An exciting beginning for the Children's Voices Centre

It is week 1 of the academic calendar for Charles Sturt University. Today we had the opportunity to share the vision of the Children's Voices Centre with:

• Deputy Vice Chancellor Research - Prof Neena
  
• Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme members
• Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Arts and Education (FOAE) - A/Prof Matt Winslade

We also received this email this morning: "I am pleased to say that the occupation and use of Bathurst building 1451 by the Children’s Voices Centre is endorsed by Campus and Space Planning". Hooray - The Treehouse is ours!

Sharynne, Matt Winslade (ADR FOAE), Tamara Cumming

Brandon Schranzer (DFM), Sharynne, Therese King (DFM), Tamara Cumming

Meeting with Australian advisors about our new research project with the World Health Organization

This morning I met with Elsie (11), Zach (9) and Chloe (8) who were Australian advisors for the Children Draw Talking Project that now appears on the United Nations (UN) website:
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/youth/hr75/submissions/subm-views-youth-led-cso-early-childhood-interdisciplinary-resear.pdf
 
The World Health Organization in Geneva Switzerland saw our submission on the UN website – and want us to do something like this again – but this time about children’s insights into health, being healthy, and accessing healthcare services (hospital, doctor, dentist, nurse, vaccinations, optometry, audiology, speech pathology, physiotherapy, psychology, social work, occupational therapy,  etc.). The WHO especially want to learn about the insights of children who have a disability. 

This morning Zach, Elsie, and Chloe gave me advice about how to approach our new research project with the World Health Organization. They are going to brainstorm with their friends and family about "what makes you healthy". Here are some of their initial ideas: a carrot, exercise, sport, netball, medicine, bikes. We also talked about accessing healthcare. I will chat with them and more of my Australian advisors during January to prepare documentation for WHO in February.

Thanks Chloe, Zach and Elsie!

This work will be part of our new Children’s Voices Centre https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/home

Zach, Chloe and Elsie chatting via Zoom

Elsie, Chloe, Zach, Sharynne

Here are some of the things that Elsie, Zach and Chloe's advice (+ others in their family) have helped us with in the past:

• Children’s Voices Centre: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/home
• The Treehouse: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/the-treehouse
• Early Childhood Voices Conference: https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/
• Children Draw Playing: https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/children-draw-playing/
• Children Draw Talking: https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2022/children-draw-talking-gallery-3-australia/

Here is a page that summarizes lots of our work: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-voices

CSU news stories

To end the year, CSU has published two news stories about our work and impact:

• https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/new-research-centre-champions-childrens-communication-rights
• https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/great-international-impact-recognised-by-top-us-speech-language-organisation

I was interviewed on the local 2BS breakfast radio show this morning. It's always great to champion children's communication and everyone's right to communicate.

Access to The Treehouse

With the announcement of the Children's Voices Centre (https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/new-research-centre-champions-childrens-communication-rights), signing the research agreement with the World Health Organization, and learning that we currently do not have funds for refurbishment of The Treehouse - we have come up with a solution to enable us to have access to begin The Treehouse for the work of the Children's Voices Centre. Brandon Schranzer, Operations Coordinator Bathurst Campus Facilities Management has blocked off the stairs (since they are not compliant for children's safety) so we are now able to use the building. We look forward to moving in - and to trying to secure funding so that we can fully use the building.

Children's Voices Centre jobs

 I have been having a wonderful time working with Holly Weal and Rebecca Dwyer from Division of People and Culture to prepare the following jobs for our new Children's Voices Centre

• Associate Director Children, Families and Communities: Children’s Voices Centre
• Associate Director Workforce and Policy: Children’s Voices Centre
• Research Manager: Children’s Voices Centre
• Senior Executive Support Officer: Children’s Voices Centre

Charles Sturt University media announcement of the Children's Voices Centre

Today Charles Sturt University has announced the Children's Voices Centre via a media release:

https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/new-research-centre-champions-childrens-communication-rights

This is a very exciting milestone and gives us great direction for our research with and for children from 2025-2027. Our new centre focusses on children, families, professionals, workforce and policy – and is truly interdisciplinary with members across all three faculties. 

