Children’s communication and the developing mind: A challenge for Australia

The following paper has just been published. It is an invited journal article based on the lecture I gave for the Royal Society of New South Wales last year that was part of the 2023 Royal Society of New South Wales and Learned Academies Forum: “Our 21st Century Brain” https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2023/11/invited-presentation-our-21st-century.html

McLeod, S. (2024). Children’s communication and the developing mind: A challenge for Australia. Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 157, 43–48. https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/157-1-11McLeod.pdf

There are many excellent papers in the special issue:

https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/157-1-web-complete.pdf

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF N.S.W. AND FIVE ACADEMIES FORUM: OUR 21st CENTURY BRAIN 

• Opening Address - The Governor,Margaret Beazley
• Welcome and Acknowledgements- Susan Pond
• Keynote Presentations - George Paxinos, Lucy Palmer, Joshua Gordon
• I−The Developing Mind - Penny van Bergen, Adam Guastella, Sharynne McLeod, Anne Castles, Kate Highfield
• II−The Brain: Social, Cultural and Philosophical Perspectives- Pip Pattison, Andrew Chanen, Andrew Leigh, Jennifer Kent, Jakelin Troy, David Bradden Mitchell
• III − The Brain Disease Burden in Adults- Anthony Cunningham, Glenda Halliday, Sharon Naismith, Lucette Cysique & Andrew Lloyd
• IV− Turbocharging Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence- Ian Oppermann, Sally Cripps, Stela Solar, Lyria Bennett Moses:
• V−Implications for the Future- Ian Hickie, Pip Pattison, Helen Christensen, Peter Baume, Jaky Troy

Multilingual Children's Speech website

Our research websites are very popular across the whole world. Today we began working with the Charles Sturt University webteam to make them even more user friendly and up to date.

Multilingual Children's Speech  https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/

• 2023 - 104,606 views
• 2024 (6 months) - 55,579 views

VietSpeech https://www.csu.edu.au/research/vietspeech/

• 2023 - 2,083 views
• 2024 (6 months) - 1,245 views

 

IALP centenary celebrations in Vienna

We were very honoured to have been invited to present a paper at the centenary celebrations of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) in Vienna https://ialp-org.com/event/9853/.

"President Dr. Brian Shulman, Past President Prof. Pamela Enderby, Vice-President Prof. Scharff Rethfeldt and CEO Vanessa Ebejer are inviting you to a special event between 27 and 29 June, 2024. IALP will host a Centennial Composium in Vienna, Austria, which is the cradle of logopedics and phoniatrics and the venue where IALP was founded. To celebrate its 100th Anniversary (1924-2024), the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) is delighted to announce its forthcoming Composium entitled Contemporary Perspectives in Communication Sciences and Disorders... We look forward to celebrating this special anniversary with you!" https://ialp-org.com/event/9853

• Our session is titled: Multilingual Speech Development and Disorders - Helen Grech, Sharynne McLeod, Helen L. Blake, and Kate Margetson.
• Our presentation is titled "A contemporary perspective of children's speech development in languages of the world" - Sharynne McLeod, Helen L. Blake, and Kate Margetson. We are unable to attend - so have submitted a recording.
  

Tweets from IALP during our presentation

My colleague Prof Lindy McAllister sent this photograph from the event in Vienna.

Here is the full program

Australian Research Council LIEF assessors' reports

Today we received very encouraging assessors' reports for our Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant submission. We hope this translates to a positive outcome in a few months' time. 

https://www.arc.gov.au/funding-research/funding-schemes/linkage-program/linkage-infrastructure-equipment-and-facilities

Child Language Teaching and Therapy Annual Summer Lecture 2024

The Journal of Child Language Teaching and Therapy invited me to present their 2024 Summer Lecture. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/child-language-teaching-and-therapy-annual-summer-lecture-2024-tickets-882052130667  

CLTT's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-U45Q5Ee-6NXWrklIfxI2Q

Do we really listen to children? 

Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod, Charles Sturt University, Australia 

• Wednesday, 26 June Child Language Teaching and Therapy Annual Summer Lecture 2024 
• Date and time: Wed, 26 Jun 2024 19:00 - 20:30 AEST 
• Location: Online 
• About this event: 1 hour 30 minutes

I was delighted to see it was sold out - with 250 free tickets registered from people in United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Ghana, United States, New Zealand, Philippines, Isle of Man, Fiji, Sweden, Greece, Canada, Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, Morocco, Kenya, Japan, Indonesia, India, Egypt, Dominica, Czech Republic, Brazil, Bangladesh, Algeria.

