February 29, 2012

2012 Research Higher Degree Students

I am very fortunate to work with wonderful, dedicated and enthusiastic research higher degree students. During 2012 I will be working with the following students:
Kate Crowe (PhD) 
Topic: Multilingual children with hearing loss: Communication choices and outcomes 
Sarah Verdon (PhD) 
Topic: Quality services for supporting young multilingual children with speech and language disorders
Jacqui Barr (PhD)
Topic: “I’m not like most other kids”: Sibling experiences of disability and implications for education 
Hannah Wilkin (BEd Honours) 
Topic: Talking about talking: Children's insights
Nicole Limbrick (BHlthSc Honours) 
Topic: Designs and decisions: The creation and use of informal criterion-referenced measures for assessing children’s speech 
PhD students: Jacqui Barr, Kate Crowe, Sarah Verdon with Sharynne


February 25, 2012

Just published: Multilingual Aspects of Speech Sound Disorders in Children

Multilingual Aspects of Speech Sound Disorders in Children has just been published by Multilingual Matters in the UK. Details about the book can be found here on my blog, and here on the publishers' website (including a preview of pages from the book). Once it arrived Brian and I took these photos of ourselves holding the book in the Northern Hemisphere winter and Southern Hemisphere summer to show what a global book it really is.
Brian in the northern hemisphere


Sharynne in the southern hemisphere

February 21, 2012

Listening to children talking about talking

One of our participants showing off his work
Over the past weeks Hannah Wilkin (primary education student), Elissa Shand (speech pathology student) and I have been visiting children in preschools. We have been talking to typically developing 4- to 5-year-old children about talking... and we are learning a lot. We will make comparisons between these current data, and data from the Sound Effects Study (where we talked to children who had speech impairment). Additionally, as part of establishing the children's speech and language skill level, we have been piloting the usefulness of the English version of the International Speech Assessment with another validated assessment tool. Thank you children for teaching us a lot about talking!
Sharynne, Elissa and Hannah with some of the children's drawings

February 19, 2012

Babycam enables us to consider infants' lives while at childcare

Baby's view (image from Press et al., 2011)
Observer's view (image from Press et al., 2011)
For the past few years, I have been fortunate to work with a group of colleagues in early childcare education and psychology on an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to consider what is life like for babies in childcare. Over the course of the project we developed/used a number of innovative techniques to attempt to get a baby's eye-view on their world. One of these techniques was "babycam" where we placed a lipstick sized camera on a headband/hat worn by the babies. We spent a long time developing this technique (e.g., the smaller sized cameras were too hot).

We have just completed the project where we collected longitudinal and cross-sectional data with babies in long daycare centers and family day care homes. The media has spent the past weekend reporting stories that have come from the project about the competency of these infants in the ways that they relate to one another.
In addition, we have just learned that the story has been reported around the globe in the following venues:

ABS CBN News‎, ‎Adelaide Now‎, ‎AFP‎, ‎Bahrain News Agency‎, ‎Bangkok Post‎, ‎Calgary Herald‎, ‎Canada.com‎, ‎Channel News Asia‎, ‎China Post‎,  Daily Star Online‎, ‎DAWN.com‎, ‎Deccan Herald‎, ‎Expressindia.com‎, ‎Focus News‎, ‎FRANCE 24‎, ‎Geo Television Network‎, ‎Gulf Today‎, ‎Himalayan Times‎, ‎Hindustan Times‎, ‎Huffington Post UK‎, ‎Indian Express‎, ‎Indian Express‎, ‎Inquirer.net‎, ‎Jakarta Globe‎, ‎MSN Malaysia News‎, ‎MSN Philippines News‎, ‎Naharnet‎, ‎New Straits Times‎, ‎NEWS.com.au‎, ‎Newstrack India‎, ‎Ninemsn‎, ‎Outcome Magazine (blog)‎, ‎PhysOrg.com‎, ‎Radio Netherlands‎, ‎Sin Chew Jit Poh‎, ‎SKNVibes.com‎, ‎Straits Times‎, ‎Telegraph.co.uk‎, ‎The Nation, Pakistan‎, ‎The News International‎, ‎The West Australian‎, ‎TODAYonline‎, ‎TopNews Arab Emirates‎, ‎TopNews New Zealand‎, ‎TopNews United States, ‎TruthDive‎, ‎Vancouver Sun‎, ‎Yahoo!7 News
We have published book chapters and articles about our work (and there will be more publications in the future)
  •  Press, F., Bradley, B. S., Goodfellow, J., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Sumsion, J., Elwick, S. Stratigos, T. (2011). Listening to infants about what life is like in childcare: A mosaic approach. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 241-250). London: J&R Press.
  • Sumsion , J., Harrison, L. J., Press, F., McLeod, S., Goodfellow, J. & Bradley, B. S. (2011). Researching infants’ experiences of early childhood education and care. In D. Harcourt, B. Perry & T. Waller (Eds). Researching young children’s perspectives: Debating the ethics and dilemmas of educational research with children (pp. 113-127). London: Routledge.
  • Goodfellow, J., Elwick. S., Stratigos, T., Sumsion, J., Press, F., Harrison, L., McLeod, S., & Bradley, B. (2011). Infants’ lives in childcare: Crafting research evidence. The First Years Nga Tau Tuatahi Journal of Infant Toddler Education, 13(2), 43-48.  
  • Sumsion, J., Harrison, L., Press, F., McLeod, S., Goodfellow, J., Bradley, B., & Stonehouse, A., (2009). Infants’ experiences in long day care and family day care. Jigsaw, 53.