 

Final email to Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme members

Here is the email that I just sent to the members of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme this evening

Early Childhood Voices 2024 (ECV2024)
Thank you for all you have done to ensure that the Early Childhood Voices 2024 conference was a success this week
https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/
At 6pm on Thursday 1333 people from 54 countries had registered to attend our amazing 4 keynotes, 147 oral presentations and children's voices presentations across three streams, yarning circles, and a workshop

• STREAM 1: Early childhood voices: International interdisciplinary research - https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/by-topics/
• STREAM 2: Multilingual children's speech development - https://multilingual-childrens-speech-development.csu.domains/
• STREAM 3: Children draw playing global online galleries - https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/children-draw-playing/

As you know, you can continue to access the conference any time as the website will remain online.
Conference proceedings: https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/ECV2024-BOOK-FINAL.pdf

Make sure you look at the Children’s Press Gallery video summarizing their reporting of the launch (found underneath the Acknowledgment of Country video - https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2024/)

A HUGE thank you to Dr Carolyn Gregoric, our conference secretary and Dr Belinda Downey, our conference co-chair,  and to all of you for your roles (large and small) to ensure ECV2024 was a success. As our keynote speaker said – it takes a village to raise a village.

Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme
We have come to the end of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme (ECIR). We have achieved so much together. Our final report is attached. Please feel proud of all you have achieved together.

Exciting news: Children’s Voices Centre (CVC)

Yesterday, Vice Chancellor Professor Renée Leon approved the establishment of the Children’s Voices Centre for three years (2025-2027). HOORAY!!! We have just (soft) launched the Children’s Voices Centre website so you can find out more  https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre. We will provide more details in February 2025.

We are excited about what the future holds for our team and look forward to future collaborations to make a difference in children’s lives across the world. Thank you and best wishes for the holiday season.

Approval for the establishment of the Children's Voices Centre and collaboration with WHO

I have just received formal approval for the establishment of the Children's Voices Centre at Charles Sturt University (2025-2027). What an amazing moment in my life - and opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children across the world!

https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/home

We also signed off on the Terms of Reference to collaborate with the World Health Organization on a 2-year project.

Possibility of mobility visit for PhD student from Nord University

Tonight I had a wonderful conversation with Camilla and her two PhD supervisors from Nord University about the possibility of her visiting CSU for 6 months next year. Camilla has Sami heritage and is studying language maintenance of Sami children in Norway. I hope we are able to welcome her to CSU next year - there are so many areas of overlap between our work.

Collaboration with World Health Organization Sensory Functions, Disability & Rehabilitation (SDR) Unit in the Disability Programme

We have been invited to collaborate with the World Health Organization Sensory Functions, Disability & Rehabilitation (SDR) Unit in the Disability Programme https://www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/sensory-functions-disability-and-rehabilitation/disability 

Together we are going “to build evidence on the experiences and perspectives of children and young people with disabilities on health and access to healthcare services”.

We will be working with Dr Mélanie Gréaux and Dr Kaloyan Kamenov from WHO who have co-authored this important paper:

Gréaux, M., Moro, M. F., Kamenov, K., Russell, A. M., Barrett, D., & Cieza, A. (2023). Health equity for persons with disabilities: A global scoping review on barriers and interventions in healthcare services. International Journal for Equity in Health, 22(1), 236. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-02035-w
 

The WHO Disability Programme has been learning from from adults with disabilities (including women and people in rural areas) as outlined in this video "Persons with disabilities share their experience of accessing health services"

https://www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/sensory-functions-disability-and-rehabilitation/persons-with-disabilities-tell-their-stories#

The video concludes with 

"People like me... like me... like me... like me... need to be included in the system that decides on the policy matters over healthcare...
to ensure that can access the quality and inclusive health services that we deserve.
Leave no one behind.
Let's build together a disability inclusive health sector"

We look forward to expanding the world's knowledge about the experiences and perspectives of children and young people with disabilities.

