Clear communication masks

Masks are important during COVID-19. 

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/369/bmj.m1435.full.pdf

However, masks impede clear communication. 

The Managing Director of Everyday Office National donated a few masks for me to take to the Aphasia Camp last week and said they are TGA approved – but this is not on the website. I tried one out they feel comfortable. I don’t know anything else about them except for the purchasing information below. I'll be interested to hear from colleagues to see if they are useful for speech pathology practice and other situations where clear communication is difficult when wearing traditional masks.

Here are the details: ADULT CLEAR COMMUNICATION MASK Product Code: 2000143 | Product Reference: ADULT CLEAR | AUD $5.44 PER EACH Ex. GST : $4.95 

https://www.officenational.com.au/shop/en/everyday/adult-clear-communication-mask-2000143

 

VietSpeech Writing Retreat

This week our VietSpeech team are on a writing retreat to write and finalise papers for our ARC Discovery Grant that finishes at the end of this year. It is going to be a productive week.

We had planned to be together at a beach - but with the inconsistency of COVID rules and regulations - we have ended up working at home with beach Zoom backgrounds! Travel restrictions did end up lifting on 1 November (our first day of writing) so we actually could have been together.

Dr Audrey Wang, Prof Sharynne McLeod, Kate Margetson, Dr Van Tran, Dr Sarah Verdon

First day in the office for 11 months - more zoom meetings with a different background

Today was my first day back in my office since March 2020 due to COVID restrictions (https://staff.csu.edu.au/home/news-and-events/coronavirus-updates).

Despite being oncampus, all of my meetings were still on zoom. I had 5 excellent meetings today - and have provided photos of two.

The second meeting was to farewell Kate Margetson as she goes on maternity leave until 31 August. It was a very helpful handover meeting of all of her tasks to the rest of the VietSpeech team.

In the fourth meeting Dr Nicole McGill, Dr Audrey Wang and I met to discuss requested revisions to a journal article. It was very productive and we should have the revisions finished soon.

Dr Nicole McGill, Sharynne and Dr Audrey Wang

Dr Van Tran, Sharynne, Katherine White, Kate Margetson, Dr Sarah Verdon

CSU Town Hall - 14 Dec 2020

A feature of 2020 has been CSU's Town Hall meetings to update all staff. This morning's meeting had over 800 participants to listen to the Acting Vice Chancellor, the DVCs and VCLT updating the staff then ask questions receive answers. Some topics that were discussed: VC Andy Vann has retired after 9 years at CSU and his contribution to CSU was acknowledged, including developing the Port Macquarie campus and the introduction of the medicine degree at CSU. 6000 students are graduating this year. CSU is the #1 university for graduate employment. 29 staff were promoted (13 women) in 2020. We ahve some good news about additional funding for students and research in 2021.

What a year!

Supporting children with speech sound disorders during COVID-19 restrictions: Technological solutions

The following manuscript has just been accepted for publication 

McLeod, S., Ballard, K., Ahmed, B., McGill, N. & Brown, M. I. (2020, in press August). Supporting children with speech sound disorders during COVID-19 restrictions: Technological solutions. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups (SIG17: Global issues in Communication Sciences and Related Disorders).

Here is the abstract: 

“Children are the hidden victims of the COVID-19 pandemic” (UNICEF, 2020). Timely and effective speech intervention is important to reduce the impact on children’s school achievement, ability to make friends, mental health, future life opportunities, and government resources. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Australian children did not receive sufficient speech-language pathology (SLP) services due to long waiting lists in the public health system. COVID-19 restrictions exacerbated this issue, as even children who were at the top of lengthy SLP waiting lists often received limited services, particularly in rural areas. To facilitate children receiving speech intervention remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic evidence from randomized controlled trials regarding three technological solutions are examined: (1) Sound Start Study (Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter), (2) Waiting for Speech Pathology website, and (3) Apraxia World. For the first two technological solutions, there were similar gains in speech production between the intervention and control groups; whereas, for the third solution the average magnitude of treatment effect was comparable to face-to-face SLP therapy. Automated therapy management systems may be able to accelerate speech development and support communication resilience to counteract the effects of the COVID-19 restrictions on children with speech sound disorders. Technology-based strategies may also provide a potential solution to the chronic shortage of SLP services in rural areas into the future.