Do we really listen to children? Abstract. Communication is a human right for all; and ALL includes children with speech, language, and communication needs, including those who speak/sign non-dominant languages (McLeod, 2018). Aligning with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989) we have given attention to the “voice” of children. For example, we have creatively engaged in child-friendly arts-based methods to provide children with the “right to freedom of expression… regardless of frontiers” as outlined in Article 13. However, do we REALLY listen to children? As we become more accustomed to including children’s perspectives in our professional practices, it is time to reflect on whether some of our inclusion of children’s voices could be perceived as “tokenistic” (Hart, 1992). As communication specialists, we have the power to support children’s voice and to assist others to listen. How can we mature in our practices to enhance children’s participation within democratic processes in their families, schools, communities, and society? 

Biography. Sharynne McLeod, PhD is a Distinguished Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia specialising in speech and language acquisition. Her transformative research has reframed the profession by foregrounding communication rights and social justice, and by enhancing equitable participation for multilingual children with speech, language and communication needs. She has advocated for communication rights at the United Nations and the World Health Organization. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales. She has been an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Benjamin Meaker Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol, and Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University. She served as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, and has received Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and Life Membership of Speech Pathology Australia. The Australian Newspaper named her Australia’s Research Field Leader and Best in the World in Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology based on the “quality, volume and impact” of her research. 

https://www.journals.sagepub.com/home/clt 

More information A recording will be made available after the lecture. The lecture will be held online via zoom and details will be shared with participants. 

Follow us on X: @SharynneMcLeod @CLTTJournal Connect with us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/child-language-teaching-and-therapy https://www.journals.sagepub.com/home/clt https://www.eventbrite.com/e/child-language-teaching-and-therapy-annual-summer-lecture-2024-tickets-882052130667

Congratulations Dr. Karla Washington - Canada Research Chair

Congratulations to my colleague Dr. Karla Washington at the Universitiy of Toronto who has been named as a Canada Research Chair in Monolingual and Multilingual Paediatric Speech-Language Pathology (Tier 2). Here is a description about her work and appointment:

Speech sound disorder (SSD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) present significant barriers to academic and social participation, with the potential to negatively impact the speech and language development of children globally. Dr. Washington’s overarching research goal is to support children’s human right to effective communication by improving diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. Her research addresses misdiagnosis of SSD and DLD in multilingual preschoolers in an understudied context (Jamaican Creole-English) through diversification of theoretical and empirical approaches. She also aims to characterize the neural basis of DLD, with the goal of better understanding memory-language mechanisms underlying grammar learning and impairment.

Author meetings for The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World

This week I have held two meetings (to accommodate the world's timezones) for the chapter authors of the The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World. It has been wonderful to see everyone together on the screen and to celebrate that the book will be submitted soon and published in 2025.

Chapter authors attending meeting 1 - Wednesday at 8am Sydney time

 

Chapter authors attending meeting 2 - Thursday at 7pm Sydney time

Here is the final table of contents:

