CVC affilates and adjuncts contribute papers to CLTT special issue

Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities

Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue (2026, volume 42) - Q1 journal

Guest editors: Sharynne McLeod and Holly McAlister*, Children’s Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University, Australia
CLTT Editors: Judy Clegg and Victoria Joffe

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

The entire special issue contains 17 papers written by people from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, UK

Here is my 2-minute video summary of the special issue:  https://charlessturt.zoom.us/rec/share/M6k58N7ZaAZsqNcKTpefR9bRT62DNI-tKN-5ov_9PT6h-6bh4j1K79Knb6d1Y7IO.WKRpGEL_LBPtpYv7
View in Zoom

It has been great to mentor and include so many CVC staff/affiliates/adjuncts/HDR students in the special issue:

• 6 CVC papers
• 2 CVC editors
• 19 CVC authors
• 8 CVC peer reviewers

1. Cologon, K. (2026). From space and voice to audience and influence: Methodological approaches to inclusive co-research with young children. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 42, https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261470993
2. Deehan, H., McLeod, S. & Harrison, L. J. (2026). “Oh! I forgot the voice”: Comparing drawings of talking by children with and without speech sound disorder. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 42, https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261433348
3. Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., Davies, J. (2026). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 42, https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102
4. McAlister, H., McLeod, S., & Hopf, S. C. (2026). Ladders, trees and matrixes: Child-focused participatory action research frameworks for children with diverse communication abilities. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 42, https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261455298
5. McCormack, J., Cronin, A., McLeod, S., Ireland, M., Wang, C., & Tiong, C. (2026). Children’s drawings of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech: Place, people, activity, and emotion. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 42, https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251375340
6. McLeod, S. (2026). Large listening ears are not enough: How can we mature in our practices to listen to children? Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 42, https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261477289

*bolded text = CVC affiliate/adjunct/HDR student

 

Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue (2026) is finished

Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue (2026)
Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities
Guest editors: Sharynne McLeod and Holly McAlister, Children’s Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University, Australia
CLTT Editors: Judy Clegg and Victoria Joffe

1. Cologon, K. (2026). From space and voice to audience and influence: Methodological approaches to inclusive co-research with young children. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication.  
2. Deehan, H., McLeod, S., & Harrison, L. J. (2026). “Oh! I forgot the voice”: Comparing drawings of talking by children with and without speech sound disorder. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261433348
3. Devane K., O’Malley-Keighran M., & Carroll, C. (2026). ‘Irish... It’s the native language...It representes who you are in a way’: Understanding the lives of Irish-English speaking children in Ireland. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261460261
4. Doherty, G., O’Malley-Keighran, M., & Carroll, C. (2026). An exploratory study of the school experiences of multilingual children in an English monolingual primary school in Ireland. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261461427
5. Esbensen, A., Pilesjö, M. S., &., & Clausen, M. C. (2026). “I’m a man of few words”: Children’s perspectives on living with developmental language disorder. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261428941
6. Furlong, L., Clendon, S., Gillon, G. & McNeill, B. (2026). Children’s perspectives on structured literacy teaching and their emerging perceptions of themselves as readers and writers. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication.
7. Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., &., & Davies, J. (2026). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102
8. Harasym, J. A., Gross, D. P., MacLeod, A. A., &., & Phelan, S. K. (2026). They smirk ‘but you’re not dying’ and other (mis)understandings about communication and concussion navigated by youth: An arts-based reflexive collective case study. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261424124
9. Harding, S., Burr, S., Cleland, J., Stringer, H., & Wren, Y. (2026). Understanding the experiences of children with speech sound disorder in speech and language therapy using emotional mapping. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261444674
10. McAlister, H., McLeod, S., & Hopf, S. C. (2026). Ladders, trees and matrixes: Child-focused participatory action research frameworks in speech-language pathology. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261455298
11. McCormack J., Cronin A., McLeod S., Ireland M., Wang C., & Tiong C (2026). Children’s drawing of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS): Place, people, activity and emotion. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251375340
12. McLeod, S. (2026). Large listening ears are not enough: How can we mature in our practices to listen to children? Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication.
13. Miletic, K., Choi, L. D., Biggs, K., Bazzocchi, N. B., & Washington, K. N. (2026). Listening to Jamaican preschoolers’ voices: Exploring relationships between child- and proxy-based measures of communication experiences. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261461429
14.  Shelton, N., Munro, N., Starling, J., Tieu, L., Sutherland, R., &., & Keep, M. (2026). Social media experiences of adolescents with communication disability: A structured interview pilot study. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261432879
15. Spencer, S., Roberts, V., Schroeter, K., &., & Clegg, J. (2026). Being understood: Neurodivergent care leavers’ perspectives on their own communication skills. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251411749
16. Tiong, C., McCormack, J., & Cronin, A. (2026). What is a good outcome in speech and language therapy and how can this be achieved? Exploring the views of school-aged children and parents. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication.
17. Weir, S., Forster, S., &., & Clendon, S. (2026). Exploring voice and participatory processes for children who communicate in unconventional ways. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261422660

