Members of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech met in Malta during the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders Conference to continue working on our tutorial paper to support speech-language pathologists to provide intervention for multilingual children who do not speak the same language as the SLP.
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| Sari Kunnari (Finland), Carol Westby (USA), Carol To (Hong Kong SAR China), Helen Grech (Malta), Sharynne McLeod (Australia) |
This week the 20th conference of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) is held from the 24th to 27th of June 2025 at the University of Patras, Conference and Cultural Centre, Greece, hosted by Dr Eleftheria Geronikou https://logoth.upatras.gr/en/icpla2025/
There are four of us representing Charles Sturt University: Dr Helen L. Blake, Dr Suzanne Hopf and Dr Kate Margetson - everyone has multiple roles during the conference. Here are the presentations I am involved in:
I am the President of ICPLA so have a busy week of duties.
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| Sharynne with conference chair Eleftheria Geronikou |
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| CSU attendees: Dr Kate Margetson, Dr Helen L. Blake, Dr Suzanne Hopf, Prof Sharynne McLeod |
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| Sharynne opening the conference as ICPLA President |
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| Sharynne with ICPLA founders: Martin J. Ball and Nicole Muller |
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| Keynote speaker: George |
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| Kate and Karla with a conference fan and hat to keep us cool since it was 40oC on one of the days! |
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| Sharynne with Annette Fox-Boyer's current and ex-PhD students from Germany |
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| Presidents |
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| HDR students from Edinburgh and Sydney |
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| Helen Blake presenting one of our papers |
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| Conference dinner with keynote speaker Frank Guenther |
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| Kristian Kristofferson (Norway) at the poster session |
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| ICPLA colleagues at the conference dinner |
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| Colleagures from Poland: Agetha and Paulina |
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| ICPLA conference organising committee and students |
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| Last day: Helen, Kate, Sharynne and Anniek |
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| Spanish/USA contingent: Chelsea Sommer, Angela, Tania Flores |
This morning members of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech met for 3 hours in Patras, Greece to advance our tutorial paper titled "Speech interventions for multilingual children who do not speak the same language(s) as the speech-language pathologist". We began this paper a number of years ago, and we were able to progress the work significantly this morning. Our thoughtful and robust discussions explored ways to work with children and families in different contexts, countries, cultures and languages. We look forward to sending an updated draft to the rest of the panel members in a month's time, so that we can finalise and submit the paper.
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Today Helen Blake and I spent the day preparing for ICPLA. We worked on the feedback from the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech (IEPMCS) in preparation for tomorrow's meeting, the changes necessary to the 3 hour presentation on multilingual children's speech due to presenters not being able to attend due to the world's conflicts, ordering the cake for the launch of The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World, networking with colleagues who have arrived at the conference hotel and answering and sending numerous emails. We are almost ready for ICPLA (and have such a wonderful view as our backdrop).
During 2022 the Multilingual Children's Speech website (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech) was popular with 82,764 views:
Today I had the opportunity to pop in and visit my friend and colleague Dr Caroline Bowen. We had so much to chat about. It was great to see her.
Caroline's website is such a fantastic resource for the world: https://www.speech-language-therapy.com/https://www.speech-language-therapy.com/
She is about the submit the next edition of her book Children's Speech Sound Disorders. https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Children%27s+Speech+Sound+Disorders%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9781118634028
Congratulations Caroline!