February 16, 2012

CSU: For the public good

February is the beginning of the academic year for Australian universities (unlike my northern hemisphere colleagues). So, at Charles Sturt University (CSU) a lot of new year events are occurring. This week I met our new Vice Chancellor, Andrew Vann, who spoke at the Senior Women's Forum about the importance of CSU making a difference to our students' lives, and the communities in which we live. CSU has a footprint across regional New South Wales, and has nearly 40,000 students.
This week I have also had the opportunity to drive through the magnificent countryside to CSU's Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture in Canberra. I have attended the professorial forum: a stimulating two days' of discussion about all aspects of university life. It is encouraging to be amongst such a diverse group of learned people who uphold the explorer Charles Sturt's (and CSU's) motto of "for the public good". This motto fits very well with the research work I am undertaking on my Future Fellowship.

February 14, 2012

Publications for 2011

Each year universities require their staff to report on their productivity during the year. Here is my list of publications for 2011. I have had wonderful colleagues to work with to generate this research and to produce these publications. I really enjoy emails from people around the world who comment on how some of our publications have changed the way they work with children. I believe that this is one of the most important reasons to publish.


BOOKS
1.       Roulstone, S. & McLeod, S. (Eds). (2011). Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. London: J&R Press. (294 pages) http://www.jr-press.co.uk/communication-needs.html
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
1.       Daniel, G., & McLeod, S. (2011). ‘I can’t say words much’: Listening to school-aged children’s experiences of speech impairment. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 195-202). London: J&R Press.
2.       McLeod, S. (2011). Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs: Who, why and how? In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 23-40). London: J&R Press.
3.       McLeod, S., McCormack, J., McAllister, L., Harrison, L. J., & Holliday, E. L. (2011). Listening to 4- to 5-year-old children with speech impairment using drawings, interviews and questionnaires. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 179-186). London: J&R Press.
4.       Press, F., Bradley, B. S., Goodfellow, J., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Sumsion, J., Elwick, S., Stratigos, T. (2011). Listening to infants about what life is like in childcare: A mosaic approach. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 241-250). London: J&R Press.
5.       Roulstone, S., & McLeod, S. (2011). Listening to improve services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 283-294). London: J&R Press.
6.       Sumsion , J., Harrison, L. J., Press, F., McLeod, S., Goodfellow, J. & Bradley, B. S. (2011). Researching infants’ experiences of early childhood education and care. In D. Harcourt, B. Perry & T. Waller (Eds). Researching young children’s perspectives: Debating the ethics and dilemmas of educational research with children (pp. 113-127). London: Routledge.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
1.       McLeod, S. (2011). Cultural and linguistic diversity in Australian 4- to 5-year-old children and their parents. ACQuiring Knowledge in Speech, Language, and Hearing, 13(3), 112-119.
2.       McLeod, S. (2011). Speech-language pathologists’ knowledge of tongue/palate contact for consonant production. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 25(11-12), 1004-1013.
3.       Goodfellow, J., Elwick. S., Stratigos, T., Sumsion, J., Press, F., Harrison, L., McLeod, S., & Bradley, B. (2011). Infants’ lives in childcare: Crafting research evidence. The First Years Nga Tau Tuatahi Journal of Infant Toddler Education, 13(2), 43-48.   
4.       McCormack, J., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S. & McAllister, L. (2011). A nationally representative study of the association between communication impairment at 4-5 years and children's life activities at 7-9 years. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 54(5), 1328-1348.  doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2011/10-0155)
5.       McAllister, L., McCormack, J., McLeod, S., & Harrison, L. J. (2011). Expectations and experiences of accessing and participating in services for childhood speech impairment. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 13(3), 251-267.
6.       Baker, E. & McLeod, S. (2011a). Evidence-based practice for children with speech sound disorders: Part 1 narrative review. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 14, 102-139. 
7.    Baker, E. & McLeod, S. (2011b). Evidence-based practice for children with speech sound disorders: Part 2 application to clinical practice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 14, 140-151.

February 4, 2012

Recognition of Jamaican as a language

Dr Karla Washington
This week Dr Karla Washington and I have been preparing for our Jamaican speech acquisition project. We are having Skype calls with Prof. Hubert Devonish from the Jamaican Language Unit, and Kwesi, the only speech and language pathologist who works in the public sector in Jamaica (there are approx. 5 other SLPs who work in private practice).

Jamaican (also called Jamaican Creole, and Patois/Patwa) is spoken by all Jamaicans, yet has only been recognized as a legitimate language for about 10 years. The Jamaican Language Unit has advocated for and supported the recognition of the use of Jamaican in schools and society. Prof. Devonish was interviewed about this in 2010: http://www.jamaicans.com/speakja/patoisarticle/JamaicanPatoisLanguage-2.shtml

One exciting project that is almost complete is the publication of the "Jiisaz Buk": the New Testament written in Jamaican.It will be released on Jamaican Independence Day, 6th August. The BBC recently released a video story about the importance of this publication to the Jamaican people: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16289048
Yet, here is an audio news story outlining the controversy about the Jamaican Bible, and recognition of the Jamaican language: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9663000/9663844.stm