I have just received an invitation to speak in Vietnam later this year at the Ha Noi National University of Education 25 year celebration in conjunction with UNICEF. Congratulations to my colleagues as they celebrate this significant achievement.
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| A/Prof Ben Pham with Sharynne |
The International Society of Bilingual and Monolingual Speech (ISMBS) conference has just concluded with a conference dinner and networking day exploring western Crete. We were able to have many rich conversations and create new friendships and collaborations. I have enjoyed being keynote at ISMBS and look forward to ongoing opportunities to work with attendees from across the world.
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| Prof Elena Babatsouli (ISMBS conference chair) with Sharynne |
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| ISMBS colleagues from Greece, Poland, and Moldova |
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| Consonant cluster researchers: Sharynne McLeod with Paulina Zydorowicz, and Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań |
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| Conference dinner with chair Prof Elena Babatsouli, Dimitri, David, Helen, and friends from Italy and Moldova |
I am keynote speaker at the International Society of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech (ISMBS) conference in Chania, Greece (16-19 June 2025). Details of my keynote address are below. Dr Helen Blake and I are also presenting a paper titled: "Audio and video recordings supporting multilingual children's speech" and Helen is co-presenting a poster with her PhD student.
There are 52 oral presentations and 21 posters with attendees from 26 countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong SAR China, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Moldovia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Taiwan, The Netherlands, UAE, UK, USA).
Prof Elena Babastouli ended her opening address with the following quote: "Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises" (Demosthenes).
It is always great to share knowledge with colleagues from across the world - and this conference in Chania is special.
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| The ISMBS conference venue on the Chania harbour |
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| Sharynne and Helen Blake at the Arsenal |
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| Sharynne's keynote |
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| Colleagues who have written chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World from Wales, Poland, Cyprus and Greece |
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| Prof Elena Babatsouli (ISMBS chair), Sharynne and Prof Kakia Petinou Κάκια Πετεινού (ISMBS committee) |
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| Helen presenting her paper with Sharynne cheering in the background |
Multilingual Minds are Unlocking Global Knowledge, γνώση, 认识, إدراك, דַעַת, ज्ञान …
Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod
Children’s Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University, Australia
Global understandings of speech, language, and communication encompass knowledge from 7,000+ languages. Communication professionals who read English have access to research and evidence-based resources, assessments, and interventions in approximately 100 languages. Critiques of psychology and linguistics report that research has focussed on English, northern hemisphere Indo-European languages (Draper et al., 2023; Kidd & Garcia, 2022), and “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies” (Henrich et al., 2010). This presentation will commend the work of multilingual minds (researchers, professionals, and translators) who provide English-language access to global knowledge about speech, language, and communication. It will outline the decade of work of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, and knowledge contained within global initiatives including:The presentation will conclude by challenging our reliance on English as the medium for knowledge dissemination and acknowledging the future potential of our connected multilingual world for greater understandings of speech, language, and communication.
- The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World
- Multilingual Children’s Speech website (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/speech-acq-studies)
- Crosslinguistic Phonology Project (https://phonodevelopment.sites.olt.ubc.ca/),
- Multilingual Families Lab Familles Multilingues (https://bilingualacquisition.wordpress.com/)
- CHILDES (https://childes.talkbank.org/) and PhonBank (https://phon.talkbank.org/)
Chania (Crete, Greece) is a Venetian fortress town built around the harbour. The sandstone walls and buildings contrast with the blue ocean - and make a stunning backdrop for the ISMBS conference this week.
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2024 has been a busy year (and this list doesn't include the regular conference presentations)!
I have been invited to be a plenary speaker at the International Symposium on Monolingual and Bilingual Speech (ISMBS) 2025 to be held 16-19 June 2025 in Chania, Crete, Greece. I have just submitted the abstract for my presentation: https://speechandlanguage.louisiana.edu/ismbs/plenary-lectures
Multilingual Minds are Unlocking Global Knowledge, γνώση, 认识, إدراك, דַעַת, ज्ञान …
Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod
Children’s Voices Centre, Charles Sturt University, Australia
Global understandings of speech, language, and communication encompass knowledge from 7,000+ languages. Communication professionals who read English have access to research and evidence-based resources, assessments, and interventions in approximately 100 languages. Critiques of psychology and linguistics report that research has focussed on English, northern hemisphere Indo-European languages (Draper et al., 2023; Kidd & Garcia, 2022), and “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies” (Henrich et al., 2010). This presentation will commend the work of multilingual minds (researchers, professionals, and translators) who provide English-language access to global knowledge about speech, language, and communication. It will outline the decade of work of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, and knowledge contained within global initiatives including:
• The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World
• Multilingual Children’s Speech website (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/speech-acq-studies)
• Crosslinguistic Phonology Project (https://phonodevelopment.sites.olt.ubc.ca/),
• Multilingual Families Lab Familles Multilingues (https://bilingualacquisition.wordpress.com/)
• CHILDES (https://childes.talkbank.org/) and PhonBank (https://phon.talkbank.org/)
The presentation will conclude by challenging our reliance on English as the medium for knowledge dissemination and acknowledging the future potential of our connected multilingual world for greater understandings of speech, language, and communication.