Holly and Sharynne  celebrating the achievement

Large listening ears are not enough: How can we mature in our practices to listen to children?

The following article has just been accepted for publication after peer review: 

McLeod, S. (2026, in press). Large listening ears are not enough: How can we mature in our practices to listen to children? Child Language Teaching and Therapy. 

Here is the abstract:

Communication is a human right for all; including children with speech, language, and communication needs and those who speak/sign non-dominant languages. Communication specialists enhance the “voice” of children in two ways. We support children’s physical and cognitive abilities to talk as well as enabling children the “right to freedom of expression… regardless of frontiers” (Article 13 Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations, 1989). We have creatively engaged in child-friendly methods to provide children space and voice – and children frequently depict their supportive communicative partners with “large listening ears”. As communication specialists, we also have the power to assist others to listen, giving children audience and influence (Lundy, 2007). This paper provides examples of listening to children with diverse communication abilities, is based on the Child Language Teaching and Therapy (CLTT) 2024 Summer Lecture, and has been updated by integrating papers from the CLTT special issue published in 2026. As we become accustomed to including children’s perspectives in our professional practice, this paper encourages us to reflect on whether we listen to children superficially or use our large listening ears to provide children the opportunity for action based on their insights. How can we mature in our practices to enhance all children’s participation within democratic processes in their families, schools, communities, and society? Our challenge is to have large listening ears; employ a variety of sources (Mosaic approach); involve children’s participation throughout the research process, and facilitate their capacity to influence the world.   

The manuscript was written based on my invited lecture and forms the first article of the special issue of CLTT titled "Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities". 

You can watch the Child Language Teaching and Therapy Summer Lecture 2024 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iajSaUyEuOw

Summer Lecture 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?

Ladders, trees and matrixes: Child-focused participatory action research frameworks for children with diverse communication abilities

Congratulations to our PhD student Holly McAlister who has just had the following article accepted for publication:

McAlister, H., McLeod, S., & Hopf, S. C. (2026, in press April). Ladders, trees and matrixes: Child-focused participatory action research frameworks for children with diverse communication abilities. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. 

Here is the abstract:

Several frameworks – including Hart’s Ladder of Participation (1992), Shier’s Models for Participation (2001, 2010, 2019), and the Lundy Model (2007) – have been developed to support children’s genuine participation as researchers. These child-focused participatory action research (C-PAR) frameworks claim to increase children’s capacity to share their thoughts and opinions to change their lives and communities. This narrative review involved systematic database searches to identify application of these key C-PAR frameworks, and the extent of child participation by children with diverse communication abilities, particularly within the field of speech and language therapy research. Thirty-three papers were identified for descriptive analysis. Children included in these studies were aged between 2-18 years. Children were from Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Most studies included children with speech, language, and communication needs (n = 32, 96.99%) and one paper (3.03%) included children with a swallowing disorder. Most studies (n = 26, 78.79%) consulted children at the data collection stage, often using visual supports, but fewer papers also involved children at other stages of the research process (n = 7, 21.21%). Of these 33 papers, only 4 (12.12%) directly applied one of the C-PAR frameworks. Within speech and language therapy research, we can mature in our practice of involving children with diverse communication needs in all stages of a research project, to support their genuine participation as researchers.

CLTT special issue

 Holly McAlister and I met to discuss our CLTT special issue

Special Issue: Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities 

We currently have 16 papers that are allocated to the special issue:
7 papers are published online already and a few more have been accepted. The remainder will be finalised soon.  