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

Multilingual Children's Speech website

We are systematically updating the Multilingual Children's Speech website (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/home). Here is the new content:

• Speech acquisition studies now has 620 studies (414 new studies have been added) https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/speech-acq-studies
  
• Speech assessment tools now has 379 assessments (262 assessments have been added) https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-assessments/speech-assessment-tools
  
• Speech interventions has 168 interventions (168 have been added - new page) https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-interventions
  
• First Nations resources has 57 children's books (57 have been added - new page) https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/first-nations-resources
• Multilingual children's speech development has 67 videos (67 have been added + more to come) https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/multilingual-childrens-speech-development
  

People can no longer say that there are "no studies/assessments/interventions/resources" in languages other than English. There are a LOT (especially if you look beyond the English language).

Information has been added by collaborating with colleagues, mostly authors of The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World. Thank you everyone for your generosity to make this website such a useful resource. 

At CSU Dr Helen L. Blake has been amazing working with me on this project. 

The fantastic CSU webteam have been so supportive and creative: Boram Kwon, Alex Moore, Lindsey Ting, Kath, Kelly Bull, Amber Murray – overseen by Paula Woodhouse. (I am so pleased we have made it to the top of their workplan. I originally booked in the update of this website just before the COVID pandemic - so appreciate their current focus on our site).

Meeting with WHO Disability

Tonight A/Prof Kate Crowe and I had a fantastic meeting with Dr Kaloyan Kamenov and Dr Mélanie Gréaux from the WHO Disability team in Geneva. They have invited us to collaborate with them on projects relating to factors that contribute to health inequity for people (children) with disability. 

Dr Mélanie Gréaux (WHO), Dr Kaloyan Kamenov (WHO),
A/Prof Kate Crowe, Prof Sharynne McLeod

 

There are 40 actions within the Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disability https://www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/sensory-functions-disability-and-rehabilitation/global-report-on-health-equity-for-persons-with-disabilities Of the 10 strategic entry points, we identified that # 3 is particularly related to our work at CSU, and we also have expertise in 7, 9, and 10: 

1. Political commitment, leadership, and governance; 

2. Health financing; 

3. Engagement of communities and other stakeholders;

4. Models of care; 

5. Health and care workforce; 

6. Physical infrastructure; 

7. Digital technologies for health; 

8. Systems for improving the quality of care; 

9. Monitoring and evaluation; 

10. Health policy and systems research 

The 74th World Health Assembly recommended "progress on disability inclusion in the health sector towards 2030" https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA74/A74_R8-en.pdf

Here are some of the rationales for this work: 

"...Recognizing also the need to include the experiences and perspectives of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in all issues, including by taking steps to ensure and actively facilitate their meaningful participation in programmes, policy and decision making processes; 

Noting that globally one in seven persons experience some form of disability and that this number continues to increase owing to many underlying factors such as population ageing and the rise in the prevalence of chronic health conditions;

Noting also the persisting attitudinal, institutional and environmental barriers, including discriminatory attitudes towards disability and inaccessible communities..." https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA74/A74_R8-en.pdf

Here is the rationale underpinning the request

"INVITES international organizations and other relevant stakeholders, including intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, private sector companies, academia and, in particular, organizations of persons with disabilities: 

(1) to collaborate with Member States in respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health of persons with disabilities; 

(2) to forge partnerships and alliances that mobilize and share knowledge and best practices on disability inclusion; 

(3) to amplify the voices of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, and raise awareness of the rights, capabilities and contributions of persons with disabilities; 

(4) to include persons with disabilities in health research so that they benefit from its outcomes and products" https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA74/A74_R8-en.pdf

Here is a paper that has informed this work:

Gréaux, M., Moro, M. F., Kamenov, K., Russell, A. M., Barrett, D., & Cieza, A. (2023). Health equity for persons with disabilities: A global scoping review on barriers and interventions in healthcare services. International Journal for Equity in Health, 22(1), 236. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-02035-w
 

We are excited about partnering with WHO in this important work.

