A multilingual world

Over the past month I have visited Stockholm (Sweden), Reykjavik (Iceland), Helsinki (Finland), and stopped over in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Singapore. I am constantly amazed by the multilingual dexterity of the people I interact with in each country. The people I have talked with have switched to converse with me in English as soon as I have opened my mouth (and sometimes before I do). In contrast, I have only learned a few simple words:

• Swedish: hej (hello), tack (thank you)
• Icelandic: halló (hello), takk (thank you), Þetta reddast (she'll be right mate)
• Finnish: hei (hello), kiitos (thank you)

A sign in downtown Reykjavik

 Code switching is such a regular part of life for the Nordic countries. Children learn other Nordic languages in school, as well as English. For example, children in Iceland learn Danish and English. Children in Finland learn Swedish and English. Russian is also seen in the streets of Finland.

Herkullissia marjoja (the delicious berries) of Suomi (Finland)

It is said that one of the reasons these Nordic languages have survived and remained distinct was due to the translation of the Bible. For example, in Iceland, the New Testament was translated in 1540 and the entire Bible in 1584. The first Finnish translation was in 1548. I also learned about the importance of the translation of the Bible for the Irish people when I saw the Book of Kells earlier this year.

Helsingin tuomiokirkko, Suurkirkko in Helsinki

50th anniversary of speech and language pathology education in Sweden

Speech and Language Pathology education in Sweden celebrated its 50th anniversary on June 14th 2014. The 50th anniversary symposium took place in Aula Medica, Karolinska Institutet in Solna.

Professor Christine Dollaghan from University of Texas at Dallas was the invited speaker and her keynote was titled: Evidence-based practice in speech and language pathology: How far have we come and how much farther do we need to go? The program also included presentations by invited Swedish researchers and speech and language pathologists. The event concluded with a celebratory dinner at City Hall, the venue for awarding Nobel Prizes.

Professor Christine Dollaghan's keynote address

Dinner at City Hall

 

Collaboration, networking, and making friends in Sweden

There is a lot that can be accomplished via emails; however, travel to conferences to meet face-to-face with researchers from across the world provides opportunities for collaboration, networking, and making friends that cannot be achieved virtually. The ICPLA conference hosted delegates from 33 different countries. Here are a few of the people that my students and I met with while in Sweden:

Professor Edy Strandy (Mayo Clinic, US) and Sharynne

Professor May Bernhardt (UBC, Canada) and Suzanne Hopf

Dr Yvan Rose (Canada) and Sarah Masso

Professor Merle Mahon (UCL, UK) and Sharynne

Sound Start Study at ICPLA in Sweden

The Sound Start Team presented the following poster at the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association conference in Sweden
McLeod, S., Crowe, K., Masso, S., Baker, E., McCormack, J., Wren, Y., Roulstone, S. Talking and making speech sounds is of greater concern for parents and teachers of 4- to 5-year-old children than other aspects of development.

Sharynne, Sarah Masso and Yvonne Wren

Here is the abstract:

Early childhood is a time of maturation of skills including communication, motor, behavioural, social and academic learning skills. Most children succeed in these skills and are ready for school; some children have difficulties. Parents and teachers of 270 4- to 5-year-old Australian children within the first year of the Sound Start Project completed the 10 questions from the Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) (Glascoe, 2000) documenting areas of concern. There were 135 (50.0%) boys and 135 (50.0%) girls. The majority of children (76.3%) spoke English only, 21.1% spoke English + one other language, and the remainder spoke English + two or three other languages. Parents’ (P) and teachers’ (T) major areas of concern were children’s “talking and making speech sounds” (P=16.7%; T=16.3%), “understanding what you say” (P=6.7%; T=8.9%) and “behavior” (P=7.8%; T=3.0%). The other areas were generally of less concern: “learning preschool/school skills” (P=5.6%; T=3.0%), “getting along with others” (P=4.1%; T=4.4%), “using hands and fingers” (P=4.1%; T=4.4%), “using arms and legs” (P=3.7%; T=3.3%), and “learning to do things for self” (P=3.3%; T=3.3%). Whilst there are similarities between the concerns of parents and teachers, there were also differences. Understanding the source of these differences will be important to the planning of appropriate interventions. These comparative results show that parents and teachers identified preschool children’s speech and language as the major area of concern.  The results underscore the importance of communication assessment and intervention to support children’s transition to school.

 

International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association conference - Stockholm, Sweden

The International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association conference is in Stockholm, Sweden this week. There are 271 delegates from 33 countries. 235 abstracts were submitted with 66 oral presentations and 115 posters accepted.

