans and practices relating to disability inclusion in health systems strengthening and primary health care.
3. Build research capacity on health equity for persons with disabilities by creating a framework for research priorities to be applied and further contextualized at the regional and national levels.

Background

Persons with disabilities – an estimated 16% of the global population – experience health inequities, as they die up to 20 years earlier and have poorer health compared to persons without disabilities, due to unjust or unfair conditions at all levels of health systems and society. The WHO Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities calls on policymakers to take action on disability inclusion in health systems strengthening efforts at country level, including by establishing national agendas for health policy and systems research.i
Health policy and systems research seeks “to understand and improve how societies organize themselves in achieving collective health goals, and how different actors interact in the policy and implementation processes to contribute to policy outcomes”.ii Health policy and systems research on disability health equity would explore a wide range of system-level questions − from financing to governance, through to issues surrounding the implementation of services and delivery of care, to the role of social determinants of health and the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders across sectors. Such research is crucial for policymakers to make informed decisions about which actions will contribute to the realization of universal health coverage (UHC), and to the smooth coordination between sectors, when advancing health equity for persons with disabilities.iii
There is currently no global health policy and system research agenda on health equity for persons with disabilities, but there is a growing need and demand for such a resource and approach. The World Health Assembly Resolution 74.8 on the “Highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities” requested WHO to support Member States with "the creation of a global research agenda that aligns with UHC, health emergencies and health and well-being, including health systems and policy research”.iv

United Nations presentation: Congratulations A/Prof Kathy Cologon and Tim Cologon

The Children's Voices Centre is so proud to have supported our associate director A/Prof Kathy Cologon to present at the United Nations in New York with her co-researcher Tim Cologon.

They were invited to present at World Down Syndrome Day. Their presentation was powerful - describing their research with children who experience disability - and their insights about belonging.

They have just returned to Australia and it has been wonderful to hear about their impact, experiences and all of the people they met. Congratulations.

Thank you Tasmania

I have had a lovely time in Tasmania meeting a LOT of 4 year olds, teaching assistants (TAs), school support coordinators (SSC), teachers, principals, speech pathologists and others - as well as experiencing the food, history, and scenery of the island. Thanks Felicity and Lisa and CET and Tassie.

Week 3 of the Tasmanian Kinder Speech Census begins

 At the beginning of week 3 of our Tasmanian Kinder Speech Census we have:

• 32 schools
• 1,203 Kinder students
• 889 parent consent forms returned 
• LOTS of children who have assented to participating in our research and who have told us how they feel about their speech 
• LOTS of children assessed using the International Speech Screener (ISS). I personally have assessed 208 children so far :)
• 63 control children assessed with the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP)

Another day face-to-face with Kinder students in CET schools

The rest of the week I have been assessing the students and undertaking data analysis via Zoom because I am no longer in Tasmania. 

Enjoying research with rural Tasmanian children during week 2 of the CET speech census

On Thursday and Friday this week I have traveled to rural locations to undertake research with 4- and 5-year-old children in Catholic Education Tasmania schools for our CET speech census. 

 The children have been great - and the staff have been welcoming, resourceful, knowledgeable and supportive. I have learned a lot, and understand more about schools and children's speech - as well as how to create the best processes for screening children's speech across CET in 2027. 

 

Rural locations know how to be welcoming. Thanks for the unexpected latte that arrived mid morning and your enthusiasm about our treehouse poster! https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/learning-english-consonants

 This is the end of week 2 of screening.  Felicity, Lisa, Sarah, Helen, Ally, Emma and myself have been working with children in schools (either in person or via Zoom). We have met a lot of children - but still have more to go. Next week we will continue :) 

Catholic Education Tasmania workshop: Speech Difficulties in EALD Leamers: The role of speech pathology

Today I presented a workshop run by Catholic Education Tasmania titled "Speech Difficulties in EALD Leamers: The role of speech pathology"  (11am - 5pm). It was wonderful to share our research and the rich and informative resources that we have made available on the Multilingual Children's Speech website to speech pathologists from across Tasmania. The food was delicious too!

WHO Workstream 4 meeting

This morning - before presenting workshops at Catholic Education Tasmania - I attended (online) the Workstream 4 meeting for the World Health Organization Disability Health Equity Network. This meeting was to finalise the workplan and who will work wtihin each domain.

There are four domains of this Workstream 4: 

1. Awareness 
2. Data Indicators 
3. Research and Evidence 
4. Resource Mobilization

I will be working on the Research and Evidence domain:

Objective 1: Support the dissemination of existing research, evidence, and resources on approaches to monitor and examine disability health equity. 

Actions: 

• Promote relevant and emerging disability health equity research, including the development of standardized approaches for translating research findings into accessible, plain language materials for public, community, and social media dissemination.
• Support or lead special issues in scientific journals on disability health equity research.
• Develop an editorial or a position paper on the importance of implementation research to improve disability health equity.
• Host events, panels, and discussions on disability health equity research at conferences and research forums.

Objective 2: Advocate for disability-inclusive research that advances health equity for persons with disabilities.

Actions: 

• Promote WHO Global Research Agenda on disability health equity.
• Advocate for scientific journals to promote disability inclusive research approaches (e.g., support special issues on disability health equity research, uptake of a checklist on disability inclusive research, inclusion of people with disabilities on editorial boards, reviewers, and  research in general).
• Advocate for the inclusion of persons with disabilities as participants in health research.
• Support disability health equity research collaborations between members across the network (e.g. establishing links between research institutions in the global north-south)

Meeting with Catholic Education Tasmania's executive leadership team

Yesterday afternoon I had the honour of visiting Catholic Education Tasmania's head office to share the updates from our collaborative research grant - and the importance of listening to parents' concerns to provide appropriate support for children's communication. Felicity Laurence, Lisa Johnson and I met for over an hour with Dr Terry McCarthy, Interim Executive Director of Catholic Education Tasmania and Matt Jones, Deputy Executive Director: School Services Catholic Education Tasmania.