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| Dr Kate Crowe and Prof Sharynne McLeod receiving the AJSLP editor's award from Prof Mabel Rice |
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| Sharynne and Kate |
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| ASHA journal award winners |
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| Prof Sharynne McLeod (CSU, Australia), Dr Karla Washington (US), Dr Kate Crowe (CSU and Iceland), Dr Thora Masdottir (Iceland), Dr Helen Blake (CSU and UTS Australia), Dr Michelle Brown (CSU, Australia) |
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| Prof Lilly Cheng, Prof Sharynne McLeod, Dr Helen Blake, Prof Dolores Battle |
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| Being interviewed via Skype for the ASHA online blog |
Some children have speech sound disorders (SSD) regardless of whether they speak one, two, or multiple languages. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) across the world have indicated that they may not have adequate skills and resources to provide appropriate care for multilingual children with speech sound disorders. This paper presents the first international position paper for working with multilingual children with SSD (IEPMCS, 2012). The position paper aims to provide direction and practical strategies for SLPs and related professionals working with children who are multilingual and/ or multicultural, and to inform governments and policy makers in health care systems to provide optimal care internationally. The position paper was developed 2012 in a five-step procedure by the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech/IEPMCS) comprising 57 researchers of speech-language pathology during face-to-face discussion (with 14 members) and additional online-discussions with additional participants. A position paper of 5 pages was published, that incorporates the components of the ICF-CY and reflects the following contents: definitions, objectives in the framework of the ICF-CY (WHO, 2007), identified challenges to provide culturally competent and evidence-based services to multilingual children with speech sound disorders and recommended best practice. The current position paper gives Germany guidance for best practice when working with children with SSD and their parents in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way. To implement the paper in research and practice will be an important goal for the future.
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| Dr Carol Westby (US), Dr Mirjam Blumenthal (The Netherlands) and Sharynne |
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| Declan Murphy presenting his inspiring opening address |
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| Presenters in the WHO sessions on the ICF sponsored by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association |
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| Sound Start Study team members, Yvonne Wren, Jane McCormack and Sharynne with Debbie Sell (UK) |
Purpose: The aim of this tutorial is to support speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to undertake assessments with multilingual children with suspected speech sound disorders (SSD), particularly children who speak languages that are not shared by their SLP. Method: The tutorial was written by the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech (IEPMCS), comprising 46 researchers (SLPs, linguists, phoneticians, and speech scientists) who have worked in 43 countries and used 27 languages in professional practice. Seventeen panel members met for a one-day workshop to identify key points for inclusion in the tutorial, 26 panel members contributed to writing the paper, and 34 members contributed to revising the paper online (some members contributed to more than one task). Results: This tutorial draws on international research evidence and professional expertise to provide a comprehensive overview of working with multilingual children with suspected SSD including: referral, case history, assessment, analysis, diagnosis, and goal setting. It addresses SLPs’ cultural competence and preparation for working with interpreters and multicultural support workers, as well as organizational and government barriers and facilitators to culturally competent practice. Conclusions: The tutorial concludes with a hypothetical case study of an English-speaking SLP’s assessment of a multilingual Cantonese- and English-speaking 4-year-old boy, where the issues raised in the tutorial are applied. Resources are included throughout the tutorial.
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| Intelligibility in Context Scale translators and researchers: Obeleng Mahura (South Africa), Suzanne Hopf (Fiji), Sandra Neumann (Germany), Thora Masdottir (Iceland), Nina Gram (Norway), Sharynne McLeod (Australia) |
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| Prof Annette Fox-Boyer, Suzanne Hopf, Prof Hanne Gram Simoneson (President, ICPLA), Helen Blake, Sarah Masso, Prof Sharynne McLeod (Vice President, ICPLA) |
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| IEPMCS members from Canada, Iceland, Australia, Germany, Croatia and Fiji |
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| Suzanne and Daniel taking notes |
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| Dinner after the IEPMCS meeting |
Some children have speech sound disorders (SSD) regardless of whether they speak one, two, or multiple languages. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) across the world have indicated that they may not have adequate skills and resources to provide appropriate care for multilingual children with speech sound disorders.
This paper presents the first international position paper for working with multilingual children with SSD (IEPMCS, 2012). The position paper aims to provide direction and practical strategies for SLPs and related professionals working with children who are multilingual and/or multicultural, and to inform governments and policy makers in health care systems to provide optimal care internationally.
The position paper was developed in a five-step procedure by the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech/IEPMCS) comprising 57 researchers of speech-language pathology during face-to-face discussion (with 14 members) and additional online-discussions with additional participants.
A position paper of 5 pages was published, that incorporates the components of the ICF-CY and reflects the following contents: definitions, objectives in the framework of the ICF-CY (WHO, 2007), identified challenges to provide culturally competent and evidence-based services to multilingual children with speech sound disorders and recommended best practice.
The current position paper gives Germany guidance for best practice when working with children with SSD and their parents in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way. To implement the paper in research and practice will be an important goal for the future.
