Commendation - Higher Degree by Research Thesis / Creative Work of the Year

Congratulations to Dr Kate Margetson who was named in the Charles Sturt University Research Excellence Awards “Higher Degree by Research Thesis / Creative Work of the Year: Faculty commendations: Faculty of Arts and Education”

ECV2024 map

ECV2024 and Charles Sturt University welcomes 1100+ people who have registered from 56 countries.

Frustration

This blog typically is about celebrating achievements - especially the achievements of my amazing colleagues and students. Today I need to write a blogpost about frustration. I realize these are small thing. especially in the global context - but some weeks it seems that too many small things stop us from doing big important things. Here are a few of the many frustrating things that have occurred recently.

• Hearing - I attended an important event where there was no microphones/amplification of the speakers. I couldn't hear what they were saying. I asked the people around me - and we all thought that one of the invited speakers proudly said he was either a "boozer" or a "user" - but in the context I am sure he said something else! It is discourteous to invite a panel of speakers to speak to a large audience and not have a microphone. Communication (listening and speaking) is a human right.
• Accounting - I have a grant that includes funds for provisions and resources. Recently I spent about 4 hours justifying and gaining approval for the purchase of a few punnets of strawberries to be used during data collection research with children. Typically I don't have funds for expenses like this and fund it out of my own money. Unusually, this time I did. I think I'll go back to funding things myself!
• Disqualification - I have had two significant pieces of work that have taken many many months to prepare that have been disqualified. One was a large grant that received very positive external reviews but was disqualified because it may include "health/medical" benefits. The other is an award for ~50 colleagues that would have been considered had someone other than me submitted it (I was a runner-up for a different award in 2022 - so the whole team's application was deemed ineligible).
• Timezones - We are about to launch an online asynchronous conference where 1100 people have registered from 56 countries/regions. Our commitment has always been to allow people from anywhere to participate fully whatever their timezone since we do not have set times for events. Today we learned that the commercial platform we have been made to use for the 2024 conference requires that everything is allocated a time and they don't have capability to run it an asynchronous event. With a week to go before the we begin - we hope that the company can enable us to successfully run a conference that is in the way we have done effectively twice before.

Thank you to my awesome colleagues who provide much encouragement and do great work. Doing good work involves lots of rejected journal articles and unsuccessful grant applications. It also includes lots of frustrations - but some weeks I'd rather be working on the important issues to change the lives of children and the people who support them.

ECV2024 launch to be held on Monday 25th November

Today we have been finalising the ECV2024 launch to be held on Monday 25th November, 2024.

Here is our description of the event:

Join us for the official launch of ECV2024 that will be livestreamed from Charles Sturt University, Bathurst campus, Australia on Monday 25th November. 

ECV2024 will be launched by the Charles Sturt Vice Chancellor, Professor Renée Leon. 

The keynote presentation will be given by Professor Tony Dreise, Pro Vice-Chancellor First Nations Strategy who will present “Giving voice to ‘villages’, listening to ‘Country’: It’s time to unlock the power of ‘place’”. 

The achievements of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR) will be celebrated. 

Children will be a focus of the ECV2024 launch. Children are involved in the welcome, acknowledgment of country, the Children Draw Playing Global Online Gallery, and we will enjoy the Assumption Catholic Primary School Band

UTS Honorary Professor

I have been invited to extend my role as Honorary Professor in the Graduate School of Health, Faculty of Health at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). I began this role in 2019 and this is the second time the appointment has been extended. I enjoy collaborating with Prof Bronwyn Hemsley and her team at UTS.

I acknowledge the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, upon whose ancestral lands UTS stands. I pay my respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for this land.

Ethics application

Today Dr Nicola Ivory and I worked hard on our ethics application for our research with Catholic Education Tasmania. Lots was accomplished.

ECV2024 - more than 1000 registrations

Today we are at 1091 registrations :) for the Early Childhood Voices 2024 conference!

We have all of the video presentations ready for uploading to YouTube - then the website will be built - and the conference will begin in less than two weeks time. The Faculty of Arts and Education (FOAE) team are about to begin uploading.

Thanks everyone - and especially Dr Carolyn Gregoric our magnificent conference secretary.