The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World
Editor: Sharynne McLeod
1.    Children’s speech development around the world: An introduction
2.    Cultural considerations regarding children’s speech development
3.    Researching children’s speech development
4.    Articulatory and phonological foundations of children’s speech development
5.    Speech assessment of children’s home languages (SACHL): A clinical protocol
6.    Afrikaans speech development
7.    Akan speech development
8.    Arabic (Egyptian) speech development
9.    Arabic (Kuwaiti) speech development
10.    Arabic (Lebanese) speech development
11.    Azerbaijani/Azeri Turkish speech development
12.    Bulgarian speech development
13.    Cantonese speech development
14.    Danish speech development
15.    Dutch speech development
16.    English (African American) speech development
17.    English (Appalachian) speech development
18.    English (Australian) speech development
19.    English (Cajun) speech development
20.    English (Canadian) speech development
21.    English (English) speech development
22.    English (Fiji) speech development
23.    English (General American) speech development
24.    English (Irish) speech development
25.    English (New Zealand) speech development
26.    English (Scottish) speech development
27.    English (South African) speech development
28.    English + Cantonese speech development
29.    English + French speech development
30.    English + Greek speech development
31.    English + Spanish speech development  
32.    English + Vietnamese speech development
33.    Finnish speech development
34.    Flemish speech development
35.    French (Canadian) speech development
36.    French (France) speech development
37.    French (Swiss) speech development  
38.    German speech development
39.    Greek (Cypriot) speech development
40.    Greek (Standard) speech development
41.    Hebrew (Israeli) speech development  
42.    Hungarian speech development
43.    Icelandic speech development
44.    Irish speech development  
45.    Italian speech development  
46.    Jamaican Creole speech development  
47.    Japanese speech development  
48.    Kurdish speech development
49.    Laki speech development
50.    Maltese speech development  
51.    Mandarin/Putonghua speech development  
52.    Māori speech development
53.    Norwegian speech development  
54.    Persian/Farsi speech development
55.    Polish speech development  
56.    Portuguese (Brazilian) speech development  
57.    Portuguese (European) speech development  
58.    Samoan speech development  
59.    Sesotho speech development
60.    Setswana speech development
61.    Slovak speech development  
62.    Slovenian speech development  
63.    Spanish (Andalusian) speech development  
64.    Spanish (Castilian) speech development  
65.    Spanish (Chilean) speech development  
66.    Spanish (Mexican) speech development  
67.    Spanish (Peruvian) speech development  
68.    Swedish speech development
69.    Tagalog speech development
70.    Tamil speech development
71.    Thai speech development
72.    Tok Pisin speech development
73.    Turkish speech development  
74.    Urdu speech development
75.    Vietnamese speech development  
76.    Walpiri speech development
77.    Welsh speech development  
78.    Xhosa/isiXhosa speech development
79.    Zapotec speech development  
80.    Zulu/isiZulu speech development

University of Alberta PhD Candidacy Exam

This morning I was an external examiner for a University of Alberta PhD Candidacy Exam (online). It was a privilege to be involved in the examination process with colleagues from across Canada. Congratulations to the candidate and her supervisory team, chaired by Prof Karen Pollock.

Prof Karen Pollock and Prof Sharynne McLeod

RHRI Grant team meeting

This morning our RHRI team met to inform one another of the progress we are making in our research. It was a very positive meeting with achievements across six of the seven phases of the project (the seventh is the summary phase).

Emily-Jane Woodhead, Sharynne, Carolyn Gregoric, Sarah Bartlett

Here are some journal articles about selecting children's books that may inform some of our conversations:

• Hill, S., Glover, A., & Colbung, M. (2011). My favourite book! Young Aboriginal children’s book choices. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(1), 77-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/183693911103600113 
• Foster, A. M., & Hayes, C. (2023). Dreamcatchers, water protectors, and the question of authenticity: Supporting teachers in choosing and using indigenous children's literature. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-023-01509-4 
• Guiberson, M., & Vining, C. B. (2023). Culturally responsive and indigenous language strategies: Findings from a scoping review. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 45(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/15257401231155812
  

The Treehouse - Daily users' meeting

Today Sean Sun (CSU) met with Dr Belinda Downey, Dr Kelly Tribolet and myself for the first time as "daily users" to discuss his plans to make The Treehouse compliant to the current disability building codes. Our conversations also enable us to dream about the future use of the building.

Sean, Belinda, Kelly and Sharynne consider public access to different areas

Queensland Department of Education videos on cultural safety and maintaining home language

The Queensland Department of Education has just launched two excellent videos:

• Cultural safety with Professor Tony Dreise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYL__hyro7A

"The first Kindy uplift priority, ‘Creating culturally safe, inclusive and responsive Kindergarten Programs’ emphasises the importance of including all First Nations children and enhancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives within Kindergarten Programs. In this video we hear from Professor Tony Dreise about the importance of cultural safety. Explore further at https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/grants-and-funding/kindy-uplift-program"

• Maintaining home language - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XneIolMk42s

"Multilingualism is a strength. More than one in four Australian children speak a language other than English at the age of starting school. Being multilingual has many advantages, including improved learning at school, social skills, self-confidence, and cognitive development. The two animated videos aim to empower families to maintain home language. The Language and Literacy team provides a range of resources encompassing evidence-based research, to enable educators, families and home tutors to support children’s development of language, reading and writing. Visit https://readingwritingcentre.education.qld.gov.au/ for more information."

