Our students are our future

Yesterday I had the priviledge of meeting two final year speech pathology students who are in the final week of their final placement. One more exam/assessment task to go, then they are speech pathologists. All the best Bridgette Hardman (UTS) and Wanting Lin (Celia) (UC). Thanks to Cathie Matthews and others like her who mentor students during their clinical placements.

Lecture to fourth year Bachelor of Dental Science (BDSc) students

Tonight it was my pleasure to give a lecture to the fourth year Bachelor of Dental Science (BDSc) students. Dr Winey Wan invited me - and is an enthusiastic supporter of her students learning about speech, language and communication.

Graduation congratulations

During April/May, some of my research students graduate at Charles Sturt University. I am unable to celebrate with them at the graduation ceremonies, because the graduation dates changed from December 2023-  so coincided with my international travel. I cheered loudly from the other side of the world - and had an opportunity to celebrate Belinda in Bathurst.

Pre-graduation celebration with Dr Belinda Downey

Congratulations Sarah Faulks on your honours graduation in Albury in April.
I am glad A/Prof Sarah Verdon was with you to celebrate

Students

 I love working with my research and higher degree students:

1. Belinda Downey*
2. Kate Margetson
3. Marie Ireland*
4. Holly McAlister
5. Cathie Matthews
6. Sarah Faulks
7. Sarah Bartlett
8. Caitlin Hurley (UWA)
9. Anniek Van Doornik (Utrecht) 

I am principal supervisor for Kate, Marie and Sarah B.

*Submitted in 2023

 

SPH512 Meet and Greet with Prof Sharynne McLeod

Tonight I was interviewed by Bec Malcolm for the CSU "SPH512 Meet and Greet with Prof Sharynne McLeod". What a great group of people. We ended up chatting for over 90 minutes!

 

Here are the questions they asked in advance: 

SPEECH PATHOLOGY PROFESSION 

• 1. Where do you feel there is the greatest opportunity for influence as the speech pathology profession? 
• 2. It seems that speech pathology is a relatively young (and fast growing) discipline. What are the biggest changes you’ve seen? What do you envisage over the next 10 or 20 years? 
• 3. What is the biggest challenge that speech pathology is currently facing as a profession in your eyes? And how do you think we should look to overcome or address it? 
• 4. You work with and train both teachers and SLPs. Many of us are coming to SLP from an education background. What do you think are the most important things for us to know if that’s us - e.g. any specific challenges that brings etc. 

CHILDREN’S SPEECH TEXTBOOK

• 5. What was/is your vision for how "Children's Speech" is to be used by students and practising speech pathologists? To be read from cover to cover? Using the index to look up certain specific sections? To look up very specific information? Something else? 
• 6. I truly admire your dedication to evidence-based practice and rigor. The Children’s Speech seems like a very thorough textbook. But it was sometimes difficult to see the forest for the trees reading through different conflicting studies, e.g. risk factors for SSDs in ch.1. What is your best advice for students reading these sorts of parts of the book? 
• 7. What do you look for when choosing toys for assessment and intervention tasks? What are some of your favourites? 
• 8. When do you expect the next edition of your text book to be published? 9. What are the key updates you plan on making to the textbook that might be helpful for us to know for our studies now? 

 

Welcome Sarah B as you begin your research journey at CSU

Today Sarah Bartlett begins her research journey at Charles Sturt University. I am really excited to be working with her following her passsion to support young children's speech and langauge skills using the Hanen program and other evidence-based interventions that work with families.

Sharynne and Sarah meeting in Bathurst on 8th March

(I need to use initials as Sarah is a popular name in our Speech-Language-Multilingualism team: A/Prof Sarah Verdon, Dr Sarah Masso, Sarah Faulks, and Sarah Bartlett!)

