ICPLA19- Day2- Multilingual Children's Speech in 70+ languages

Today, at the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association Conference in Salzburg, I coordinated a wonderful panel titled "Children’s speech development in 70+ languages and dialects" consisting of 18 presentations over 5 hours with support from Dr Helen Blake and Dr Kate Crowe.

1. Children’s speech development: Cross-linguistic considerations – Sharynne McLeod, Helen L. Blake, Australia; Kathryn Crowe, Iceland and Australia
2. Danish children’s speech development – Marit Carolin Clausen, Denmark
3. Dutch children’s speech development – Anniek van Doornik, Ellen Gerrits, Paula Fikkert, Mieke Beers, The Netherlands
4. English English children’s speech development – Robert Mayr, Rachael-Anne Knight, Sally Bates, Yvonne Wren, and Sara Howard, United Kingdom
5. Irish English speech development – Joan Rahilly, Jill Titterington, United Kingdom
6. Scottish English children’s speech development –James M. Scobbie, Joanne Cleland, Eleanor Lawson, Sonja Schaeffler, Scotland, United Kingdom
7. Canadian French children’s speech development – Andrea MacLeod, Daniel Bérubé, Susan Rvachew, Canada; Francoise Brosseau-Lapré, USA
8. Swiss French children’s speech development – Margaret Kehoe, Nathalie Niederberger, Switzerland 
9. German children’s speech development – Annette Fox-Boyer, Sigrun Lang, Germany 
10. Standard Greek children’s speech development – Areti Okalidou, Greece; Elena Babatsouli, USA
11. Cypriot Greek children’s speech development – Kakia Petinou, Cyprus; Elena Babatsouli, USA; Spyros Armostis, Cyprus Hungarian children’s speech development – Krisztina Zajdó, Hungary 
12. Jamaican Creole children’s speech development – Karla N. Washington, Canada; Kathryn Crowe, Iceland and Australia; Melanie Basinger, Joseph Farquharson, USA
13. Laki children’s speech development –Akram Ahmadi, Zahra Malmir, Iran; Michelle Pascoe, South Africa; Talieh Zarifian, Marjan Larimian, Iran
14. Maltese children’s speech development – Helen Grech, Malta 
15. Norwegian children’s speech development – Kristian E. Kristoffersen, Nina Gram Garmann, Hanne Gram Simonsen, Norway
16. European Portuguese children’s speech development – Maria João Freitas, Marisa Lousada, Ana Margarida Ramalho, Portugal 
17. Swedish children’s speech development – Sofia Strömbergsson, Inger Lundeborg Hammarström, Sweden 

It was followed by a rich discussions where we considered the following questions:

1. What are the common threads you noticed?
2. Are there any surprises (AHA! moments)?
3. What are general trends across languages? How many languages follow universal trends and what languages go against those trends?
4. What will be your takeaway message for families?
5. What will be your takeaway message (clinical implications) for SLPs/educators/other professionals?
6. What theories does this speak to?

Thank you to the amazing authors who presented their languages and research so concisely yet comprehensively and the wonderful collegiality amongst nations.