Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Speech Pathology Conference

I presented a 2-day workshop at the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Speech Pathology Conference held at LaTrobe University, Melbourne on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st September, 2010. There were 80 participants who worked in schools across Victoria. Here is the abstract:

Speech impairment in childhood is a high prevalence condition and can have a significant impact into adulthood. This 2-day workshop will provide an update about speech production, assessment, intervention, and evidence-based practice. The workshop will include a summary of the world’s research on the prevalence of childhood speech impairment and a comparison of this prevalence with other areas of learning need in childhood. The impact of childhood speech impairment will be examined from the perspectives of children, their siblings, parents, speech pathologists, and teachers. The workshops will also provide an overview of over 250 studies of speech acquisition in 24 languages (including English).

Sharynne with conference organizers
Kim Murrie and Leanne Pollock

Conversing with the world

Avril Nicoll, editor of Speech and Language Therapy in Practice has written an article about my Future Fellowship travels during 2010. Speech and Language Therapy in Practice is a UK-based publication for speech and language therapists:
Read the article

She has also written a blog entry about my workshop in Bristol:
Read Avril's blog entry

Experiencing language through the eyes of an outsider

One important aspect of my recent travels has been to put myself into the shoes of people who move to Australia who do not speak English. Bill Bryson’s quote below sums up some of my own feelings of bewilderment and joy.

“When I told friends in London that I was going to travel around Europe and write a book about it, they said. “Oh, you must speak a lot of languages.”

“Why no,” I would reply with a certain pride, “only English,” and they would look at me as if I was foolish or crazy. But that’s the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don’t want to know what people are talking about. I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” (Bryson, 1992, p. 36)

Bryson, B. (1992). Neither here nor there: Travels in Europe. New York: HarperCollins.

Speech assessment and intervention using electropalatography

From 7-10 September I have been in Edinburgh at Queen Margaret University working with Sara Wood and Bill Hardcastle. We have been writing our book titled: Electropalatography for Speech Assessment and Intervention which will be published by Psychology Press, New York. It has been a great honour to work with these knowledgeable people. It has also been wonderful to discuss this and other projects with the other staff at QM.

Sara Wood, Bill Hardcastle, and Sharynne

Visiting Stockholm

I visited Stockholm from 4-6 September to learn more about Swedish and to meet with the editorial staff of informahealthcare, who publish the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Sharynne, and informa staff Jane Webb, Therese Franzén,
Håkan Pårup, and Sofie Wennstrom

Revisiting Speech and Language Therapy Reseach Unit, Bristol

Between 30 August and 3rd September I revisited the Speech and Language Therapy Reseach Unit, Bristol to continue working with colleagues including Professor Sue Roulstone, Dr Yvonne Wren and Helen Hambly on journal articles, a grant and a book. On my last day we had lunch with Professor Jeanine Treffers-Daller and Dr Selma Babayigit from the University of West of England to discuss mulitilingualism and child development.