Today Helen Blake, Kathy Cologon and I met to check the status of the 23 manuscripts in our clinical forum: Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Nine manuscripts have been accepted or will be accepted soon. The remainder are under review with the reviewers or editors, or have been rejected.
It is going to be a landmark special issue with diverse and thought provoking content.
The first article has been published that will form a part of our special issue "Children's Communication and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child". Congratulations to the team from Belgium.
Alighieri, C., Bettens, K., & Lierde, K. V. (2026, in press). Speaking up: Communication rights and the lived experiences of children with cleft palate. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-25-00131
Abstract
Purpose:
A cleft palate is a congenital condition characterized by an opening in the roof of the mouth that can affect speech, feeding, hearing, dentition, aesthetics, and social integration. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of six children with cleft palate in relation to their communication rights as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), specifically CRC Article 12 (respect for children's views), Article 13 (sharing thoughts freely), and Article 23 (children with disabilities).
Method:
Through semistructured interviews and participatory methods, six children with a cleft palate (aged 6–13 years) shared their perspectives on how speech-language therapy influences their ability to express themselves, engage socially, and participate in educational and family life. A hybrid thematic analysis approach was adopted, combining both inductive and deductive strategies.
Results:
The analyses of the data derived directly from the children revealed three overarching themes in relation to CRC Article 12 (respect for children's views), Article 13 (sharing thoughts freely), and Article 23 (children with disabilities): Theme 1: Voice, Agency, and Participation in Decisions; Theme 2: Freedom of Expression and Emotional Safety; and Theme 3: Awareness of Difference and Need for Support. These themes reflect a nuanced interplay between children's personal experiences and the realization of their communication rights in therapeutic contexts. Findings reveal both empowering aspects of intervention, enhancing confidence and social inclusion, and barriers including limited access to tailored services and communication challenges that hinder full expression.
Conclusions:
The study underscores the critical role of speech interventions in upholding children's communication rights and advocates for inclusive, child-centered approaches that prioritize children's voices and diverse communication needs. Implications for clinicians, educators, and policymakers highlight the need to address systemic inequities and foster environments where children with cleft palate can fully exercise their rights to be heard and freely express themselves.
Today I had the opportunity to visit the United Nations. Originating alongside the League of Nations that was formed after World War I, the United Nations has had a fundamental role to play in shaping the modern world. While the United Nations Head Office is in New York, the Geneva Office holds many important meetings and roles.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) are some of the important documents from the United Nations that inform my work every day.
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| The view from the UN |
Dr Helen L. Blake, A/Prof Kathy Cologon and I are working on the LSHSS Clinical Forum: Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). We are delighted by the large number of submissions from across the world - and are now inviting reviewers.
Today Kathy Cologon, Helen Blake and I met for our first face-to-face meeting to discuss our clinical forum for Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools titled "Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)".
Here is the call for papers: https://academy.pubs.asha.org/call-for-papers/childrens-communication-and-the-united-nations-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-crc/
This collection for Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS) encourages research submissions that offer insights into children’s communication aligned with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, United Nations, 1989), the United Nations’ most widely ratified human rights treaty.
The CRC is important for everyone, including children with speech, language, communication and swallowing needs, their families, communities, and those who work with them (e.g., speech-language pathologists, audiologists, educators, psychologists, health and medical professionals, lawyers).
This Clinical Forum of LSHSS encourages papers that address at least one Article of the CRC its the relationship to children’s communication, particularly children with diverse communication abilities. Some papers could focus on communication rights that are mentioned in Articles 2, 12, 13, 29, 30 and 40 of the CRC (McLeod, 2018). The aim is for the Clinical Forum to cover most of the Articles in the CRC – so be creative.
Papers are sought about children with diverse communication abilities from authors across the world in a variety of disciplines, including from people who live and work in Majority World countries (low and middle-income countries and small island states). Papers that include the perspectives of children are encouraged.