1.  Shelton, N., Munro, N., Starling, J., Tieu, L., Sutherland, R., & Keep, M. (2026). Social media experiences of adolescents with communication disability: A structured interview pilot study. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261432879 
2. Deehan, H., McLeod, S., & Harrison, L. J. (2026). “Oh! I forgot the voice”: Comparing drawings of talking by children with and without speech sound disorder. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 02656590261433348. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261433348
3. Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., & Davies, J. (2025). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children's voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 02656590251406102. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102
4. Harasym, J. A., Gross, D. P., MacLeod, A. A., & Phelan, S. K. (2026). They smirk ‘but you're not dying’ and other (mis)understandings about communication and concussion navigated by youth: An arts-based reflexive collective case study. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 02656590261424124. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261424124
5. McCormack, J., Cronin, A., McLeod, S., Ireland, M., Wang, C., & Tiong, C. (2025). Children's drawings of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech: Place, people, activity, and emotion. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 02656590251375340. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251375340
6. Spencer, S., Roberts, V., Schroeter, K., & Clegg, J. (2026). Being understood: Neurodivergent care leavers’ perspectives on their own communication skills. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 02656590251411749. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251411749
7. Weir, S., Forster, S., & Clendon, S. (2026). Exploring voice and participatory processes for children who communicate in unconventional ways. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 02656590261422660. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261422660 

CLTT special issue - first articles published early online

Holly McAlister and I are the guest editors of a special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy (CLTT) titled "Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities".

Here are excerpts from a recent email received from the editors-in-chief of CLTT:

Dear Sharynne and Holly
 
Hi, hope you are both well. Judy and I met today to talk about CLTT and one of the agenda items was our special issue. We worked through all the papers and are happy to report that all is going to plan and progressing well...Thanks to you both for all the hard work you have invested into this special issue. It is turning out to be a fantastic collection of important papers, and I am sure will have significant impact. 
 
Best wishes 
Vicky
 
Victoria Joffe DPhil (Oxon) FRCSLT RegHCPC FHEA MBPsS
Dean of Integrated Health and Care Partnerships
Professor of Speech and Language Therapy
Office of the Vice Chancellor
University of Essex

Here are the first papers to be published (early online) for the special issue. The entire double issue will be published later in 2026.

1. Weir, S., Forster, S., & Clendon, S. (2026, in press). Exploring voice and participatory processes for children who communicate in unconventional ways. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261422660 
2. Spencer, S., Roberts, V., Schroeter, K., & Clegg, J. (2026, in press). Being understood: Neurodivergent care leavers’ perspectives on their own communication skills. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251411749 
3. Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., & Davies, J. (2026, in press). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children's voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102 *
4. McCormack, J., Cronin, A., McLeod, S., Ireland, M., Wang, C., & Tiong, C. (2026, in press). Children's drawings of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech: Place, people, activity, and emotion. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251375340 *

(*CLTT editors-in-chief managed peer review)
 

“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.

CLTT special issue

 Holly McAlister and I have been working on the Child Language Teaching and Therapy special issue for about a year now. On Friday we did a stocktake:

• 5 accepted
• 5 rejected
• 5 minor revisions (awaiting reviewers/authors)
• 5 major revisions (awaiting reviewers/authors)
• 1 awaiting review 

The papers are excellent! It is going to be a great special issue focusing on children's voices.

CVC collaborative research just published - Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe

Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., & Davies, J. (2025). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102

Just published - Children’s drawings of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech

How exciting - this paper has just been published.

McCormack, J., Cronin, A., McLeod, S., Ireland, M., Wang, C., & Tiong, C. (2025). Children’s drawings of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech: Place, people, activity, and emotion. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251375340

Exiting for two reasons - summarises our Once Upon a Time research grant + first paper to be accepted for our Child Language Teaching and Therapy special issue! 

Here are the drawings that have been included as figures in our paper. These depict the participants' insights into undertaking DTTC intervention.

 

CLTT special issue - discussion with CLTT editors

Tonight Holly McAlister and I had a conversation with the Child Language Teaching and Therapy editors Prof Judy Clegg and Prof Vicky Joffe about the special issue we are guest editing titled: Listening to children with diverse communication abilities. Guidelines are here: https://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/CLT/CLTT-Call%20for%20Papers-ListeningTo%20Children-FINAL-1733118416.pdf

The issue received 21 papers by the due date in April 2025. We have rejected 5 papers, we have 16 papers undergoing revisions. We still have quite a bit of work to do. It is going to be a fantastic special issue that will be published in 2026. 

Judy, Sharynne, Holly, Vicky

PhD students undertake important work

This week I have met with my PhD students - Sarah Bartlett (co-supervised with Carolyn Gregoric) and Holly McAlister (co-supervised with Suzanne Hopf who is the primary supervisor). They are both undertaking important work that changes the lives of children in Australia and Fiji. 