Dr Ann Harding-Bell (UK), Sarah Masso (Aus), Dr Karla Washington (US), Dr Jane Speake (UK), Prof Nancy Scherer (US),  Prof Sharynne McLeod (Aus) at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm

ICPLA opening session

Children's speech assessment panel:
Sarah Masso, Dr Karla Washington, Sarah Verdon, Sharynne, Suzanne Hopf

My students (Sarah Verdon, Sarah Masso, and Suzanne Hopf), colleagues, and I are presenting the following papers:

1. McLeod, S. (chair) Children’s speech assessment: Cross-cultural considerations. 90 minute panel.
2. Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Wong, S. International approaches to the assessment of children with speech sound disorders. Paper presented in the 90 minute panel on Children’s speech assessment: Cross-cultural considerations.
3. Masso, S., Baker, E., McLeod, S. &  McCormack, J. Phonological processing assessments in English for young children with speech sound disorders. Paper presented in the 90 minute panel on Children’s speech assessment: Cross-cultural considerations.
4. McLeod, S., Washington, K., Devonish, H., Samms-Vaughan, M., & Creaghead, N. Code switching in the speech of young Jamaican children.  Paper presented in the 90 minute panel on Children’s speech assessment: Cross-cultural considerations.
5. Hopf, S., C., & McLeod, S. Cross-cultural considerations when assessing the speech of young children from Fiji. Paper presented in the 90 minute panel on Children’s speech assessment: Cross-cultural considerations.
6. Ng, K., To, C. K. S., & McLeod, S. Intelligibility in Context Scale validation for Cantonese-speaking children in Hong Kong. Paper presented in the 90 minute panel on Children’s speech assessment: Cross-cultural considerations.
7. Washington, K., McLeod, S., Samms-Vaughan, M., Devonish, H., & Creaghead, N. Code switching in the language of young Jamaican children.  Paper.
8. Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Winsler, A.  Facilitating home language maintenance in an English dominant context. Paper.
9. McLeod, S., Crowe, K., Masso, S., Baker, E., McCormack, J., Wren, Y., Roulstone, S. Talking and making speech sounds is of greater concern for parents and teachers of 4- to 5-year-old children than other aspects of development. Poster.

   

   Sharynne, Suzanne Hopf, Sarah Masso, Karla Washington, and Suzanne's family in Stockholm

   

   The Esses in Stockholm, Sweden (i.e., my PhD students!):
   Sarah Masso, Sarah Verdon, Sharynne McLeod and Suzanne Hopf

   
   

Meeting of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech

The second face-to-face meeting of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech was held on 11th June in Stockholm, Sweden. The panel members brought insights from working in:

• Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Fiji, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kuwait, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK, US, Vietnam, Wales 

and speaking the following languages in a professional capacity:

• Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Jamaican Creole, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish, Slovenian, Swedish, Welsh, and Yiddish.

We worked on writing a tutorial paper regarding assessment of the speech of children who do not speak the same language as the speech-language pathologist they are working with.

Some of the International Expert Panel members from
Canada, UK, Slovenia, Australia, The Netherlands, Israel, US, and UK

International Expert panel members from Iceland, Australia, Canada, UK, Fiji and US/Jamaica

To date, the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech have achieved the following outcomes:

POSITION PAPER

1. International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech (2012). Multilingual children with speech sound disorders: Position paper. Bathurst, NSW, Australia: Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning & Education (RIPPLE), Charles Sturt University.
   Retrieved from http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/position-paper

JOURNAL ARTICLES

1. McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Bowen, C., & International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech (2013). International aspirations for speech-language pathologists’ practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders: Development of a position paper. Journal of Communication Disorders, 46(4), 375-387. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021992413000130 (The JCD journal report received on 11 June 2014 indicated this paper had been downloaded or viewed 1099 times up until 30 April)
2. Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Wong, S. (2014, in press April). Reconceptualising practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders: People, practicalities, and policy. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

1. McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Bowen, C. & International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech (2013, November).  Aspirations of an international expert panel for working with multilingual children with speech sound disorders. Technical paper (30 minute oral presentation) presented at American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Chicago, IL, USA.
2. McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Bowen, C., International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech (2013, August). Multilingual children with speech sound disorders: Creation of a position paper by an international expert panel. Presentation in 2 hour seminar titled Multilingual children’s speech, language, and hearing. 29^th World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, Turin, Italy.
3. Verdon, S. & McLeod, S. (2013, August). Supporting multilingual children with speech sound disorders: People, practicalities, and policy. 29^th World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, Turin, Italy.
4. Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Wong, S. (2014, June). Investigating speech and language therapists’ practices in diverse contexts: People, practicalities and policy. ProPEL (Professional Practice, Learning and Education) Conference, Stirling, Scotland