Speechwoman site of the month award

Dr Caroline Bowen awarded this blog the Speechwoman Site of the Month Award for September, 2011.

July - September 2011 - Summary

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL FUTURE FELLOWSHIPUPDATE

‘Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia’
Written by Kim Woodland, Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education for the September 2011 RIPPLE Update

Since the last Update, Sharynne has continued researching, collaborating, and presenting her work into international speech acquisition. Dr Elise Baker from the University of Sydney visited Sharynne in Bathurst during early June to work on their co-authored book Children’s Speech. In late June, Sharynne travelled to Darwin to present at the 2011 national conference of Speech Pathology Australia, where she co-presented three papers. During July, she presented and co-presented papers on linguistic diversity and school outcomes for children with communication impairment at a two-day early childhood research workshop in Bathurst.

Later in July, Sharynne travelled to Canada for a range of events, presentations, and meetings. In Montréal (Quebec, Canada), she visited Isabelle Simard’s multilingual speech-language pathology clinic (where assessments and interventions are provided in many languages), met with academics from McGill University and the University of Montréal, and finalised and submitted a book—‘Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs’—with co-author Professor Sue Roulstone. From 19 to 23 July, Sharynne attended the 12th meeting of the International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL) at the Université du Québec à Montréal, where she presented a poster on linguistic diversity in Australian children. Ontario, Canada, was the next stop, to visit the University of Western Ontario, and then on to Toronto to present an invited seminar at the Bloorview Research Institute. A seminar presentation at the University of British Columbia, and a visit to a First Nations community concluded Sharynne’s Canadian research visit.

Research retreat in Sydney

The first 3 days in September were spent in Sydney with Prof Lynn Williams (East Tennessee State University) and Dr Elise Baker (University of Sydney). We have worked together for many years, with our collaborative and independent research endeavours focussing on children with speech sound disorders. Our time together was very productive. Following on from the publication of Interventions for Children with Speech Sound Disorders (Paul H. Brookes), we initiated an analysis of the ingredients of intervention for children with speech sound disorders and have planned some future publications. During our time, we met with two of my research and higher degree students Rebekah Lockart and Kate Crowe. We discussed their research, and also were treated with an expanded explanation of the multiple oppositions intervention approach from Lynn.

Sharynne, Prof Lynn Williams and Dr Elise Baker

Sharynne, Rebekah Lockart, Lynn Williams, Kate Crowe, Elise Baker

CSU Faculty of Education Forum

The end of August saw over 100 staff from the CSU Faculty of Education come together for the Faculty Forum. Topics of discussion included teaching, research, and the national and university climate. It was wonderful to see colleagues from all of the different campuses (Albury, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, and Toronto, Canada - who beamed in via video conference)

Children who are refugees and asylum seekers in Australia

On 27-28 August I had the opportunity to hear Dr Sev Ozdowski, former Human Rights Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner who was speaking in Bathurst. He was the author of the report titled: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention: A Last Resort? His report juxtaposes the Australian government's policies with the realities of children who are asylum seekers and refugees. It includes chapters on children with disabilities and the education of children in detention. Dr Ozdowski indiciated that although Australia is a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Australia has not implemented relevant domestic legislation and doesn't have a Bill of Rights. He discussed how the average time in detention is over 300 days, and one child was in detention for over 5 years, then was told that there had been a mistake and the child was released. In his report, he described the long-term impact on the mental health of adults and children in detention, and the impact of children's loss of educational opportunities on their lives.