I have enjoyed visiting Malta and learning about its rich history. Here are some photos taken in Valletta and Mdina showcasing Malta's heritage.
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| La Vallette Hall, the site of the IALP conference dinner |
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| Valletta Grandmaster's palace |
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| Valletta Grandmaster's palace |
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| St John’s Cathedral, Valletta |
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| Valletta |
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| Valletta |
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| Valletta |
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| Valletta |
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| Valletta |
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| Mdina |
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| Mdina |
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| Mdina |
Over the past 20 years I have collaborated with Prof Helen Grech from the University of Malta. Today I was able to visit the University of Malta's campus in Valetta.
Grech, H., & McLeod, S. (2012). Multilingual speech and language development and disorders. In D. Battle (Ed.), Communication disorders in multicultural and international populations (4th ed., pp. 120–147). Elsevier.
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) |
I am in Malta to attend the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders Congress (IALP https://ialpglobal.org/). IALP is a Non-State Actor in Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) and fosters professional knowledge and exchange of science and services across 55 affiliated societies in 35 countries around the world representing more than 300,000 members.
During the congress I received the Honoured Member Award from IALP. Over the past 100 years (since 1924 when IALP began) the website lists only 22 Honoured Members and only one from the Southern Hemisphere (Brazil) (https://ialpglobal.org/individual-members-2/).
The IALP Congress is attended by over 550 people from 58 countries offering 4 keynotes, over 90 sessions (with many papers per session), and 150 posters. One of the keynote speakers at IALP is Dr Antony Duttine, Technical Lead (Rehabilitation), World Health Organization, Switzerland "Telling the Story of Rehabilitation in a Changing World".
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| Prof Wiebke Scharff Rethfeldt (IALP Vice President), Dr Antony Duttine (WHO), Prof Sharynne McLeod (CSU) |
I have chaired a session and Dr Helen L. Blake and I have presented a paper titled "Unlocking global knowledge γνώση, 认识, إدراك, דַעַת, ज्ञान about children’s speech published by multilingual researchers". We were honoured to receive this email on acceptance of our paper:
On behalf of the Scientific Committee of the 33rd World Congress of the IALP, we are delighted to inform you that your abstract, titled "Unlocking global knowledge about children’s speech published by multilingual researchers," has been accepted as an Oral Presentation. The Committee would like to commend you on your abstract, which scored among the highest of the abstracts submitted.
I have also attended the IALP Child Speech Committee meeting on Sunday.
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| IALP Child Speech Committee |
The Congress is a fantastic time of networking, learning, and planning new research and opportunities.
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| IALP Child Speech Committee meeting - Helen Grech (Malta), Krisztina Zjado (Hungary), Carol To (Hong Kong, SAR China), Joanne Cleland (UK), Sharynne McLeod (Australia) |
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| IALP President, President Elect and Executive Committee Members |
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| Sharynne, Egill (Iceland), Pam Enderby (UK), Carol Westby (USA) |
While at the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) Congress in Malta I have had the chance to network with and learn from so many colleagues from across the globe (58 countries are represented).
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| With IALP President Elect Professor Tamer Abou-Elsaad |
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| A colleague from Mexico who chose to buy our books on the first day of the conference |
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| With Dr Eleftheria Geronikou from University of Patras, Greece |
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| Enjoying chatting IALP's youngest delegate (10 weeks old!) with Prof Joanne Cleland |
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| I appreciated the graphic illustrating the Global South - as well as the thoughtful presentations |
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| Exploring the conference venue with Krisztina Zjado (Hungary) and Carol To (Hong Kong, SAR China) |
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| Friends from Ireland and Australia |
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| Tommy Robinson in Mdina |
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| Joanne Cleland (Scotland), Eleftheria (Greece), Sharynne |
This week I have traveled to Malta and Gozo to prepare for the IALP conference. I have never visited Malta before, but I have collaborated with Professor Helen Grech from the University of Malta for many years. Malta's history, culture and languages are a fascinating mixture. The VisitMalta site says that over the years they have "hosted the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Knights of St. John, Napoleon and the British Empire." Malta was ruled by the British 1813-1964 - so English is a dominant language alongside Maltese (e.g., the main city in Gozo is called Ir-Rabat and Victoria as shown in the sign below).