Sarah has just completed an intensive period of data collection over three different sites/cities where families of toddlers received 16-weeks of intervention. She is excited about the findings - including what goes unsaid, is missing, hesitant and uncomfortable data - that may be captured in a post qualitative analysis.

Sarah, Sharynne and Carolyn

 

At the moment Holly is undertaking data analysis with a team of speech pathologists from Fiji and writing an invited chapter about diagnosis of speech sound disorder in children across the world.

I am also working with Holly as guest editor of a special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy. We have had over 20 articles submitted for the special issue! This activity has been very valuable for the Children's Voices Centre since 17 CVC affiliates have submitted 5 papers and 8 CVC affiliates have reviewed papers. 

PhD students undertake important work.

Holly, Sharynne  and Suzanne

 

Children’s drawings of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS): Place, people, activity, and emotion

The following paper just has been accepted for publication

McCormack, J., Cronin, A., McLeod, S., Ireland, M., Wang, C., & Tiong, C. (2025, accepted July). Children’s drawings of intervention for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS): Place, people, activity, and emotion. Child Language Teaching and Therapy.

It is one of the outcomes from our work on our grant funded by Once Upon a Time to consider perspectives of children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) who were undertaking DTTC intervention.  

Here is the abstract:

Sourcing and including the views of children in speech and language therapy aligns with Articles 12 and 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This research explored the perspectives of 30 children (3;9 – 8;7 years) with childhood apraxia of speech regarding their experiences of Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing intervention. Children lived in the United States or Australia and had engaged in one of three intervention studies exploring: delivery by their parent or speech and language therapist (SLT); delivery in high or low dose; and delivery in massed or distributed format. Children shared their perspectives of intervention through drawing a picture of themselves during intervention, describing their drawings, and identifying emojis responding to questions about intervention. Five focal points were identified in the drawings: Place (73.33%: environment, intervention materials, and transitions), People (73.33%: body parts and facial expressions, relationships and connection, and sense of self), Activity (20.00%: words, talking, and listening), Emotion (53.33%: positive and negative), and Not Talking (6.67%). Many participants felt happy about “speech practice” ( J  62.50%) and who did speech practice with them ( J  62.50%) but were divided in how they felt about the number of times ( J  33.3%) and the length of time ( J  29.17%) of speech practice. Children’s perspectives can be considered when designing and delivering intervention.

Here are two of the insightful drawings by the children involved in the project showing their involvement in intervention. These drawings will be included in the publication. Each drawing shows the child on the left and their speech-language pathologist on the right. Note the environment (table in figure 1 and door, table, chair, stickers in figure 2).

 

CLTT special issue

Holly McAlister and I continue to be busy as guest editors of the special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy https://journals.sagepub.com/home/CLT "Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities". We have sent feedback on four papers and are awaiting reviewers' advice on the remainder. It is going to be a great issue - with diverse and innovative content.

Special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy - Listening to children with diverse communication

This morning Holly McAlister and I met to go through all of the papers submitted to the special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy "Listening to children with diverse communication". We have received a lot of fascinating papers. We are very grateful to the reviewers who have agreed to provide advice about each of the manuscripts and have just begun making decisions about some of the manuscripts.

 

CLTT special issue

The closing date has just passed for our Child Language Teaching and Therapy special issue titled "Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities". Holly McAlister and I are working with the CLTT editors Prof. Judy Clegg and Prof. Vicky Joffe and have received a lot of submissions. We are delighted with the breadth and depth of topics that have been covered in the papers and have already learned from the children and young people who participated in the research. We are now allocating reviewers - who will shape the manuscripts - and provide advice about which ones should be published. I am grateful for a few days holiday at the beach to step out of my day-to-day working tasks and think about this important project. Here is my view :)

 

Editorial board membership

It is my pleasure to be on the editorial board of the following journals:

• International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology [Q1]
• Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics [Q1]
• Child Language Teaching and Therapy [Q1]
• Speech, Language and Hearing [Q1]
• Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech [Q2]
• Advances in Communication and Swallowing

In 2025 I am co-editing a special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy and have been invited to be co-editor of some special issues in the future.

Call for Papers - Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue

Call for Papers - Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/CLT

Listening to children with diverse communication abilities

Editors: Professor Judy Clegg and Professor Victoria Joffe

With Guest Editors: Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod and Holly McAlister from Charles Sturt University, Australia

"Child Language Teaching and Therapy is an international peer reviewed journal which aims to be the leading inter-disciplinary journal in the field of intervention and management of children’s speech, language, and communication needs. The journal publishes original research and review articles of high practical relevance, and which emphasise inter-disciplinary collaboration between education and therapies. The readership of the journal consists of academics and practitioners across the disciplines of education, speech and language therapy, psychology, and linguistics."