Charles Sturt continues to be a global leader in sustainability

CSU News has just announced that "Charles Sturt University holds its status as a global leader in gender equality, climate action and other sustainable practices as recognised within the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings." https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/charles-sturt-continues-to-be-a-global-leader-in-climate-action,-gender-equality-and-sustainability

• SDG5 - Gender equality - 33rd in the world (top 2%)
  
• SDG13 - Climate action - 48th in the world (top 5%)
• SDG15 - Life on land - 72nd in the world (top 10%)
• SDG17- Partnership for the goals - 99th in the world (top 5%)

"THE’s Impact rankings are the only global University rankings that measure progress towards the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They evaluate our university programs and initiatives including research, teaching and learning, partnerships and engagement, and facilities and operations." DVC-R Mark Evans

ECV2024: This week's registrations and update

• 140 registrations from 20 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Fiji, Hong Kong (SAR China), Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Qatar, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA 

Two keynotes are confirmed

• Prof. Tony Dreise (Australia), Pro Vice-Chancellor First Nations Engagement, Charles Sturt University.
  

• Prof Elizabeth Shuey (USA), a policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where she works primarily on issues related to early childhood.
  
  
  
  

  

  ECV2024 Leadership team - Carolyn Gregoric, Sharynne McLeod, Belinda Downey
  

  
  

The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World - retreat and meeting with OUP

Over the past two days Helen Blake and I have had a book retreat to get The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World closer to submission. This is the first time I have printed the book - and it is quite an impressive thickness (double sided). We have had a lot of fun finalizing this amazing book.

Tonight (Friday) we met online with Vicki Sunter, linguistics production editor with Oxford University Press to plan for submission - production - and publication. What an exciting conversation working through the next steps. We are very pleased that the book is in good shape and close to submission.

Helen Blake, Vicki Sunter (OUP) and Sharynne

Helen and Sharynne working hard

Children's Voices Centre @ The Treehouse - Building design conversation

This morning I had a fantastic conversation with Sean Sun (CSU) about the building design for The Treehouse and making sure it is accessible for all.

Children's Voices Centre - Colour and logo conversation

 What a momentous meeting we had today.Today was the day that the Division of Customer Experience presented to us their intial concept designs for the colours and logos based on our inspiration and aspirations for the Children's Voices Centre @ The Treehouse.

Nilima Mathai (DVC-R's office) and I were really impressed with the ideas that Amy Felke and Brodie Miller (UTA) presented today. They have drawn on inspiration from the Indigenous plants around Bathurst = as well as the idea that we need a fun colour palette for our audience - children of the world. They will now do a little more work - and will soon have the designs ready for us to share with our team (for comment). How fun! Thanks for understanding our dream.

Nilima Mathai, Amy Felke and Sharynne -
discussing the new colour palette and brand design for the Children's Voices Centre

Advances in Communication and Swalloçwing editorial board meeting

Tonight I attended an editorial board meeting for Advances in Communication and Swallowing (ACS). 

https://www.iospress.com/catalog/journals/advances-in-communication-and-swallowing

The journal is now indexed in SCOPUS. Currently submissions are from Europe - and they are wanting to diversify the content of the journal. There will be a special issue coming up on multilingualism. They also have capacity to promote SDGs - https://www.iospress.com/highlighted-sdg-content

Welcome Tamara

Today I had the pleasure of showing Dr Tamara Cumming around The Treehouse. The Early Childhood Research Group was founded by Tamara in 2020 and she invited me to co-lead it. She was the first co-chair of the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2020) and helped write the application for the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research (ECIR) Sturt Scheme. She has been working at Macquarie University for the past 2.5 years. We have continued to collaborate - last month this chapter was published:

McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Cumming, T., & Downey, B. (2024). Refusing to silence early childhood voices: The establishment of the Early Childhood Voices Conference. In L. Mahony, S. McLeod, A. Salamon, & J. Dwyer (Eds.), Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals (pp. 251-269). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_18

AARE seminar - Impact of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) on STEM

I learned a lot from attending the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) seminar titled "Impact of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) on STEM (Science, technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Research and Education Practice from Early to Primary years" 

Here is the description: 

STEM education research has received enormous attention all over the world because the 21st century requires STEM-skilled humans. CHAT emphasises that children’s learning and development process, from lower form to higher mental functions, requires valued social or cultural experiences (Vygotsky, 1997). While STEM education has been researched in many ways, CHAT offers a unique/ valuable theoretical perspective because it helps to understand children’s conceptual (STEM) learning and development as a dynamic process (Vygotsky, 1987) where conceptual learning occurs in everyday contexts. To provide participants with insight into the value of using CHAT in STEM education research, this seminar (finishing with a Q&A), will provide: a background on CHAT examples of how this theory can be used when researching STEM education. The seminar combines presentations from a research expert and two PhD students to offer diverse perspectives on using CHAT in STEM education research. 

