Churchill Fellows announced

Congratulations to my friend Santiago Velasquez who was named a 2022 Churchill Fellow today:

https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/santiago-velasquez-hurtado-qld-2022/

The Churchill Fellows' Association of Queensland Churchill Fellowship to identify and assess best universal design approaches to improve public transport in Australia

To explore, experience, utilise and analyse the universal design approaches used by the best public transportation systems worldwide. This will enable Australia to move away from a limited accessible design approach based on minimum standards compliance to embrace a universal design approach that doesn’t just benefit a select group of people (Vision impaired individuals and wheelchair users). The obtained knowledge will serve as the foundation for developing and implementing universal design approaches to public transport conveyances and infrastructure around Australia. The long-term objective is to make public transportation systems around Australia work for all people, with and without any disabilities. Travel to Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, UK

Anna attends the Churchill Medallion Dinner

On 28th July, Anna Cronin was an invited guest at the 2017 Medallion Dinner held by the Churchill Fellows Association of NSW. Fifteen fellows were presented with a medallion to celebrate the completion of their Churchill Fellowship. Congratulations Anna! The details of Anna's Churchill Fellowship are https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/project/to-investigate-the-optimal-management-of-speech-problems-in-toddlers-with-cleft-palate/.

Suzanne Churcher's Churchill Trust Report has been published

In August 2016, Suzanne Churcher visited my colleagues and I at Charles Sturt University as part of her Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship. Her project was titled "Early intervention for speech disorder not just desirable but essential". Details of her visit are here.
Her report from the visit has just been published here: http://www.wcmt.org.uk/users/suzannechurcher2016. Here is a quote from page 9 of the report

Headlines

• There was ubiquitous agreement that the age of the child was not a primary factor in the clinical decision making process, with regard to exclusion of target of intervention. 
• Like the UK, Australia sometimes has to respond to resource demands and pressures but this is not due to evidence of ineffectiveness in this age group. 
• There is evidence that both Australia and the UK respond to need using approaches that may have similar theoretical underpinning. This needs further investigation and research. 
• Australia is using a wider range of evidence based interventions with children of all ages than both my experience and the current research would suggest. 
• SLPs in Australia reported regular easier access to research. They have three professional publications; SpeakOUT, the Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology (JCPSLP) and the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (IJSLP) and online access to full articles. 

Recommendations

• It is vital that we ensure that service development does not exclude children from intervention based on a lack of empirical data. 
• Intervention for speech in the preschool population requires continued development of an evidence base. 
• We must continue to strengthen our more systematic approach to the assessment and intervention of children with SLCN (speech, language and communication needs). 
• The profession as a whole will benefit from international collaboration and the development of EBP (evidence-based practice) across the age ranges and, on occasion, disciplines. 
• Increased collaboration between universities and practicing clinicians is highly recommended.

Anna's Churchill Fellowship report is published

Anna Cronin has finished her Churchill Fellowship and her report has just been published online here. The aim of her research was: "To investigate the optimal management of speech problems in toddlers with cleft palate - New Zealand, Brazil, USA, Denmark." Congratulations Anna!

RIPPLE Effect Winter 2016 edition

The RIPPLE Effect profiles the work of researchers and PhD students within the Research Institute for Professional Practice Learning and Education. The Winter 2016 edition profiles the work of our team:

• Kate Crowe - Fulbright Scholar and postdoctoral scholar
• Anna Cronin - Churchill Scholar and commencing PhD student
• Children's Speech - new book published by Pearson (USA)

Read the stories here:
http://www.csu.edu.au/research/ripple/news (scroll down to ‘Newsletter’ to view the edition either as a magazine or PDF).

Churchill Scholar: Early intervention for children with speech difficulties

Suzanne Churcher is visiting Charles Sturt University this week as part of her Winston Churchill Fellowship. She is from the University of Portsmouth, UK. While in Bathurst she is presenting a Brown Bag seminar to CSU staff and community members and visiting speech pathologists at the Bathurst and Orange Community Health Centres. She has discussed her work with my PhD students and colleagues including Ben Pham, Anna Cronin, A/Prof Fran Press, and Dr Loraine Fordham. 
Here is a portion of her abstract:

I applied to the Winston Churchill Trust to investigate early intervention for children with speech difficulties. As a speech and language therapist with many years of experience, across the UK, particularly within early years and early intervention, I was curious as to why direct therapy for children targeting the remediation of speech difficulties appeared to be inconsistently offered. Some service providers offered a specific pathway without barriers in terms of age, as long as the presenting features of the child suggested a potential disorder, others had either a minimum referral age to services and or offered a broad often 'language' based intervention or 'watchful waiting' approach to input, almost irrespective of how the child presented. Arguably Australia leads the English-speaking world in its knowledge and evidence base in the approach to treatment for children with speech disorder. Certainly a large body of the contemporary academic works and research articles that have influenced professional knowledge in the last ten years were conducted in collaboration with Australian researchers. I therefore developed the proposed investigation: What do Australian speech pathologists do in terms of therapeutic delivery to young children with speech sound difficulties?

Suzanne on Wattle Day (1st August)

Sharynne and Suzanne

Suzanne and Ben with the Bathurst speech pathologists

Anna's visit to the US during her Churchill Fellowship

Anna Cronin's Churchill Fellowship is well underway. So far she has visited New Zealand and Brazil. This week she has been in Laramie, USA visiting Dr. Mary Hardin-Jones. Next week she heads to Salt Lake City, Utah to visit Dr. Kathy Chapman. Anna has written: "So far the trip has been going really well and I feel like I'm learning so much! Every centre has been so different and people have been so generous with their time, knowledge and expertise."

Mary and Anna in Laramie

Anna at the Delicate Arch in Moab

Anna's Churchill Fellowship begins

Anna Cronin, my newest PhD student, will embark on her Churchill Fellowship in less than two weeks. She will be visiting sites in New Zealand (Auckland), Brazil (Bauru), US (Atlanta, St Louis, Laramie, Salt Lake City), and Denmark (Copenhagen). The topic of her Fellowship is "The optimal management of speech problems in toddlers with cleft palate". The announcement of Anna's award is here. Enjoy your Fellowship Anna, and we look forward to hearing about all you have learned.