Children's photoshoot at CSU

Sunday afternoon was spent with 16 enthusiastic children, their families, and CSU colleagues having a fun photoshoot at Charles Sturt University. Kirsten Cunningham (https://www.kirstencunningham.com/portraits) was the extraordinary photographer who encouraged the children of all ages to share their smiles and enthusiasm. The photos will be used for the CSU website, research, and educational materials. Thanks to everyone who came along and had an awesomely fun day.

Sharynne with Kirsten Cunningham (photographer)

Meeting with Nord University

This evening I had another meeting with Katrin Olsen and members of Nord University to advance conversations about a work plan and the Memorandum of Understanding with CSU. We are planning a range of initiatives including collaborating with the Nord team in their research supporting children who speak the Sami language, visits from Nord PhD students to CSU in 2025, and collaborative seminars. Our many synergies continue to grow: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/search/label/Nord%20University

ECIR Leadership Team

The Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group has been funded by the Sturt Scheme for the past 3 years (2022, 2023, 2024). The distributed leadership team consists of: Sharynne McLeod (administrative lead), Julian Grant, Suzanne Hopf, Libbey Murray, and Sarah Verdon. Carolyn Gregoric is the Research Officer for ECIR. There are over 50 people (staff, adjuncts, HDR students) across all three faculties of CSU who are members. We are a very supportive and productive group. Current team projects are: the ECV2024 conference, two edited books, and the Children Draw Playing Global Online Gallery. There are also a number of grants, books, and research projects that are being undertaken by the team.

We are currently working on the transition to the exciting new Children's Voices Centre. 

I am very pleased to be working with such wonderful people - and to have the support of the leadership team at our meeting today.

Carolyn, Sharynne, Suzanne, Libbey

Voice of Children Framework consultation

I was invited by Prof Fran Press, Dr Jenny Cartmel and colleagues at Griffith University to be part of the consultation on the Voice of Children Framework. 

It was an important meeting with key people across Australia. I was able to add insights to their analysis paper including our work about listening to children whose voices are often marginalized including:

• Children with diverse abilities, including communication disabilities
• Children who speak non-dominant languages, including multilingual children
  
• Children who live in rural and remote locations 

Our new Children's Voices Centre will focus on listening to children and will draw on the previous work of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group. For example

• ECV2022 Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery included drawings from 200 children from 24 countries- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXcSAl_dA7YoGpVsg-oyKe3et80WnfVl. 
• These children’s insights were shared with the United Nations: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/youth/hr75/submissions/subm-views-youth-led-cso-early-childhood-interdisciplinary-resear.pdf

Here is a selection of the work we have published to listen to children:

Books

• 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 
• 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 
  

Communication rights for all

• 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
• Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., Dwyer, J. (2024). Why the voices of young children matter. In L. Mahony, S. McLeod, A. Salamon, & J. Dwyer (Eds.) Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals.  Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_1  
• 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.  Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_18
• Sumsion, J., Harrison, L. J., Press, F., McLeod, S., Goodfellow, J., & Bradley, B. S. (2011). Researching infants' experiences of early childhood education and care. In D. Harcourt, B. Perry, & T. Waller (Eds.), Researching Young Children's Perspectives: Debating the Ethics and Dilemmas of Educational Research with Children (pp. 113–127). Routledge. 
  

