Metropolitan Paediatrics Units (MP4Kids) & Regional Paediatrics NSW (RPNSW) Conference

Our Waiting for Speech Pathology research team were invited to present a paper at the Metropolitan Paediatrics Units (MP4Kids) & Regional Paediatrics NSW (RPNSW) Conference to be held in Bathurst 29-30 April 2021. 

Our paper is titled: Waiting for Speech Pathology: Advice vs Device

MP4Kids is a clinical network representing all Level 4 paediatric units in general public hospitals, in metropolitan and outer metropolitan Sydney.
RPNSW (Regional Paediatrics NSW) is a peer-support network for regional clinicians.
Both groups comprise doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who provide care for infants, children, adolescents and their families https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/networks/paediatric/about/MP4Kids_and_Regional_Paediatrics

The conference was attended by 150 people in the room (the first face-to-face conference for some time due to the COVID-19 pandemic) as well as 90 people online.

The excellent 2-day event was packed with inspiring presentations about innovations and care for NSW's children. The event ended with Emeritus Professor Richard Henry discussing the Henry Review followed by speakers outlining the implementation plan for the 77 recommendations.

I had the opportunity to meet with many people who are working hard to support NSW's children. At the end of the conference I had a long discussion about speech pathology waiting lists with Andrew Davison, Chief Allied Health Officer, Ministry of Health.

Katrina Rohr presenting our paper based on our NSW Health Translational Research Grant

Sharynne with Katrina Rohr and Emily Davis from the speech pathology team in Bathust

Emeritus Professor Richard Henry discussing the Henry Review

Alison, Andrew Davison, Emily Davis and Sharynne after the conference

Keynote address in Salzburg, Austria in 2022

I have just accepted an invitation to present the keynote address at the ESLA Congress in Salzburg, Austria https://eslaeurope.eu/whatson/esla-congress-may-2022/

ESLA, the European Speech and Language Therapy Association, is a pan-European umbrella organisation that includes 30 member associations across 27 countries, representing over 50,000 European SLT professionals. ESLA was, until recently, known as CPLOL.

VietSpeech team supporting the Trinh Foundation and work in Vietnam

 The Trinh Foundation has just published it's April newsletter - and members of our VietSpeech team have been featured in two of the stories https://mailchi.mp/18a8adeb638c/benefits-of-volunteering-in-vietnam-7824345?e=bec50f8ff8

• Kate Margetson undertook a needs assessment regarding the use of AAC in Vietnam 

• Xuan Thi Thanh Le received a grant to work with myself and Dr Ben Pham to study 132 children from Southern Vietnam. Our subsequent journal article has just been published. More information here: https://trinhfoundation.org/journal-article-published-about-typically-developing-childrens-speech-acquisition-in-hcmc/ 
• Le, X. T. T., McLeod, S. & Phạm, B. (2021, in press). Consonant accuracy and intelligibility of Southern Vietnamese children. Speech, Language and Hearing. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2021.1888195

 

Hugh Kerns' workshop for CSU students

Hugh Kerns presented a workshop for CSU students on How to Plan your Part-time PhD. I have encouraged my PhD students to attend his workshop for some time now - and I finally had a chance to attend since this one was after work hours. Hugh has so many good tips and I love his turn of phrase (e.g., Tim Tam approach). No wonder so many of my PhD students love learning from him.

Icelandic children’s acquisition of consonants and consonant clusters

The following article has just been published as an early online article. 

Másdóttir, T., McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2021). Icelandic children's acquisition of consonants and consonant clusters. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00463

Here is the abstract: 

Purpose. This study investigated Icelandic-speaking children’s acquisition of singleton consonants and consonant clusters.
Method. Participants were 437 typically-developing children aged 2;6 to 7;11 acquiring Icelandic as their first language. Single-word speech samples of the 47 single consonants and 45 consonant clusters were collected using Málhljóðapróf ÞM [ÞM's Test of Speech Sound Disorders].
Results. Percentage of consonants correct for children aged 2;6-2;11 was 73.12 (SD = 13.33) and increased to 98.55 (SD = 3.24) for children aged 7;0-7;11. Overall, singleton consonants were more likely to be accurate than consonant clusters. The earliest consonants to be acquired were /m, n, p, t, j, h/ in word-initial position and /f, l/ within words. The last consonants to be acquired were /x, r, r̥, s, θ, n̥/, and consonant clusters in word-initial /sv-, stl-, str-, skr-, θr-/, within-word /-ðr-, -tl-/, and word-final /-kl̥, -xt/ contexts. Within-word phonemes were more often accurate than those in word-initial position, with word-final position the least accurate. Accuracy of production was significantly related to increasing age, but not sex.
Conclusion. This is the first comprehensive study of consonants and consonant cluster acquisition by typically developing Icelandic-speaking children. The findings align with trends for other Germanic languages; however, there are notable language-specific differences of clinical importance. 