I was an invited keynote speaker at the 23rd Congress of the Otolaryngology Foundation FORL https://www.congressoforl.org/. The Congress was held in São Paulo – SP Brazil, at the Frei Caneca Convention Center from 12-14 September (12 a 14 de setembro de 2024).
Here are the titles of my presentations:
The conference website indicated "There will be more than 700 speakers from 9 specialties! In addition, we will have 10 outstanding international speakers".
It was a wonderful interdisciplinary conference - enabling rich and informative presentations and conversations between audiologists, ear nose and throat surgeons, speech-language pathologists, and other disciplines from across Brazil and the world.
I also was impressed by my conversations with the students and staff from the University of Sao Paulo. I have quoted and used much of their research in the past - and look forward to learning more from them in the future.
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| Prof Sharynne McLeod (Australia), Prof Haydee Fiszbein Wertzner (Brazil), Prof Yvonne Wren (UK), |
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| Presenting one of my three keynote addresses |
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| Dr Marilia Pereira (Brazil), Prof Sharynne McLeod (Australia), Prof Yvonne Wren (UK), Prof Haydee Fiszbein Wertzner (Brazil) |
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| Discussing communication as a human right with Dr Yakubu Karagama, keynote speaker and ENT surgeon and laryngologist from Kings College University London |
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| Presenting with Marcia Keske-Soares, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (Marcia co-authored a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World) |
Here is the biographical information about me that was written in Portuguese by Dr Luciana Pagan Neves
Sharynne McLeod, Ph.D. é professor ilustre da Charles Sturt University, Austrália, especializada em fala infantil e aquisição da linguagem. Ela possui um legado de defesa dos direitos de comunicação e de liderança de equipes interdisciplinares para realizar pesquisas internacionais impactantes sobre a fala de crianças multilíngues. Ela é membro da Academia de Ciências Sociais da Austrália e atuou como editora-chefe do International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Ela recebeu honras da American Speech-Language-Hearing Association e é membro vitalício da Speech Pathology Australia. Ela é presidente da Associação Internacional de Fonética Clínica e Linguística. O jornal australiano frequentemente a lista como Líder de Campo de Pesquisa da Austrália e Melhor do Mundo em Fonoaudiologia com base na “qualidade, volume e impacto” de suas pesquisas.
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| Luciana Bauru |
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| Gifts received by Yvonne and myself from the conference organisers! |
I am the keynote speaker at the XI Workshop on Linguistics, Language Development and Impairment on April, 18 /18 de Abril - 2024 - held at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. https://www.clul.ulisboa.pt/en/node/2498
I co-authored the presentation with Kate Margetson. Our presentation was titled: "Assessing children's speech in unfamiliar languages: Insights from Vietnamese-English children". Here is the abstract:
There are over 7,000 languages spoken across the world. Communication professionals have the power to enhance everyone’s participation in day-to-day life. However, when working with multilingual children, professionals can focus on their own dominant language, and limit children’s full participation and communication rights to speak home language(s) within families and communities. This presentation provides a clear step-by-step process for how to assess children’s speech in unfamiliar languages using free resources found on the Multilingual Children’s Speech website (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/home). The process will be explained using evidence from VietSpeech (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/vietspeech), a 4-year research program working with Vietnamese-English speaking children and families in Australia. Participants will learn how to use the step-by-step process for assessing children in any language and support home language maintenance.
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| Presenting the Speech Assessment of Children's Home Languages (SACHL) for the first time |
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| Ana Margarida Ramalho, Sharynne McLeod, Maria João Freitas, Marisa Lousada |
Other presenters are:
Prof Yvonne Wren and I have been invited to be keynote speaker at the 23rd Congress of Otorhinolaryngology Foundation https://forl.org.br/. The congress will take place in the period September 12th to 14th, 2024, at the Frei Caneca, São Paulo - SP – Brazil (http://www.convencoesfreicaneca.com.br/Localizacao)
Here are the topics we will present:
We had an excellent planning meeting tonight via Zoom from Brazil, UK and Australia with Profa Dra.Haydée Fiszbein Wertzner, Profa Associada do Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional - FMUSP
This week Prof Julie Marshall presented a keynote address at the XXXIII Congreso Internacional AELFA-IF Santander, Spain describing our work on Communication, Swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) based on our special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology published earlier this year.
It is a privilege to speak with an international audience. Recent international keynote addresses include:
I have just arrived home after 5 weeks of travelling ( I left on June 25). The first day I was away, I presented a keynote at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB) https://www.isb14.com/home.