Children with communication disability

• 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. (2011). Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs: Who, why and how? In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 23–40). J&R Press.
• McCormack, J., McLeod, S., McAllister, L., & Harrison, L. J. (2010). My speech problem, your listening problem, and my frustration: The experience of living with childhood speech impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41(4), 379–392. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2009/08-0129)
  
• McLeod, S., Daniel, G., & Barr, J. (2013). “When he's around his brothers … he's not so quiet”: The private and public worlds of school-aged children with speech sound disorder. Journal of Communication Disorders, 46(1), 70-83. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.006 
• McLeod, S., Kelly, G., Ahmed, B., & Ballard, K. J. (2023). Equitable access to speech practice for rural Australian children using the SayBananas! mobile game. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(3), 388-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2023.2205057  
  

Children who speak languages other than English

• McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Theobald, M. (2015). Becoming bilingual: Children’s insights about making friends in bilingual settings. International Journal of Early Childhood, 47(3), 385–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-015-0148-7
•  Washington, K. N., Wright Karem, R., Macaluso, C., Schwartz, C., & McLeod, S. (2024). Jamaican Children’s drawings of talking in Jamaican creole and English. In L. Mahony, S. McLeod, A. Salamon, & J. Dwyer (Eds.), Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals (pp. 117–133). Springer.

Children with disabilities and their families

• Barr, J., & McLeod, S. (2010). They never see how hard it is to be me: Siblings' observations of strangers, peers and family. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12(2), 162–171. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549500903434133
• Barr, J., McLeod, S., & Daniel, G. (2008). Siblings of children with speech impairment: Cavalry on the hill. Language, Speech, and Hearing Service in Schools, 39(1), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2008/003)

Methods of listening to children

• The Speech Participation and Activity Assessment of Children (SPAA-C): https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-assessments/spaa-c
  
• Children Draw Talking: 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., McCormack, J., McAllister, L., Harrison, L. J., & Holliday, E. L. (2011). Listening to 4- to 5-year-old children with speech impairment using drawings, interviews and questionnaires. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 179–186). J&R Press. http://www.jr-press.co.uk/communication-needs.html
• Mosaic Approach: Press, F., Bradley, B. S., Goodfellow, J., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Sumsion, J., Elwick, S., & Stratigos, T. (2011). Listening to infants about what life is like in childcare: A mosaic approach. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 241–250). J&R Press. http://www.jr-press.co.uk/communication-needs.html
• BabyCam  Sumsion, J., Bradley, B., Stratigos, T., & Elwick, S. (2014). 'Baby cam' and participatory research with infants: A case study of critical reflexivity. In M. Fleer & A. E. Ridgway (Eds.), Visual methodologies and digital tools for researching with young children: Transforming visuality (pp. 169–191). Springer-Verlag.
  

Planning the Children's Voices Centre and The Treehouse

At the moment, so much of my time is spent on the exciting task of planning the Children's Voices Centre and The Treehouse. I am close to finalising the business plan, I've been working with CSU Brand, the webteam, and getting advice from colleagues and friends.

Bathurst speech pathologists visiting CSU with Prof Kirrie Ballard

Bathurst speech pathologists visiting The Treehouse

CSU Brand - Creating The Treehouse and our new centre

I have had some wonderful meetings with CSU Brand to create a new subbrand for The Treehouse and our new centre. Today's meeting was with Brodie Miller. She has taken our ideas about using the image of a leaf/speech bubble and the suite of colours we were interested in - and has created a wonderful vision for our new centre. We now send it out for comment.

CSU webteam - Creating the web presence for our new centre and the virtual Treehouse

I have had many fantastic meetings with the CSU webteam to created web presence for our new centre and the virtual Treehouse. The team include:

• Boram Kwon
• Lindsey Ting
• Alex Moore

They have listened carefully, have looked at our current web presence - and have come up with some fantastic ideas. We have worked through the wireframe stage - and are about to start building the first stage (horse stage) - before we launch into the zebra and unicorn stages.

First meeting with the CSU webteam

CSU webteam showing the wireframe design