• Presentation 1: Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer, Monash University, Australia Rising to the concrete: Concept development of children from infancy to end of primary school in Conceptual PlayWorlds (Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer) 

 

 

• Presentation 2: Ms Jenny Dwyer, Charles Sturt University, Australia How can children’s mathematical graphics provide a steppingstone for children’s development of everyday and scientific (mathematical) concepts? (Ms Jenny Dwyer, PhD Candidate) 

• Presentation 3: Ms Winnie Chen, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Exploring the potential use of cultural-historical activity theory to unpack early childhood teachers pedagogical practices regarding children’s digital play. (Ms Winnie Chen, PhD Candidate) 
• Moderators: Dr Shukla Sikder, Senior Lecturer, Charles Sturt University, Australia and Dr John Cripps Clark, Senior Lecturer, Deakin University, Australia 
  

CSU Media: Playtime! Inaugural International Day of Play promotes play for a better world

 

CSU Media have just posted the following news item: https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/playtime!-inaugural-international-day-of-play-promotes-play-for-a-better-world

"Charles Sturt University academics organising the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2024) in November are joining the celebrations of the inaugural International Day of Play on Tuesday 11 June by inviting children to draw themselves playing.

• Organisers of the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2024) in November are inviting children to ‘draw themselves playing’ in recognition of the importance of play and International Day of Play on Tuesday 11 June
  

• Play is a universal language spoken by people of all ages, transcending national, cultural and socio-economic boundaries
  

• ECV2024 is a free interdisciplinary international conference to share research about innovative methods, theories, and partnerships with children, families and practitioners
  

Charles Sturt University academics organising the Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2024) in November are joining the celebrations of the inaugural International Day of Play on Tuesday 11 June by inviting children to draw themselves playing.

Conference co-chair Dr Belinda Downey (pictured left, below with co-organisers) in the Charles Sturt School of Education said the first-ever International Day of Play marks a significant milestone that encourages all people, especially children, to prioritise playing and reap the beneficial rewards offered though play. “Play has the power to transcend geographic, linguistic, cultural and socio-economic boundaries as it is a universal language,” Dr Downey said. “Play can foster relationships, a sense of community, and national pride while supporting well-being and skill development.” Dr Downey said research since the late 1800s has argued the role of play is fundamental in children’s learning and development.

“Through play, children can learn to solve their problems, with support from adults and independently. Play also assists children to develop agency in their lives, cultivate their resilience by overcoming fears, acquire conflict resolution skills essential for navigating life, and build their empathy and communication skills which are crucial for all their ongoing interactions and relationships,” she said. “Early childhood professionals, including teachers and allied health practitioners, have long understood that engaging with play intentionally supports children’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical skill development.”

Researchers have found that intentional, guided play offers an optimal space for children to learn. Intentional, guided play can occur through various activities like modelling, demonstrating, open-ended questioning, speculating, explaining and participating in shared problem-solving and thinking tasks with other children and adults. Dr Downey explained that play environments that are engaging, welcoming and reflective of children’s interests and cultural backgrounds serve to stimulate their curiosity and promote meaningful and challenging experiences. These environments and the relationships children develop through play facilitate the interactions that foster high-level thinking.

“Intentional and guided play are important but open-ended, spontaneous and child-centred play also hold an important role in children’s development,” she said. “Play with peers provides children the necessary space and time to engage in critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, form friendships, and learn to communicate effectively. “These crucial skills set children up for academic success and lifelong learning and are developed during play.”

In celebration of International Day of Play, the organisers of the ECV2024 Conference are creating a global online gallery of children’s drawings titled Children Draw Playing. This will be similar to the Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery that was created in 2022 for ECV2022 where 200 children from 24 countries submitted drawings. “Drawing is a form of play that offers children an inclusive way to teach adults about children’s perspectives and experiences of the world,” Dr Downey said. “We want to share the voices of children from around the world in our international gallery by asking them to draw about their play.” Parents can enter their child’s drawing here. ECV2024 is a free interdisciplinary international conference focused on sharing research about innovative methods, theories and partnerships with children, families, and practitioners. It supports social justice during early childhood and within the early childhood sector. International speakers will present research or commentary in a virtual online space. Presentations will share innovations to improve the lives of children and families and support the evidence-based practice of early childhood educators. The ECV2024 conference will be held online from Monday 25 to Thursday 28 November and registrations can be made online at the conference website. Presentation submissions from early childhood researchers are welcome. Please submit an Abstract here.