Inspiring Orange

Yesterday I had a series of inspiring meetings in Orange, NSW - my neighbouring city. First I met with Asta Fung and we shared wonton soup and our research journeys. I was Asta's lecturer at The University of Sydney in the 1990s. She is undertaking a PhD at the University of Newcastle about breathing and pain control using her speech pathology expertise. Next I met with four fourth year speech pathology students undertaking their fieldwork placements at Orange Community Health/Hospital. I loved their enthusiasm and we talked about how their professional (and personal) futures are an adventure. I believe that they have chosen a fantastic profession to be part of. Finally I spent the afternoon with Cathie Matthews, a speech pathologist and colleague who has worked in the Central West for many years. She is undertaking the NSW Health Rural Research Capacity Building Program and has invited me to be on her mentoring team. What an inspiring day.

Year 4 speech pathology students from The University of Sydney

Cathie Matthews and Sharynne

A special gift

Dr Ben Pham and I received special gift this evening - an email and this photo:

"I have [attached] a photo when Prof. Sharynne talked after I defend[ed my thesis]. I want to send it to you as a souvenir so that you always remember there is a Vietnamese practitioner who is me."

Thank you to our masters' students - we are very proud of all you have learned and achieved over the past two years and wish you all the best for your future careers as you change the lives of people in Vietnam.

Congratulations to Phạm Thị Vấn and Nguyễn Thị Hằng

Congratulations to our two masters students who presented their theses today at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. Their presentations and answers to reviewers' were excellent. I was very proud of them.

Phạm Thị Vấn's thesis was titled "Đặc điểm âm lời nói của trẻ có rối loạn âm lời nói ở miền Bắc Việt Nam"[Speech sound characteristics of children with speech sound disorders in Northern Viet Nam] Her three supervisors were 1. TS. Võ Nguyên Trung 2. TS. Phạm Thị Bền 3. GS. TS. Sharynne McLeod 

Nguyễn Thị Hằng's thesis was titled "TÍNH DỄ HIỂU LỜI NÓI CỦA TRẺ CÓ RỐI LOẠN ÂM LỜI NÓI Ở MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM" [SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY OF CHILDREN WITH SPEECH SOUND DISORDERS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM] Her three supervisors were 1. PGS. TS. Đỗ Văn Dũng 2. TS. Phạm Thị Bền 3. GS. TS. Sharynne McLeod.

Both students have published their literature reviews as journal articles in Vietnam and we plan to publish their results in English-language journals in the future. 

Thank you to Dr Ben Phạm who simultaneously translated the session from Vietnamese to English so that I could understand. She provided excellent information throughout the process went for over 4 hours during the session where three students presented.

Congratulations Hằng Nguyen and Vấn Phạm for submitting your Masters theses to Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University

Congratulations to Hằng Nguyen and Vấn Phạm who submitted their Masters’ theses yesterday to Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University, Viet Nam. I am so proud of them as they have worked very hard to undertake comprehensive research with 51 children with speech sound disorders in Vietnam, then write their thesis twice, once in Vietnamese and then in English! 

Vấn Phạm 

• Vietnamese thesis title: ĐẶC ĐIỂM ÂM LỜI NÓI CỦA TRẺ CÓ RỐI LOẠN ÂM LỜI NÓI Ở MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM 
• English title: SPEECH SOUND CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN WITH SPEECH SOUND DISORDERS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM] 
• Supervisory team: Dr. Vo Nguyen Trung, Dr. Phạm Thi Ben, Pro. Dr. Sharynne McLeod 

Hằng Nguyen 

1. Vietnamese thesis title: TÍNH DỄ HIỂU LỜI NÓI CỦA TRẺ CÓ RỐI LOẠN ÂM LỜI NÓI Ở MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM 
2. English thesis title: SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY OF CHILDREN WITH SPEECH SOUND DISORDERS IN NORTHERN VIETNAM 
3. Supervisory team: Dr. Do Van Dung, Dr. Phạm Thi Ben, Pro. Dr. Sharynne McLeod 

Best wishes for your oral defense and your thesis examination. 