Patrick McKenzie (FOAE), Michelle Egan (FOAE), Dr Belinda Downey, Janelle Bateman (FOAE), Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Prof Sharynne McLeod

ECIR leadership team meeting - Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Prof Sharynne McLeod, A/Prof Libbey Murray

Facilities Management team visit The Treehouse

Thanks to the Facilities Management team,  Therese King (Campus Facilities Manager) and Brandon Schranzer (Operations Coordinator Bathurst Campus), who visited The Treehouse and 1435 accommodation today to discuss current and future plans for the buildings.

Brandon Schranzer, Therese King and Sharynne McLeod

 

Recording the ECV2024 Conference Welcome

This morning Dr Belinda Downey and I recorded the Early Childhood Voices 2024 conference co-chairs welcome:

Dr Belinda Downey and Prof Sharynne McLeod - ECV2024 conference co-chairs

BD: Greetings from the Wiradjuri lands of New South Wales, Australia. I'm Dr. Belinda Downey,

SM: and I'm Professor Sharynne McLeod.

BD: We are the co-chairs of ECV2024 - the Early Childhood Voices Conference - at Charles Sturt University, Australia.

SM: The Early Childhood Voices Conference began in 2020 and this is our third conference.
It is a free online interdisciplinary conference focusing on children.

At ECV we share research about innovative methods, theories, and partnerships with children, families, and practitioners that support social justice during early childhood and within the early childhood sector.

BD: ECV 2024, is organised by the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group at Charles Sturt University in Australia.

There are 3 ways to participate,  

1. Attend the conference online from the 25th to the 28th of November 2024 – watching the online recordings at times that suit you
2. Join online yarning sessions to discuss topics relevant to the conference on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the week of the conference.
3. Enjoy the Children Draw Playing Global Online Gallery – where approximately 200 children from across the world present their views of playing.

SM: We are so excited to welcome over a 1000 people from 54 countries who have registered to attend. We hope you enjoy listening to our 4 excellent keynote presentations and the 147 oral presentations across two streams:

1. 71 papers in the  “Early childhood voices: International interdisciplinary research” stream  (71 abstracts)
2. And 76 papers in the “Multilingual children's speech development” stream. These papers are presented in English and in many other languages including Kurdish, Jamaican, Icelandic, Danish, Turkish, and Swedish.

The peer reviewed abstracts are published online and in the Conference proceedings. 

BD: Thank you to our amazing colleagues from Charles Sturt University for working hard on committees to ensure this conference is a success. We particularly thank our wonderful conference secretary, Dr Carolyn Gregoric.
We hope that by participating in ECV2024 you are inspired to listen to children’s voices, advocate for children and social justice during early childhood.
 

BD&SM: Welcome to our conference!

Aboriginal Land Council meeting

On Friday we met with the CEO of the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) about the programs: Designing Futures and Aboriginal Parents as Teachers. Supporting children's speech, language and communication and the local need for speech pathology was high on their agenda.

Adam Gollan (OAMS), Sarah Bartlett, Annette Steele, Sharynne McLeod, Emily-Jane Woodhead

Sarah Bartlett's PhD endorsement

Congratulations to my PhD student Sarah Bartlett who traveled to Bathurst to present her PhD proposal. Her topic is: Caregiver-implemented Intervention to Support Children’s Communication: Considering the Hanen Programs® with Underserved Communities

Sarah presenting her endorsement in Bathurst and online

Prof Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Bartlett, A/Prof Will Letts (Head, School of Education)

