International Speech Screener recording session

This morning Dom Ingersole from CSU Communications recorded my speech at the CSU radio station to be imported into the updated International Speech Screener to be used in our CeTasSSD research project. Thanks Dom!

 

CVC2026 social media assets

https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/

 

 You are warmly invited to register and submit an abstract for our Children's Voices Conference 2026 (CVC2026), our fourth biennial international conference hosted by Charles Sturt University. 

The theme for our conference is "Creating a more inclusive world for children" 

This is a FREE international conference (with FREE registration, FREE abstract submission, and it is FREE to attend)! If you are a practitioner, established or emerging researcher, or research student, doing work with, for, or about children, this is the opportunity to share your work!

The conference will run from 1-3 September 2026. All presentations will be prerecorded and streamed online, with perpetual access to presentations. 

Our previous conferences have attracted approximately 1,300 participants from around the world, along with countless presentation views post the conference.

Abstract submission closes: Monday 11 May 2026. All abstracts are considered by the scientific review committee and outcomes are posted in July.

We invite you to invite you to register, present, and share widely!

For more information go to: https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/

Image description: An orange tile with the Charles Sturt University logo and the following words: 
Children's Voices Conference 2026:
Creating a more inclusive world for children!
Submit your abstract and register now for this FREE international conference that will run from Sep 1-3 2026
For more information go to: followed by a QR code for the website https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/

CeTasSSD 2026 team meeting

Tasmanian speech sound disorders prevalence and screening pathway project(CeTasSSD)

Today was our first official CeTasSSD team meeting for 2026 with our new and expanded team. It was great to have almost the whole 2026 team together this morning to remind ourselves of the importance of this project, look at what we achieved in 2025 and plan for 2026.

Online: Ally Barrett, Emma Scanlon, Sharynne  McLeod, Felicity Laurence, Lisa Johnson, Sarah Verdon, Helen Blake

 

 

 

Children's Voices Centre: 2025 Summary report

The Children's Voices Centre (CVC) was launched 1 October 2025. In 2025 CVC staff, affiliates, HDR students and adjuncts produced 242 outputs documented in CRO including 6 books, 9 reports, 3 theses, 15 chapters, 97 journal articles, and 58 conference presentations. In 2025 CVC staff submitted 5 grants, generated $117,000 HERDC income (undertaking research with Worksafe Victoria, Catholic Education Tasmania, Orange Aboriginal Medical Service), and CVC received its first anonymous philanthropic donation of $30,000. Collaborative research with 20+ interdisciplinary affiliates (mostly early career researchers) resulted in Q1 journal articles and conference presentations with more underway. 

The World Health Organization has invited CVC to apply to become a collaborating centre in 2026 following a co-operative research program, official membership WHO Disability Health Equity Network, and presentations at WHO (Geneva, Fiji).  CVC research impact includes with United Nations Foundation (USA), Australian Government (Thriving Kids Inquiry, Disability Discrimination Act), Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (3-month exhibition). Leadership roles in International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) and European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). Awards from Patras University (Greece), International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP, non-state actor of WHO). One CVC HDR student graduated as a CSU university medallist. Visiting scholars were from: Nord University (Norway), Wellcome Trust visiting scholar (UK), East Tennessee State University (USA).

• Books    6
• Reports    9
• Theses    3
• Chapters    15
• Journal articles    97
• Commentary    3
• Editorial    7
• Book/Film/Article review    2
• Contribution to specialist publication    15
• Conference presentation/poster    58
• Resources/Non-textual outputs    27
• TOTAL    242

 

“Oh! I forgot the voice”: Comparing drawings of talking by children with and without speech sound disorder

Congratulations to Hannah Deehan who has had her honours research accepted for publication in Child Language Teaching and Therapy

Deehan, H., McLeod, S. & Harrison, L. J. (2026, in press March). “Oh! I forgot the voice”: Comparing drawings of talking by children with and without speech sound disorder. Child Language Teaching and Therapy.

Here is the abstract

Recognition that children’s views should be respected has increased since the United Nations’ publication of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This study explored whether preschool children’s drawings and descriptions of themselves “talking to someone” differed for children with speech sound disorder (SSD) compared to children with typically developing speech. Participants were 78 children matched for age and sex and divided into two groups (SSD and Typical) based on percentage of consonants correct on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology. The SSD group was significantly more likely to self-report some difficulty talking but did not differ from the Typical group on how they felt about their talking or on developmental maturity for drawing human figures. Analyses applying a focal points approach (Furth, 2002) showed a significant difference in participants’ portrayal of “body parts” but no difference for “facial expressions”, “talking and listening”, “relationships and connections” (number of people and conversational partner/s) and “sense of self”. Children with SSD were more likely to accentuate ears in their drawings, while typically developing children were more likely to accentuate hands. In sum, drawing and describing “talking” did not differentiate SSD and typically developing children, but enabled understanding of how individual children conceptualise and represent communication with others.

A special day with Orange Aboriginal Medical Service (OAMS)

Over the past 3 years, we have been undertaking research with OAMS. Today, Sarah Bartlett and I visited OAMS to finalise four journal manuscripts (submissions and revisions) based on the work we undertook with the OAMS team. We also have presented at a number of conferences as well. We had a rich discussion about the research, representing the people and work of OAMS, the importance of the research internationally, tracking research (ORCiD, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, Web of Science), authorship, and many other topics. What a special bond.

Sharynne  McLeod, Janay Apps, Marie-Christine Sweeney, Sarah Bartlett

It was exciting to see the Little Libraries, map, and posters available from our research project

Sharynne  and Sarah arriving at OAMS

Here are the conference presentations from our research so far:

 CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

1. Bartlett, S; McLeod, S; Gregoric, C; Newman, J; Apps, J. (2026, June). Implications of caregiver-implemented intervention for three underserved communities [Research insights]. Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, Gold Coast, Australia.
2. McLeod, S., Bartlett, S., Woodhead, E-J., & Gregoric, C., Newman, J. & Sweeney, C. (2025, November). Community support for Indigenous children’s speech, language and communication [Oral presentation]. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Conference, Washington DC, USA.
3. McLeod, S., Newman, J. & Sweeney, M-C., Bartlett, S., Woodhead, E-J., & Gregoric, C. (2025, September). Building the present and the future: Indigenous children’s speech, language and literacy [Oral presentation]. Oceania and Indigenous Trans-national Methods and Practices, Charles Sturt University, Orange, Australia.
4. McLeod, S., Woodhead, E-J., Hay, E., Bartlett, S. & Gregoric, C. (2025, June). Rural Australians’ ratings of Indigenous children’s books to support communication and literacy [Oral presentation]. Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
5. McLeod, S., Woodhead, E.-J. Bartlett, S., Hay, E., & Gregoric, C. (2024, November). Indigenous children’s speech, language and communication: Identifying and co-creating resources and services [Oral presentation]. Early Childhood Voices Conference, Online, Bathurst, Australia. https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/ecv2024-413/