Congratulations also to Dr Ben Phạm who was their primary supervisor. It was an honour to be co-supervisor.

Here are some blogposts of their research journey: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/search/label/masters. Our first briefing was in January 2020 and our first meeting with the students was on February 10, 2020.

Masters students each have submitted a draft of their whole thesis - congratulations

I am very proud of Van and Hang who have recently submitted a draft of their whole thesis. It is such a pleasure to co-supervise these students with Dr Ben Pham from Ha Noi National University of Education.

Here is our first blogpost this year: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2020/02/supervising-masters-students-in-viet-nam.html

Masters students at Ho Chi Minh Medical and Pharmacy University, Viet Nam

My Masters students at Ho Chi Minh Medical and Pharmacy University, Viet Nam (Nguyễn Thị Hằng and Phạm Thị Vấn) are doing really well. They have just submitted a draft of their literature review, method and results. I really enjoy working with Dr Ben Phạm who is their primary supervisor. They are aiming to submit on 20th August - so they are nearing completion.

PhD and Masters students for this session

 I am very fortunate to be supervising/co-supervising five PhD students this session:

1. Dr Van Tran - who will submit her second PhD (co-supervised with Dr Sarah Verdon and Dr Audrey Wang)
   
2. Marie Ireland - who will commence her PhD by prior publication (co-supervised with Dr Sarah Verdon and Dr Kate Crowe)
3. Kate Margetson - who will commence her PhD (co-supervised with Dr Sarah Verdon )
4. Anniek Van Doornik - who is undertaking her PhD at Utrecht University in the Netherlands (and supervised by Prof Ellen Gerrits, Dr Hayo Terband and Dr  Marlies Welbie)
   
5. Belinda Downey - who is finishing her PhD (supervised by Prof Will Letts and co-supervised with Dr Tamara Cumming)

Belinda Downey, Sharynne and Dr Tamara Cumming

Anniek Van Doornik (Utrecht, The Netherlands) and Sharynne

Marie Ireland's first official PhD meeting
included celebrating her birthday and being awarded ASHA Fellow

I am also fortunate to be co-supervising two Masters students this session:

1. Nguyễn Thị Hằng - who will submit her thesis at Ho Chi Minh Medical and Pharmacy University, Viet Nam (supervised by Dr Ben Phạm)
2. Phạm Thị Vấn - - who will submit her thesis at Ho Chi Minh Medical and Pharmacy University, Viet Nam (supervised by Dr Ben Phạm)

 

Paediatric Professional Pathways Panel 2021: ACU Student Society

Tonight I presented on the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Student Society's Paediatric Professional Pathways Panel 2021. They had 117 students registered from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Townsville. 

The other presenters were: 

• Dr Hannah Stark 
• Olivia O'Hare 
• Felicity Conlan 

How inspiring to hear four stories that had the same themes: dream big, do your best, put others first, see closed doors as new opportunities...so you can make a difference in the world. 

Congratulations to Aimee Wisnewski, Nicole Romei and the entire ACU SPSSM team on a very professional and fascinating evening. 

 

Presenters and committee members (photo provided by committee)

Some of the attendees (photo provided by committee)

PhD students aiming to submit in 2021

This year two of my students plan to submit their PhDs

• Dr Van Tran - who is working with us in the VietSpeech project at CSU. This will be her second PhD
• Anniek Van Doornik - who is undertaking her PhD through Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Today I had meetings with them both planning the work ahead towards submission. 

Ice in Utrecht - Feb 2021 - from Utrecht University's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/315278225910/posts/10157885831480911/?d=n

CSU research pathways for students

 The following courses will be available at Charles Sturt University from 2021: 

These courses are available for online study:

• Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences (Honours) 
• Graduate Certificate in Arts and Social Sciences Research

Invited presentations at the SLP2B 2020 conference

This week the SLP2B 2020 Conference  is being run by the Speech Pathology Australia Student Association at LaTrobe University, Australian Catholic University, and Melbourne University. 