This research has been the result of a long-term collaboration with Thora Másdóttir (Þóra Másdóttir) and Kate Crowe that began with my visit to Iceland in 2014 https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2014/06/icelandic-association-of-speech-and.html

Investigating prognosis and risk factors of speech sound disorder: A natural history study using a survival analysis

Some time ago, Dr Carol Kit Sum To and I collaborated (with others) on a grant to undertake a natural history study using a survival analysis approach of children with speech sound disorder in Hong Kong (see below).

To, C. K-S., Cheung, K. Y., Law, T., Lee, K. Y. S., McLeod, S., & Ng, M. L. (2014-2015). Investigating prognosis and risk factors of speech sound disorder: A natural history study using a survival analysis approach [利用存活分析調查構音問題的自然史 – 預後及誘發因素的研究 ]. General Research Fund, Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong, China (GRF 17409214). (HKD = 710,002; AUD = $104,256) (The order of the names of co-investigators is alphabetical)

Here is the "layman's summary of the completed report" that can be found here https://cerg1.ugc.edu.hk/ (Search: Year = 2014-2015, Surname = To, Subject = Psychology and linguistics): 

Speech sound disorder (SSD) is a prevalent childhood communication disorder and forms a significant caseload of speech-and-language-therapy services in Hong Kong. SSD in preschool children can be persistent and may lead to long-term literacy difficulties. At the other end of the spectrum, a sizable subgroup of children originally demonstrates speech problems outgrow their errors without clinical attention and follow the typical growth trajectory in later years. In the current study, we made use of a new statistical method known as survival analysis to enable us to predict if children, showing a slower start in speech sound ability but without any other developmental disorders will catch up later. We found that most children with an initial delay of speech sound production skills still showed speech normalization but the normalization process was protracted and takes about 80 months. Boys appeared to be more likely to show a longer normalization process. In addition, children’s perceptual sensitivity in the temperament scale is more predictive than a number of children’s language proficiency and family characteristics such as parental education level.

We met today to work on writing up one of the papers from the analysis. A paper that has been published from this analysis is:

Kok, E. C. E., & To, C. K. S. (2019). Revisiting the cutoff criteria of Intelligibility in Context Scale-Traditional Chinese. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 50(4), 629-638.  https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_LSHSS-18-0073

 

Journal editorial boards

I am currently on the following editorial boards: 

• Advances in Communication and Swallowing (2021-present) https://www.iospress.nl/journal/advances-in-communication-and-swallowing/ 
• Child Language Teaching and Therapy (2007-present) https://journals.sagepub.com/home/clt 
• Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics (2006-present) https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iclp20/current 
• International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (editor 2008-2013; editorial board member 2018-present) https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl20/current 
• Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech (2018-present) https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JMBS 
• Speech, Language, Hearing (2015-present) https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/yslh20/current

I was the editor of International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (2008-2013) and have been the guest editor of special issues of Clincial Linguistics and Phonetics, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, Folia Phoniatrica et Logopedica.

I really enjoy engaging with researchers' ideas before they are published for the world to read. It is a privilege to support researchers in communicating their work.

 

CSU Vice Chancellor's profiles Dr Sarah Verdon and Dr Kate Crowe

 

Here is the link to the podcast: https://soundcloud.com/user-83287832-705182774/ep-1-kids-and-communication

Here how the podcast is described:

Join leading two leading speech pathology experts for a discussion about language development and communication disorders. Dr Sarah Verdon and Dr Kate Crowe answer some of the most common questions about kids and their speech development and share their top tips for parents, teachers and speech pathologists. This episode is first in our Alumni Podcast Series - the podcast where our Interim Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Germov, talks to some of Charles Sturt's most outstanding alumni who are working to better their industry and the community. The next episode in the series lands on Thursday 6 May. Dr Verdon is the Head of Speech Pathology at Charles Sturt and Dr Crowe is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Iceland and Adjunct Research Fellow at Charles Sturt. For more from Dr Verdon, check out the The Talking Children Podcast© svp-slp.com/the-talking-children-podcast/

 

Welcome Evelyn and Grace

Evelyn Sowter and Grace Kelly's first day at CSU

 

We are very excited to welcome Evelyn Sowter and Grace Kelly to work within our Speech-Language-Multilingualism team on different research projects.

• Evelyn is working as the professorial research assistant on our Australian Research Council VietSpeech grant
• Grace is a CSU visiting academic collaborating with Dr Kirrie Ballard (Co-founder of Say 66) on research to provide rural children with the Say Bananas app to support their speech development. The children will work with Grace and I to inform us about what works well and what may need to change when using the app in rural Australia.
  