Child Language Teaching and Therapy is inviting authors to submit to a special issue titled: Listening to children with diverse communication abilities. This special issue supports children’s communication rights and expands on the Child Language Teaching and Therapy summer lecture titled “Do we really listen to children?” presented by Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre.

You can watch the Child Language Teaching and Therapy summer lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iajSaUyEuOw

Here is the abstract from the summer lecture:

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?

For this special issue, the editors invite papers that explore:

• Innovations in the identification and support of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) as a result of listening to and learning from children and young people.
• Methods to support children’s voice and to assist others to listen by considering space, voice, audience, and influence (see Lundy, 2007).
• Moving beyond tokenistic inclusion to supporting children’s engagement in research processes where children are lead researchers, or collaborators and co-designers of the research (see Hart, 1992; 2008; Shier, 2019).
• Diverse languages, cultures, modes of communication (sign language, AAC), ages (including infants and toddlers), geographies, abilities, and types of speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN). 

Theoretical, methodological, systematic review and empirical papers are all invited for consideration across the disciplines of education, speech and language therapy, psychology, and linguistics, as well as interdisciplinary and international contributions. Papers must be supported by new evidence and/or evidence-based literature. Papers that include research data must include a statement about ethical approval (including information about parent/guardian consent and child assent). Papers are encouraged from people who live and work in Majority World countries (including low and middle-income countries and small island states) and people who have lived experience of communication and / or swallowing disability.

We aim to publish this special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy in early 2026.

Submissions

To be considered for publication, papers must be received using the online submission system by Friday 18th April 2025 (early submissions are encouraged). Please prepare and submit manuscripts according to the guidelines available at https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/CLT. Papers should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract, notes, references, tables, biographical statement, etc.). Papers in excess of 8,000 words will not be sent for review. When submitting your paper, please indicate that the paper is to be considered for the special issue. The manuscript should be submitted to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cltt. All papers will receive a double-blind review, following the usual review process and criteria of Child Language Teaching and Therapy. The special issue is scheduled for publication in early 2026. Accepted papers will be published online first before the issue. Any papers accepted for publication but not included in the special issue due to space constraints will be published later in a regular issue. For further information, please contact the Editors, Judy Clegg (j.clegg@sheffield.ac.uk), Vicky Joffe (v.joffe@essex.ac.uk) and Guest Editors Sharynne McLeod (smcleod@csu.edu.au) and Holly McAlister (hmcalister@csu.edu.au).

References

• Hart, R. A. (1992). Children’s participation: From tokenism to citizenship. United Nations Children’s Fund International Child Development Centre.
• Hart, R. A. (2008). Stepping back from ‘the ladder’: Reflections on a model of participatory work with children. In A. Reid, B. B. Jensen, J. Nikel, & V. Simovska (Eds.), Participation and learning: Perspectives on education and the environment, health and sustainability (pp. 19-31). Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4020-6416-6
• Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’ is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Education Research Journal, 33, 927–942. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920701657033
• Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., & Dwyer, J. (Eds.). (2024). Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0
• McCormack, J., McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., & Holliday, E. L. (2022). Drawing talking: Listening to children with speech sound disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(3), 713–731. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00140
• McLeod, S. (2018). Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2018.1428687
• Roulstone, S., & McLeod, S. (Eds.). (2011). Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. J&R Press. http://www.jr-press.co.uk/communication-needs.html
• Shier, H. (2019). An analytical tool to help researchers develop partnerships with children and adolescents. In I. Berson, M. Berson, & C. Gray (Eds.), Participatory methodologies to elevate children’s voice and agency (pp. 295–315). Information Age Publishing.
• United Nations (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. https://www.unicef.org/crc/

Child Language Teaching and Therapy editorial board meeting

Tonight I attended the annual Child Language Teaching and Therapy (CLTT) editorial board meeting. 

One interesting topic that was covered included the use of AI in publishing: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/using-ai-in-peer-review-and-publishing.

There was a great discussion about sourcing and incentivising reviewers.

I am excited to work with CLTT to initiate a special issue based on my summer lecture. The lecture was sold out - and apparently there has been a lot of discussion throughout the world about it. The recorded version of the talk will be uploaded on the CLTT website soon.

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