Felicity Laurence (CET), Dr Terry McCarthy, and Sharynne 

Sharynne, Felicity, Lisa and Matt Jones

 

Assessing children's speech in Tasmania

I am in Tasmania this week to assess children's speech across the state as part of our research grant with Catholic Education Tasmania. It is wonderful to visit schools with Felicity Laurence and Lisa Johnson.

This is a really important study. One of the speech assistants aptly named this phase of the research the "CET speech census".

We currently have 785 consent forms and ICS data through Qualitrix. 

Some of the unique experiences from this week:

• Monday and Tuesday - Assessing 53 children across 4 different schools using the International Speech Screen (and some with the DEAP Screener) 
• A baby deer was shown to the children in the classroom we were visiting (very tiny and cute!)
• One child came three times to be assessed (he took his sticker off so we didn't remember he had been assessed before)
• Our treehouse speech sound poster (McLeod & Crowe, 2018) was on the speech room wall at one of the schools
• Tuesday - Negotiating the rain as we walked with children from their classrooms to the allocated research space
• Undertaking research in an art room 
• Enthusiastic children wanting it to be their turn :) 

Sharynne and Felicity ready for a day with Kinder children in Hobart

Sharynne  and Kate's treehouse poster was on the wall in the speech room at a school!

Sharynne and Lisa in the rain

Sharynne  and Lisa about to meet the next group of 4-year-olds

We also met with the private speech pathologists who assess CET children as part of the research on Wednesday morning 

Meeting with Department of Education today

Today I was with a co-hort of universities across NSW  meeting with Claire Britt and others from the NSW Department of Education. We were discussing future research possibilities to support children in early childhood education and care in NSW.

Here are some public statistics that they shared about the NSW Department of Education:

• 1.2 million + learners in early childhood, public schools and training
• 94,000+ teaching staff
• 47,000+ school-based support staff
• 2,200+ principals and schools
• 6,000+ early childhood education and care services 

 

Vice Chancellor visits The Treehouse

Today the Vice Chancellor visited the Children’s Voices Centre for an hour. What an honour to show her The Treehouse and to discuss our CVC successes and plans. We were thrilled to demonstrate our commitment to building the capacity of CSU's researchers and to undertaking research with children to change children's lives in the regions and across the world. 

Vice Chancellor Renée Léon, Director Sharynne McLeod, Associate Director Tamara Cumming, Associate Director Kathy Cologon (online), Senior Administration Officer Emma Hayes, Carly Evans from CSU Advancement (online)

Children's Voices Conference (CVC2026) team meeting

It is so wonderful to have Emma Hayes working with us as a member of our Children's Voices Conference (CVC2026) team. Today we had our first CVC2026 organising committee team meeting with Emma. 

We also learned that even though we only have been online for a couple of weeks, we already have:

• 137 registrations from 23 countries
• 7 abstracts submitted
• 4 accepted keynotes 

CSU media and social media have contacted us. 

Thanks Carolyn for leading us so well as our conference secretary. 

 

Bathurst speech pathologists' dinner

 It is always such fun to meet with my local Bathurst speech pathologists. Last night we met for dinner at a local restaurant.

 

It was lovely to 

• meet new graduate speech pathologists who have moved to Bathurst from studying at Australian Catholic University
• reconnect with members of the Waiting for Speech Pathology NSW Translational Research Grant team: Emily Davis, Sally Thornton (Dubbo) and Angela Roberts
• meet new babies
• say hello to many friends and hear about what they are doing. 

Waiting for Speech Pathology team: Sharynne, Emily Davis, Sally Thornton, Angela Roberts 

Here are some of the things we created as part of the Waiting for Speech Pathology NSW Translational Research Grant:

Website: https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/wnswlhd/services/speech-pathology

McLeod, S., Davis, E., Rohr, K., McGill, N., Miller, K., Roberts, A., Thornton, S., Ahio, N., & Ivory, N. (2020). Waiting for speech-language pathology services: A randomised controlled trial comparing therapy, advice and device. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22(3), 372–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2020.1731600 

Sharynne  and Emily Davis

Bathurst speech pathologists (verbal permission was given to include everyone including babies on my blog)

 

CeTasSSD data collection has begun

The day has finally come that we have begun the research with 1,200 Kinder children in Tasmania. We are using the Australian English version of the International Speech Screener (ISS) and a question from the SPAA-C.  Ally Bennett, Emma Scanlon and I assessed 24 children across 2 schools on the first day (Monday) - which is 2% of the research population. The children and staff were excellent. We have a fun few weeks ahead. Thanks everyone.

Tuesday update - we now have signed consent from 733/1203 (60.93%) students. I assessed another 12 students. Ally and Emma assessed more. 

Thursday update - 166 children had been assessed

Helen Blake, Ally Barrett, Sharynne, Felicity Laurence, Lisa Johnson

Sharynne  with Emma Scanlon after transcription reliability checking

Emma and Ally online

 

Children Draw Talking and Playing

Today Cyrena Hunt-Madden and I began the analysis of data to consider what children say about their talking while they are playing. This child was interesting. He said he was "Not talking. Just playing".

Welcome to CVC Emma Hayes

Today Emma Hayes began working with the Children's Voices Centre as the administrator for the Children's Voices Conference (CVC2026). It was as though she had been working with us for a long time. Welcome Emma! We are so thrilled to have you working with us. 

 

Our new SAO (senior administration officer)!