I was invited to be a keynote speaker (here.). First I was invited to prepare at 10 minute presentation. My topic was "Speaking up for communication rights at the United Nations" and the presentation is here.

Additionally, I was interviewed by Bridgett James and Danielle Vidoni who asked some fabulous questions on behalf of speech pathology students. Our interview is here. 

The students also invited other researchers (including A/Prof Jane McCormack, Prof Pamela Snow), speech pathologists and a consumer to provide their insights. It was great to see their initiative in transitioning from a face-to-face conference to an online conference. As a result it was available for many more speech pathology students than they had originally planned to reach. Congratulations to the organisers and best wishes to all of the SLP2Bs as they navigate an extremely unusual year of their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe that they will be more resiliant, creative and responsive as a result.

Bridgett James, Sharynne McLeod and Danielle Vidoni

Here is the description of the conference by Speech Pathology Australia

SLP2B 2020
SLP2B is back for another year but this year with a twist - we are going online! The Victorian Branch Student Reps have outdone themselves and thought innovatively to organise SLP2B 2020. Speech-Language Pathologist 2 Be is a student seminar organised by students, for students. The Victoria Branch SPA reps have been working hard to bring this event back against the odds (thanks a bunch 2020) and managed to organise a star lineup of speakers to share their wealth of knowledge with you. What’s even better is that you can access their expertise at your leisure! Speech Pathologists from different sectors will talk about their career pathways, and a consumer will share their personal SP therapy experiences. Because it's online this year, participants can access the event at their leisure from 17 August until 17 September. Please find details online.

Congratulations Anna on your PhD submission

Today Anna Cronin submitted her PhD. Her thesis is titled: "Toddlers with Cleft Palate: Enhancing Communication through Holistic Child- and Family-Centred Practice". It was submitted as a series of two encyclopaedia entries, one book chapter, four journal articles and an exegesis. Anna was in Brisbane and was cheered on by her supervisory team: myself in Bathurst, Dr Sarah Verdon in Albury, members of the Speech-Language-Multilingualism team (in Shepparton, Sydney, Newcastle), her family and friends and received congratulatory messages from Sydney, Iceland, and Fiji. Her PhD scholarship was from Charles Sturt University.

The moment of submission

Congratulations Anna and best wishes for your examination!
Here is Anna's abstract:

Cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CP±L) is one of the most common congenital conditions affecting children across the world. Although high quality surgical and specialist multidisciplinary intervention for children with CP±L is available in many countries, this condition continues to impact children’s speech, early expressive language, feeding, middle ear function, appearance, and daily life. This thesis considered the views of international specialist speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with toddlers with CP±L primarily in medical settings, as well as educators, families and toddlers with CP±L using a holistic child- and family-centred model. Demands resulting from diagnosis and intervention often have a significant impact, so families were given control and agency over their stories with the goal of informing and ultimately transforming SLPs’ practice. The thesis is innovative, theoretically driven, purposeful and sequential in its approach to recommending a shift in the way SLPs approach practice with children with CP±L.
The research presented in this thesis, known as the Toddlers with Cleft Palate Study, consisted of two parts presented as a series of seven publications: two encyclopaedia entries, one book chapter and four journal articles. Three theoretical frameworks underpinned the thesis: International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-CY; WHO, 2007), Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989), and family-centred practice (Dunst, 2002; Espe-Sherwindt, 2008). Combining these lenses provided unique insights and enabled holistic consideration of toddlers with CP±L, their rights, and their families’ experiences. Part One of the thesis provided definitions and outlined current practices with toddlers with CP±L. Drawing on the literature, the encyclopaedia entries outlined common craniofacial conditions and the impact of CP±L on speech. In the Toddlers with Cleft Palate Study 1: Specialist SLPs’ Perspectives, semi-structured interview data from the author’s Churchill Fellowship visits with six international specialist SLPs were analysed using directed content analysis framed by the ICF-CY. The findings indicated the ICF-CY had utility in describing specialist SLPs’ practice and that specialist SLPs do consider all components and contextual factors of the ICF-CY. However, there was less focus on Activities and Participation than on Body Structures and Functions and Environmental Factors (e.g., health services and geographic location).
Part Two of the thesis examined toddlers with CP±L and their families’ lived experiences, and how SLPs could best support them in the early years of life. A literature review outlined recommendations for supporting young children’s speech, language and communication to uphold their human rights in transnational early childhood education and care contexts. An innovative, ethnographic methodology was taken in the Toddlers with Cleft Palate Study 2: Toddlers’ and Families’ Experiences. This study involved observation, collection of speech and language data, interviews, photos, video data, and researcher reflection with seven toddlers with CP±L, 13 parents, and 12 significant others (e.g., educators and grandparents) around Australia. Speech and language data were evaluated to present a tutorial outlining a holistic communication protocol for SLPs to use with toddlers with CP±L. Interview data and 84 artefacts from the study (18 interviews, 29 videos, one extended audio recording of a mealtime, seven photos contributed by families, seven case history questionnaires, 18 field notes, four research reflections) were analysed inductively and revealed three themes in families’ experiences of raising toddlers with CP±L: the impact on the whole child, family strength and support, and family isolation and trauma.
The findings of the two parts of the study were synthesised to present how generalist SLPs working with toddlers with CP±L could learn from clients and their families and best support them in their early years, representing a shift away from the traditional professional-centred medical model of treatment. Overall, there were three main findings from the thesis: (1) having CP±L affects many aspects of toddlers’ lives and development, not just their speech, (2) children and families’ voices should be privileged in co-creating the intervention journey in collaboration with professionals, and (3) non-specialist medical, allied health, and education professionals need to understand that the impact of CP±L extends beyond speech, and know how to support toddlers and families holistically. The thesis contributes to the literature on the impact of CP±L on toddlers and their families and is significant in terms of its ethnographic methodology and shift towards a collaborative, family-centred approach to speech-language pathology practice. 

The following papers have been published to date (more to come):

• Cronin, A., & McLeod, S. (2019). Craniofacial anomalies. In M. J. Ball & J. S. Damico (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of human communication sciences and disorders (pp. 515-519). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. 
• Cronin, A., & McLeod, S. (2019). Cleft lip and palate: Speech effects. In M. J. Ball & J. S. Damico (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of human communication sciences and disorders (pp. 348-351). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. 
• Cronin, A., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2020). Applying the ICF-CY to specialist speech-language pathologists’ practice with toddlers with cleft palate speech. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal. Advance online publication.doi:10.1177/1055665620918799 
• Cronin, A., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (in press). Holistic communication assessment for young children with cleft palate using the ICF-CY. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Masters students in Vietnam

Our masters students in Vietnam were very happy today. This week Vietnam has allowed students to return to school and university staff to return to work for the first time since 1st February 2020 (14 weeks) due to lifting COVID-19 restrictions. They also shared their proposals in Vietnamese. Dr. Ben Pham and I were really pleased with how hard they have been working.

2020 Higher Degree Research Students

This year I am supervising the following HDR students at Charles Sturt University:

• Anna Cronin - PhD student
• Nicole McGill - PhD student 
• Dr Van Tran - PhD student
• Holly McAlister - Honours student (co-supervisor)

I am co-supervising the following HDR students at other universities:

• Anniek Van Doornik - PhD student at Utrecht University, The Netherlands
• Hang Nguyen - Masters student at University of Medicine and Pharmacy, HCMC, Viet Nam
• Vấn Phạm - Masters student at University of Medicine and Pharmacy, HCMC, Viet Nam

It is a privilege to work with these women and to support them as they undertake their research to benefit children and families around the world.