August 25, 2016

30th World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP)

This week over 1000 participants from 53 countries met in Dublin for the 30th World Congress of IALP.  The congress opened with a fantastic session including a presentation from Declan Murphy, a lecturer at NUI Galway who has Down Syndrome. He explained “speech is my Everest” and stated that “I believe that communication is a human right”. His speech was inspiring and received a standing ovation. Declan’s speech was followed by Move4 Parkinson’s, a choir made up of people with Parkinson’s disease, their friends and family. Their rendition of Roar again had people cheering on their feet.
Declan Murphy presenting his inspiring opening address


There has been an emphasis on the World Health Organization’s initiatives, and I was invited to present the first of eight 30 minute papers on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.

Presenters in the WHO sessions on the ICF sponsored by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Over the week, my students, colleagues and I have presented the following papers:

  • McLeod, S. - Description of the ICF Framework. Invited presentation.
  • McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech -  Recommendations for the assessment of multilingual children’s speech.
  • McLeod, S., Baker, E., McCormack, J., Wren, Y., Roulstone, S., Crowe, K. & Masso, S. - Sound Start Study: A community-based randomized controlled trial of Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter.
  • Crowe, K., Cumming, T., McCormack, J., McLeod, S., Masso, S., Baker, E., Wren, Y., Roulstone, S. - Sound Start Study: Early childhood educators' experiences of implementing Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter.
  • Verdon, S., McLeod, S. & Wong, S. - Six Principles of Culturally Competent Practice: Enhancing families’ engagement in speech and language therapy.
  • Wylie , K., Hopf, S. C., McAllister, L., Marshall, J., Davidson, B., McLeod, S., McDonagh, S., Amponsah, C., & Ohenewa Bampoe, J. - An exploration of the diversity of self‐ help and help‐seeking practices for communication disability in Ghana and Fiji.

  • Sound Start Study team members, Yvonne Wren, Jane McCormack and Sharynne with Debbie Sell (UK)