Welcome to the team Evelyn and Grace.

Review of McLeod et al. (2020)

A review of the following manuscript has just been published in the Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology (JCPSLP, vol 23, no. 1, p. 74)). It was written by Andy Smidt

https://speechpathologyaustralia.cld.bz/JCPSLP-Vol-23-Issue-1-2021/48/

McLeod, S., Ballard, K. J., Ahmed, B., McGill, N., & Brown, M. I. (2020). Supporting children with speech sound disorders during COVID-19 restrictions: Technological solutions. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 5(6), 1805–1808. 

It concluded: "McLeod et al.’s (2020) review shows there are many technological service options developed prior to COVID-19, particularly for clients living rurally, that are now useful during a pandemic. Their review summarised that while most indirect treatments where non speech pathologists (parents, educators) deliver intervention have not been effective, Apraxia World has been extremely successful. Overall, this review is an interesting paper for clinicians to read in order to support children with speech sound disorders and their families during the pandemic." (Smidt, 2021, p. 47)

Speech Sound Disorders in Children: Articulation and Phonological Disorders

The ninth edition of Speech Sound Disorders in Children: Articulation and Phonological Disorders (Bernthal, Bankson & Flipsen) is ready for release in the US. I have written chapter 3 titled: Speech Sound Acquisition 

Here is the website with more information: https://products.brookespublishing.com/Speech-Sound-Disorders-in-Children-P1265.aspx

For forty years, this textbook has been the gold-standard resource for providing speech-language pathologists with a strong foundation of knowledge on speech sound disorders. Previously published as Articulation and Phonological Disorders, this core text is now in its ninth edition, fully updated and expanded to meet the needs of today’s clinicians as they work with children of all ages.

This edition is published by Paul H. Brookes a new publisher (no longer Pearson).

Advances in Communication and Swallowing

I have been invited to join the editorial board of Advances in Communication and Swallowing https://www.iospress.nl/journal/advances-in-communication-and-swallowing/

This is the official journal of Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapy and is a "rejuvination" of the IASLT journal. The editors are Julie Regan and Irene P. Walsh 

Aims: To publish original work of a clinical and/or theoretical nature in the areas of communication and swallowing To disseminate research of a high standard, nationally and internationally

Milestone PhD meetings

In the past 2 weeks I have had two milestone PhD meetings with students who are at the point in their PhDs where we all have read their PhD drafts to date, then work out what else needs to be added/deleted/moved in order to complete their "big book".

This is such an exciting/inspiring time where the scope, significance and impact of the work becomes apparent. 

Thanks for sharing your journeys with us Belinda and Van.

Latvian translation of the ICS is ready for the website

Thank you to Samanta Felicita Meļņika and Dr Baiba Trinīte from Liepājas Universitāte, Latvija [Liepaja University, Latvia] who have just translated the "Runas saprotamības konteksta skala: latviski" [Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS): Latvian]

Leading speech pathology researcher hopes to help change the world

Congratulations Dr Kate Crowe on winning the inaugural Charles Sturt University Alumnus of the Year – Professional Achievement (Research) award. You are an inspiration and your upcoming Charles Sturt Alumni Podcast on 22 April here: https://soundcloud.com/user-83287832-705182774. 

CSU News story here:  Leading speech pathology researcher hopes to help change the world

https://news.csu.edu.au/feature/leading-speech-pathology-researcher-hopes-to-help-change-the-world

I am honoured to read Kate's account of her academic journey in the news article:

It was her decision to study a PhD in speech pathology at Charles Sturt University, after completing several qualifications with the University of Newcastle in NSW, that led her to embark on a global career. “I did not choose Charles Sturt University, it chose me,” Dr Crowe said. “I was hoping to embark on a PhD at some time in the future when I was awed by Professor Sharynne McLeod (pictured left) giving a presentation at a conference. “I approached Professor McLeod after her presentation and asked a question and I honestly cannot remember what happened next. “She whisked me away, bought me hot chocolate, and suddenly I was on track to becoming her newest PhD student … and I have to say that my entire life changed for the better in that moment. “Professor McLeod said to me on my first day that throughout my PhD journey she was training me to be her colleague and peer, so she would treat me as such, and that is how it has been for the past 13 years. “Rarely does a day go by when I do not feel gratitude for her support, guidance, and encouragement, and the places that this has taken me.” It was through her PhD study and work with Professor McLeod that Dr Crowe started to focus on research and projects that would support multilingual children with hearing loss. Today, she is a world leader in this field and works with speech pathologists and teachers around the world to support their use of culturally responsive practices for the assessment and support of children with hearing loss.