Background. Children’s ability to communicate is supported by family and caregivers during children’s development. Some children have difficulty communicating and have speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Caregiver-implemented interventions are family centred and focus on empowering caregivers to support children’s communication development. Hanen® programs are a common exemplar of an evidence-based caregiver-implemented intervention with 57 studies from 15 countries demonstrating the programs’ efficacy, effectiveness and perceived effectiveness. Hanen® programs were developed in Canada and evidence supporting their use largely reflects perspectives of Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic (WEIRD) researchers and participants. Hanen® programs have potential for supporting underserved communities in Australia including families who multilingual, humanitarian migrants, or Indigenous; however, the applicability has not been examined.
Aim. This study aims to understand if caregiver-implemented interventions are suitable or can be modified to be responsive to the communication needs of children and families in underserved communities in Australia.
Method. This PhD program will comprise three parts. A scoping/narrative review will be undertaken to document current evidence for Hanen® programs and the demography of researchers and participants. The PhD candidate received invitations to work with three underserved communities to undertake research regarding the applicability of the Hanen programs: families who are asylum seekers, migrant families from low SES communities, and a rural Indigenous community. Conversations have been undertaken with the communities to consider the acceptability and feasibility of the Hanen® program. If appropriate, the communities will co-develop and adapt elements of Hanen® programs to support caregivers of children who have SLCN. Quantitative and qualitative tools will be identified to measure outcomes of the adapted Hanen® programs during trials in the communities. In response to consultation with the Indigenous community, a Hanen® program will not be implemented. Instead, an international scoping review of services and resources for supporting children with SLCN from Indigenous communities will be undertaken to inform their future community-driven support.
Conclusions. Professionals routinely support families from a range of different cultures. Much of the evidence for interventions typically reflects the values and beliefs of WEIRD communities. It is essential for professionals to provide culturally safe and responsive practices for all families. This PhD program will contribute to co-designing and understanding the acceptability and feasibility of a caregiver-implemented intervention (adapted Hanen® program) to support children’s communication across three underserved communities.

Sharynne and Sarah on the Bathurst campus

Collaboration with World Health Organization - Terms of Reference discussion

Tonight we had the second very exciting meeting with Mel Greaux from the World Health Organization in Geneva to discuss the draft terms of reference for our collaboration. 

Melanie (WHO), Dr Suzanne Hopf (CSU), A/Prof Kate Crowe (CSU Adjunct), Sharynne McLeod (CSU)

Congratulations Associate Professor Ben Pham

Congratulations to Associate Professor Ben Pham who has just been promoted by the government of Vietnam. We are so proud of you!

Ten years ago Ben came to Bathurst to undertake her PhD with me. It has been an honour to work alongside Ben for the past decade. Her research has had a huge impact on the world's understanding of how Vietnamese children learn to speak.

Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families, Professionals (2e)

Our CSU editorial team met again today - and submitted our book proposal for a second edition/volume of Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families, Professionals (2e). We have already received an initial positive response from the commissioning editor. 

Editorial team: Shukla Sikder, Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Verdon, Lysa Dealtry, Sheena Elwick

ECV2024 statistics update

ECV2024 is organised by the Charles Sturt University Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group.

ECV2024 will showcase

• 4 keynote presentations
• 147 oral presentation abstracts have been accepted across two streams

• 1: Early childhood voices: International interdisciplinary research (71 abstracts)
  (62 received; 5 withdrawn; 4 to be submitted)
  
• 2: Multilingual children's speech development (76 abstracts) https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/multilingual-childrens-speech-development
  

ECV2024 statistics

• Registrations = 976
• Countries = 54
• Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong (SAR China), Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Malaysia, Malta, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA, Wales, Zambia

Drawings/creations submitted by children for our Children Draw Playing Global Online Gallery

• Drawings = 179
• Countries = 7
• Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Mongolia, Philippines, South Africa

Live sessions (11am and 5pm)

• Family’s voices
• Communications and multilingual speech
• Professional voices
• Children’s voices - listening to children in research
• Children's play, learning and drawing
• Interdisciplinary approaches to children’s rights and sustainable development outcomes

We are presenting the conference using CVENT: https://www.csu.edu.au/ecv2024

We also have our ECV2024 website: https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/

Our Multilingual children's speech development stream is available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXcSAl_dA7arRMrE0qdxLuzGChY1LgY2

Manuscript revisions after peer review

Journal articles undergo rounds of peer review before publication (or rejection). Prof Linda Harrison and I spent time revising an important manuscript this weekend while Linda was visiting Bathurst. We appreciate the time and thoughtfulness of the editor and reviewers. The message in our article is important for understanding outcomes of children with speech, language and communication need.

Children's books, jumping castles, and research

Research can be such fun. I have never before conducted research next to a jumping castle. Thanks to the OAMS staff, families and children who yarned about our research, looked at the children's books and participated. Lots of people were interested in reading books with their children/grandchildren - so in the future it would be great to have books for people to take home too. Here are the children's books that Ebony has selected for us to use in our research: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/first-nations-resources

Sharynne and Ebony

Sharynne and Emily-Jane by the jumping castle

Our children's books near the jumping castle