Media Note: To arrange interviews with Dr Belinda Downey, contact Bruce Andrews at Charles Sturt Media on mobile 0418 669 362 or via news@csu.edu.au Photo: (left to right) Dr Belinda Downey (ECV2024 chair), Dr Carolyn Gregoric (ECV2024 conference secretary), Professor Sharynne McLeod (ECV2024 chair)

 

ACU Speed Session: Working with multilingual children: How can I assess speech in a language that I don't speak?

The Australian Catholic University (ACU) Allied Health speed sessions for May includes an invited presentation by Kate Margetson titled "Working with multilingual children: How can I assess speech in a language that I don't speak? 

Kate Margetson is a speech pathologist and postdoctoral research fellow at Charles Sturt University. Her PhD research focussed on assessment and differential diagnosis of speech sound disorders in bilingual Vietnamese-English speaking children. Her current research focusses on supporting speech-language pathologists to work with multilingual children, particularly when they do not speak the same language(s). Kate is a certified practicing speech-language pathologist and has worked clinically for over 10 years with multilingual children and their families in both Australia and Vietnam. She is a director of Trinh Foundation Australia which has support the development of the speech pathology profession in Vietnam.

Access the recording here: https://echo360.net.au/media/93c893a0-9748-40c5-8461-b7faf7ad52ad/public

Invited paper accepted for publication in Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy

We have just had the following invited paper accepted for publication in the Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy: 

McLeod, S., Blake, H. L. & Margetson, K. (2024, in press). Enhancing children’s speech using international evidence-based resources. RPTF - Revista Portuguesa de Terapia da Fala [Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy] https://www.aptf-rptf.com/

 It is wonderful to continue our collaborations with our colleagues in Portugal: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/search/label/Portuguese

 

ECV2024 registrations - this week

Early Childhood Voices Conference 2024 (ECV2024): https://www.csu.edu.au/ecv2024 

108 registrations from 15 countries (Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong SAR, UK, Bangladesh, Singapore, Canada, Iceland, Fiji, USA, New Zealand, Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Hungary).

Using Covidence for our rapid review of speech, language, communication and literacy programs for Indigenous children

We have been undertaking a rapid review of speech, language, communication and literacy programs for Indigenous children. Today Carolyn and I began screening the >2000 papers identified via Covidence.

 

A productive week back in Bathurst

This was my first week back in Bathurst after my 7-week trip to Lisbon (Portugal), Bristol, Cambridge, London, Worcester, and Oxford (England), Cardiff, Bangor(virtual) (Wales), and Perth (Australia). It has been wonderful to share what I have learned and done while overseas - and also to learn about all of the great work that has been done to advance our many projects while I have been away. Thanks everyone.

Dr Helen Blake and Sharynne

Sarah Bartlett, Emily-Jane Woodhead, and Sharynne

Dr Carolyn Gregoric and Sharynne

ECV2024 - Writing a Winning Abstract

Today Dr Carolyn Gregoric and Dr Emmaline Lear presented a session called Writing a Winning Abstract to  help people write an abstract for the Early Childhood Voices 2024 Conference (ECV2024) using the 5-Question Technique

Dr Emmaline Lear demonstrating the elements of an abstract

Children's Voices Centre - transition planning

Today I met with Associate Dean Research Matt Winslade to begin writing the business plan for the Children's Voices Centre. We also discussed the transition from the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme (2021-2024).

The Treehouse - discussions with the CSU building team

This week I have had three meetings with Matt Newton and the CSU team who are in charge of building works. They are a great team.

Sharynne, Donna Bateup, Kelly Tribolet, Blake Edwards, Shane O'Brien, Matt Newton

After talking with Matt and Sean Sun, I have named The Treehouse's building stages in the following way:

• Stage 1: Horse - what we need - 2024
  
• Stage 2: Zebra - what we want - 2025
  
• Stage 3: Unicorn - what we really want - 2025+

I am very grateful to the DVC-R Mark Evans, Pat McKenna from the DVC-R's office and Michelle Crosby the Chief Operating Officer (COO) who have advanced this work plan. We are now going through all of the documentation, checks, and permissions. We are hoping that it may be able to be completed in November 2024 in time for our ECV2024 conference.

I also learned from Matt Winslade (Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Arts and Education) that our office building has two apartments at the back - so we also were able to look at these during the site visit with Matt Newton. This would be an amazing space for visiting international and national academics, postgraduate students, etc.