Persistence, strength, isolation and trauma: An ethnographic exploration of raising a child with cleft palate

The following paper has been accepted for publication.

Cronin, A., Verdon, S. & McLeod, S. (2021, in press). Persistence, strength, isolation and trauma: An ethnographic exploration of raising children with cleft palate. Journal of Communication Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106102

Congratulations Anna - this is the final paper to be published from her PhD.

Here is the abstract

Background: The lives of families of young children with cleft palate (±lip) are complex. Multiple interventions are required as part of the long-term multidisciplinary treatment for children with CP±L, with an impairment-focused approach prevailing. Research with young children with CP±L has focused on treatment and intervention, and previous qualitative research has been collected predominantly via interviews, so little is understood about the day-to-day lives of families of young children with CP±L.
Aims: (1) To increase understanding of the lives of children with CP±L and their families by applying an ethnographic lens to improve clinical practice (2) to identify key experiences that shape the experiences of children with CP±L and their families (3) to examine how family-centered practice can enhance practitioner-family relationships in providing effective and evidence-based care for children with CP±L.
Method: Ethnographic observations of seven families of children with CP±L and their families and educators including parents, siblings, aunts, grandparents, and teachers involved multiple site visits. Rich data were collected to gather information about different aspects of their lives (such as their strengths, routines, preferences, challenges and experiences). There were 84 artefacts collected: 18 interviews, 29 videos, one extended audio recording of a mealtime, seven photos contributed by families, seven case history questionnaires, and 22 field notes. These data were analyzed inductively using thematic analysis.
Results: Three overarching themes and 11 subthemes were identified: (1) the whole child (persistence, communication, activities, mealtimes), (2) family strength and support (strong families, external support, attitudes, advocacy, positive medical experiences) and (3) family isolation and trauma (negative medical experiences, traumatic and challenging experiences).
Conclusion: This is the first study to use ethnographic methodology to facilitate the collection of unique insights into the lives of young children with CP±L and their families to improve clinical practice for SLPs. The unique application of family-centered practice with these families promoted trust and highlighted their challenges and strengths which could be considered by SLPs to provide holistic intervention.

Visiting UQ

While visiting Brisbane I took the opportunity to visit the University of Queensland and catch up with A/Prof Nerina Scarinci, the head of the speech pathology program. It was great to hear about their undergraduate and masters courses as well as their research that includes conjoint appointments with some of the hospitals in Brisbane. I also was able to visit the simulation hospital where students practice with actors before going on clinical placement.

Visiting the simulation clinic with Nerina Scarinci

Elizabeth Usher founded the UQ speech pathology course

18,694 page views of Multilingual Children's Speech in March 2021

 It is remarkable how many people access the Multilingual Children's Speech website. I just received the Google analytics reports for March 2021 and there were 18,694 page views! There were no special presentations or promotions that pointed people to the site last month. 

 The most popular pages were:

• 5,169 (27.65%) - Intelligibility in Context Scale https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/ics
  
• 5,134 (27.46%) - Speech acquisition https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition

The top countries were: 

• United States 3,605 
• Australia 889 
• United Kingdom 326 
• Canada 308 
• Switzerland 148 
• Belgium 124 
• Germany 102 
• Netherlands 101 
• Ireland 59 
• United Arab Emirates 58

People from a total of 89 countries accessed the Multilingual Children's Speech website in March 2021. I'm glad that people are continuing to use the free resources to support multilingual children across the world.

Countries accessing the Multilingual Children's Speech website in March 2021

 

Advancing workplace diversity through the Culturally Responsive Teamwork Framework

The following article has just been accepted for publication: Hopf, S. C., Crowe, K., Verdon, S., Blake, H. L. & McLeod, S. (2021, accepted March). Advancing workplace diversity through the Culturally Responsive Teamwork Framework. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 

Here is the abstract: 

Purpose: Diversification of the profession is an important element of combating racism, bias, and prejudice in the speech-language pathology workforce at national and systemic levels. However, national and systemic change needs to be combined with equipping individual speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to adapt to the challenges that they face to engaging in culturally responsive practice. This paper presents four interacting levels of practice within the Culturally Responsive Teamwork Framework (CRTF): (1) intra-personal practices, (2) inter-personal practices, (3) intra-professional practices, and (4) the inter-professional practices.
Conclusion: CRTF is a practical, strengths-based framework that draws on international research and expertise to expand personal and professional practice and describe critical behaviors within the workplace that can be used to promote principles of evidence-based practice and social justice, especially when working with people from non-dominant cultural or linguistic groups.

Culturally Responsive Teamwork Framework (CRTF)
(reproduced with permission from Hopf, Crowe, Verdon, Blake, & McLeod, 2021)