New book: Communication and Sensory Loss: Global Perspectives

I am so proud of my colleague A/Prof Kate Crowe who has just had her edited book published by Routledge.

It is titled: Communication and Sensory Loss: Global Perspectives

https://www.routledge.com/Communication-and-Sensory-Loss-Global-Perspectives/Crowe/p/book/9781032211626

Here is the CSU news release: https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/sensory-loss-and-communication-a-unique-new-book-to-guide-professionals

I was very honoured to write the foreword for the book. Here is a segment of my foreword:

Communication and sensory loss: Global perspectives is a rich resource for governments, professionals, students, communities and families sharing insights about the communication of children and adults with hearing and/or vision differences. The book contains 11 chapters. The first part (chapters 1 and 2) eloquently sets the scene, by clearly articulating terminology, frameworks, and intersectionality to support the strengths and participation of people with sensory loss. The second part focuses on sensory loss in childhood, specifically for children with hearing loss (chapter 3), visual impairment (chapter 4), deafblindness (chapter 5), and with complex communication needs (chapter 6). The third part focuses on sensory loss in adulthood, specifically acquired communication impairment in adults with sensory loss from childhood (chapter 7), adults with hearing loss (chapter 8), vision loss (chapter 9), deafblindness (chapter 10), and complex communication needs (chapter 11). What is remarkable about each of these chapters, is that they are co-authored by people from different professions, different parts of the world, and with different lived experiences so that each chapter acknowledges communication rights of “everyone”. The case studies challenge pre-conceived notions of people with sensory loss, uniquely focussing on the, lives, strengths and challenges of a diverse range of children and adults from across the world. 

This remarkable book is written by 31 different authors who work in Asia, Oceania, North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. All of the authors have professional experience supporting the communication of children and adults with hearing and/or vision differences. Uniquely, a number of the authors also have with lived experience of hearing and/or vision differences, and use their experiences and knowledge to advocate within their own countries and across the world...

Readers can approach this book like they would approach the world‘s most inclusive icecream shop. Readers can find foundational knowledge (vanilla) to understand overarching issues relating to communication and sensory loss. They can find common flavours (chocolate and strawberry) that are included in most books about sensory loss. However, they also can find unique insights about sensory loss from across the world (e.g., lychee, turmeric, durian, honeycomb, rosewater). The case studies provide exquisite additions (e.g., chocolate chips, sprinkles). And, there is attention to everyone – providing a strengths-based approach to inclusion (e.g., lactose free sorbets and gluten free alternatives to icecream cones). Indeed, this book can be read from beginning to end (e.g., like an enormous sundae), or can be revisited again and again gaining a unique combination of insights...

As a result - Kate and I celebrated with icecream!

Communication and sensory loss: Global perspectives

Congratulations to Dr Kate Crowe who has just submitted her edited book titled "Communication and sensory loss: Global perspectives" to Routledge. She wrote "The book has 31 different author, authors with lived experience of hearing and/or vision differences, and authors who work in Asian, Oceanic, North American, South American, European, and African contexts". What a remarkable achievement! Kate has invited me to write the Foreword and I have been enjoying reading the chapters in order to complete this task. Congratulations again Kate!

Dr Kate Crowe submitting her book in Iceland on 1 Nov 2023

Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills (PEEPS)

Today Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills (PEEPS) arrived in the mail. PEEPS was created by A. Lynn Williams, and Carol Stoel-Gammon; and I was very honoured to write the foreword and the Appendix.

In my Foreword I wrote:

To date, there have been few tools available to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to assess young children’s emerging speech skills. The Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills™ (PEEPS) has been designed for young children (18–36 months of age) who have small vocabularies and limited inventories of speech sounds. The PEEPS™ is a unique evidence-based speech assessment and is a welcome addition to SLPs’ almost empty toolboxes for young children. The word list has been carefully selected using the authors’ extensive knowledge of young children’s vocabularies and emerging speech skills and children can enjoy the process of naming toys during “play” (i.e., assessment). The PEEPS™ profile is a “multilayered description of a child’s phonological system” (p. 5) that enables SLPs to gain an overview of children’s strengths and identify “warning signs” or “red flags for phonetic and phonological development” (p. 68).
The authors of the PEEPS™ are eminent authorities on children’s speech and have undertaken extensive research that underpins their conceptualization and operationalization of this unique tool. They have spent more than 15 years developing the PEEPS™ and the world has been waiting. The PEEPS™ has proven value for working with young children, including those with cleft lip and palate (Scherer et al., 2012).

PEEPS Foreword

I have been invited to write the Foreword and Appendix containing speech acquisition data for the PEEPS and today I received the page proofs:

Williams, A. L., & Stoel-Gammon, C. (2023). Profiles of Early Expressive  Phonological Skills™ (PEEPS™). Paul H. Brookes Publishing. 

Part of my foreword states:

To date, there have been few tools available to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to assess young children’s emerging speech skills. The Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills™ (PEEPS) has been designed for young children (18–36 months of age) who have small vocabularies and limited inventories of speech sounds. PEEPS™ is a unique evidence-based speech assessment and is a welcome addition to SLPs’ almost empty toolboxes for young children...The authors of PEEPS™ are eminent authorities on children’s speech and have undertaken extensive research that underpins their conceptualization and operationalization of this unique tool. They have spent more than 15 years developing PEEPS™, and the world has been waiting...