 

Celebrating Speech Pathology Week

This week is Speech Pathology Week. Normally the Bathurst speech pathologists all meet for dinner. This year is not normal - so we met via zoom. It was fascinating to hear of how therapy with children has been via telehealth, telephone, posted home programs, and face-to-face while wearing masks!

The general consensus was:

Therapy via videoconference is better than wearing masks (except when there is no internet)!

Invited presentations at the SLP2B 2020 conference

This week the SLP2B 2020 Conference  is being run by the Speech Pathology Australia Student Association at LaTrobe University, Australian Catholic University, and Melbourne University. 

I was invited to be a keynote speaker (here.). First I was invited to prepare at 10 minute presentation. My topic was "Speaking up for communication rights at the United Nations" and the presentation is here.

Additionally, I was interviewed by Bridgett James and Danielle Vidoni who asked some fabulous questions on behalf of speech pathology students. Our interview is here. 

The students also invited other researchers (including A/Prof Jane McCormack, Prof Pamela Snow), speech pathologists and a consumer to provide their insights. It was great to see their initiative in transitioning from a face-to-face conference to an online conference. As a result it was available for many more speech pathology students than they had originally planned to reach. Congratulations to the organisers and best wishes to all of the SLP2Bs as they navigate an extremely unusual year of their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe that they will be more resiliant, creative and responsive as a result.

Bridgett James, Sharynne McLeod and Danielle Vidoni

Here is the description of the conference by Speech Pathology Australia

SLP2B 2020
SLP2B is back for another year but this year with a twist - we are going online! The Victorian Branch Student Reps have outdone themselves and thought innovatively to organise SLP2B 2020. Speech-Language Pathologist 2 Be is a student seminar organised by students, for students. The Victoria Branch SPA reps have been working hard to bring this event back against the odds (thanks a bunch 2020) and managed to organise a star lineup of speakers to share their wealth of knowledge with you. What’s even better is that you can access their expertise at your leisure! Speech Pathologists from different sectors will talk about their career pathways, and a consumer will share their personal SP therapy experiences. Because it's online this year, participants can access the event at their leisure from 17 August until 17 September. Please find details online.

Speech pathologists and COVID-19

Today Speech Pathology Australia posted the following request (which is similar to what is happening for speech pathologists around the world):

Expressions of Interest from Speech Pathologists – NSW COVID Testing Clinics
The NSW Ministry of Health is seeking assistance from qualified speech pathologists with CPSP status to provide support for NSW COVID testing sites. COVID testing sites are located across NSW including metropolitan, regional and rural locations. In the event of outbreaks, testing sites may be opened at short notice and may operate for extended hours. Specific tasks may include the taking of oropharyngeal and/or nasopharyngeal swabs and general duties. These will be paid positions. Register interest by completing a survey…

Speech pathologists routinely conduct oromusculature assessments (OMAs), so have good knowledge of the anatomy that is tested using the nasal and throat swabs.

The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic: Implications for Community and Social Development

My CSU colleague Professor Manohar Parwar is the editor of The International Journal of Community and Social Development.

The journal has just published a special issue titled "The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic: Implications for Community and Social Development" (Volume 2, issue 2) available here: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/coda/2/2

It has insights from Australia, New Zealand, India, Italy, United States, Sweden, United Kingdom, Southern African Development Community (SADC)

COVID-19 books for children

There have been a number of books created for children to unpack COVID-19 and what children can do (washing hands etc.). Here are some:

• UNICEF: My Hero is You (published in 100+ languages): https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/iasc-reference-group-mental-health-and-psychosocial-support-emergency-settings/my-hero-you 

• Queensland Health: Birdie and the Virus: https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/covid-19-birdie-virus/
• Australian Childhood Foundation: Understanding Coronavirus For Kids: https://professionals.childhood.org.au/app/uploads/2020/04/Talking-to-Children-COVID-19-Social-Story.pdf