My presentation was titled "Cross-linguistic perspectives on children’s speech development" and this week has been made publicly available here: https://youtu.be/mbMRPo73ERE
The conference convenor kindly emailed "Everyone loved your keynote, it'll be a beautiful memento of the conference."
I was honoured to be invited to be a keynote speaker at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB) 26-30 June 2023, hosted by Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (https://www.isb14.com/home). Over 550 people attended in person and online.
My presentation was titled "Cross-linguistic perspectives on children’s speech development" and is available here: https://youtu.be/mbMRPo73ERE
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| An artist in the audience painted me during my keynote! |
International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB) is a biennial conference on a wide range of issues concerning bi/multilingualism. Since its inaugural conference in 1997 at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, ISB has become the most significant conference in the field of bi/multilingualism. ISB has a strong focus on showcasing multidisciplinary research with a representation from a range of disciplines at every conference, including education, linguistics, neuroscience, psychology and sociology. The aim of ISB is to bring together bi/multilingualism researchers from all around the globe to advance the theoretical and applied research in bi/multilingualism, and to support bi/multilingualism practices in the community.
The conference theme of ISB14 is Diversity Now. The United Nations General Assembly has declared the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the critical status of many Indigenous languages across the world and encourage action for their preservation, revitalisation, and promotion. As we move into this decade, ISB14 encourages work especially involving lesser studied bilingual communities and interdisciplinary work to tackle bilingualism across the life-span, cultures and societies.
ISB14 Psycholinguistics Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism Neuroscience Interpreting & Translation Speech-Language Pathology Infant and Child Development Sociolinguistics Indigenous Languages Sociology Health Communication Education Phonetics and Phonology
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| Dr Nan Xu Rattanasone - conference chair with Sharynne and Holly |
Tonight I was honoured to be the keynote speaker at the III International Congress of the Portuguese Society of Speech Therapy in Lisboa/Lisbon (from Australia). My keynote presentation was titled “Enhancing children’s speech using international evidence-based resources”. I was live tweeting links throughout my presentation @SharynneMcLeod. https://sptf.org.pt/iii-congresso-internacional-sptf/
Here is more information from my blog: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2023/05/keynote-presentation-for-iii.html
I am very honoured to be invited to present a keynote speech at III International Congress of the Portuguese Society of Speech Therapy. The Congress will be held in Lisbon, Portugal and I will present my speech online on 27th May, 2023
https://sptf.org.pt/iii-sptf-international-congress/
My presentation is titled "Enhancing children’s speech using international evidence- based resources"
Sharynne McLeod, Ph.D., é terapeuta da fala e professora de aquisição da linguagem na Charles Sturt University, Austrália. Recebeu as honras da Associação Americana de Fala e Aprendizagem da Língua (2021) e de Membro vitalício da Speech Pathology Australia (2015). Foi editora-chefe do International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology e ganhou os Prémios Editoriais do Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (2018), American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (2019), e Topics in Language Disorders (2020). É membro da Academia das Ciências Sociais da Austrália, da Royal Society of New South Wales, membro certificado do Conselho Americano de Línguas e Distúrbios Linguísticos Infantis, Presidente do Comité da Fala Infantil da International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP), e foi Vice-Presidente da Associação Internacional de Linguística Clínica e Fonética. Foi co-autora de 13 livros e mais de 230 artigos de revistas e capítulos de revistas especializadas, centrados principalmente na aquisição da fala das crianças, distúrbios do som da fala, e multilinguismo. Em 2019, apresentou um discurso sobre direitos de comunicação nas Nações Unidas baseado num número especial do International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, que recebeu mais de 200.000 downloads. O jornal australiano nomeou-a Líder do Campo de Investigação em Audiologia, Terapia da Fala e Linguagem Patológica da Austrália (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022) e Melhor do Mundo com base na “qualidade, volume e impacto” da investigação no campo (2019).
Here are the links I provided
1. Multilingual Children’s Speech website (lots of free resources): https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech
2. Speech acquisition posters: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition
3. Speech acquisition studies: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acq-studies
4. Intelligibility in Context Scale in 60+ languages: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/ics
5. OPEN ACCESS - McLeod and Crowe (2018) Children's Consonant Acquisition in 27 Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Review https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100
6. OPEN ACCESS - Crowe and McLeod (2020) Children's English Consonant Acquisition in the United States: A Review https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00168
7. Waiting for Speech Pathology https://wnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au/our-services/speech-pathology/multilingual-resources/
8. New paper - Wren, Y., Pagnamenta, E., Orchard, F., Peters, T. J., Emond, A., Northstone, K., Miller, L. L., & Roulstone, S. (2023). Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties associated with persistent speech disorder in children: A prospective population study. JCPP Advances, e12126. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12126