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| Helen, Sharynne, Kathy |
Today I attended a webinar titled "The Convention On The Rights Of The Child: Hearing the Voices and Perspectives of Children and Young People" (https://dtp.org.au/training/crc-hearing-the-voices-and-perspectives-of-children-and-young-people/)
organised by UNSW and chaired by Faith Gordon from ANU (https://law.anu.edu.au/people/faith-gordon)
Speakers predominantly were young activitsts and many were involved in the Amnesty International Youth Advisory Group: https://www.amnesty.org.au/youth-in-our-movement/#
Here is the description of the event:
This is the 21st webinar in the series bringing together government officials, practitioners and academic experts to develop greater knowledge and understanding of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the need and means for its implementation in Australia. The right of children to participate and be heard is enshrined in the CRC. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly stated – including in its recommendations to the Australian Government – the need for the meaningful participation of children in all aspects of Australian policy and practice that impact their rights. The importance of climate change for the realisation of the rights of children and of future generations is a recurrent theme in the concerns of children in Australia and worldwide. This is recognised by the CRC Committee which is currently drafting a General Comment on the issue. But children have a wider range of concerns. These include the rights of Indigenous children, children with disabilities, and transgender children as well as the whole range of civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights encompassed in the CRC. In this last webinar in the current series, and in partnership with UNICEF Australia, the voices of children and young people will be heard. We will hear their expectations, and their demands of the recently elected Federal Government, and from State and Territory authorities. Their voices should and must be taken into account in the preparation of Australia’s next report to the UN CRC Committee due in January 2024.
The majority of the world speaks more than one language yet the impact of learning a second language has rarely been studied from a child’s perspective. This paper describes monolingual children’s insights into becoming bilingual at four time points: two months before moving to another country (while living in Australia), as well as one, six, and twelve months after moving to Germany. The participants were two monolingual English-speaking siblings (a male aged 7- to 8-years and a female aged 9- to 10-years) who subsequently learned to speak German. At each of the four time points, interviews were undertaken with each child using child-friendly drawing and questionnaire techniques. Three themes were identified: (1) the children’s awareness of language competence, (2) inclusion factors, and (3) exclusion factors that influenced friendship formation. The impact of language ability on making friends was a dominant theme that arose across the four time points and was triangulated across data collection methods. The children made friends with others who had similar language competence in German, even though they were younger, and did not share the same first language. Age-matched peers who were more competent in German were less likely to be described as friends. Across all three themes, the playground was highlighted by both children as the key site where becoming bilingual most strongly impacted initiation and negotiation of friendships. Becoming bilingual impacted the children’s friendship formation and socialization opportunities with more competent language users.
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| "Samantha's" drawing at time 2 (she had just arrived in Germany) when her new friend could not understand her English |
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| "Samantha's" drawing at time 4 when she and her friends had learned to speak German |
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| National Children's Commissioner in Bathurst |
The Excellence in Research in the Early Years Collaborative Research Network (CRN) is an Australian government- funded initiative to support collaboration amongst early years academics and PhD candidates at Charles Sturt University, Queensland University of Technology and Monash University. The purpose of the collaboration is to build research, skills and knowledge, and to contribute to strengthening Australian evidence base about early childhood education. This symposium illustrates some of the collaborative work being undertaken by members of the CRN. The projects featured in the symposium focus on the early childhood workforce, professional learning, and children’s learning, with references to the conference themes of leadership, community and identity. Collectively, the presentations offer insights into how adults and children make sense of complex and changing contexts and circumstances.
The impact of learning a second language on children’s friendships has rarely been studied from a child’s perspective. This paper describes two monolingual school-aged children’s insights into becoming bilingual at four time points: 2 months before moving to another country (while living in an English-speaking country), as well as one, six and twelve months after moving to Germany. The participants were English-speaking siblings (male with mild speech sound disorder aged 7- to 8-years and a typically developing female aged 9- to 10-years) who subsequently learned to speak German. At each of the four time points, interviews were undertaken with each child using child-friendly drawing and questionnaire techniques. The impact of language ability on making friends was a dominant theme that arose across the four time points and was triangulated across data collection methods. The children made friends with others who had similar language competence in German, even though they were younger, and did not share the same first language. Becoming bilingual impacted the children’s friendship formation and socialization opportunities with more competent language users. Children highlighted being excluded from activities and strategies for inclusion and forming friendships in bilingual environments.
Purpose: The World Report on Disability is an important milestone in the recognition of people with disabilities; however, the Report acknowledges that people with communication difficulties may be underrepresented in estimates of disability. Consequently, this article applies the nine recommendations from the World Report on Disability to supporting children’s communication skills. Method: Australia is similar to most Minority World countries since it places high regard on articulate and literate communication. Recent large-scale Australian studies of children with speech, language and communication needs were reviewed to determine prevalence, impact and associated environmental and personal factors. Studies of met and unmet need were reviewed and discussed in relation to legislation and policies. Results: Recent years have seen improvements in the collection of and access to disability data about children’s communication, including the involvement of children in research about the impact of communication difficulties on their lives. The prevalence of speech and language impairment in children is high and is associated with poorer educational and social outcomes at school-age. Significant unmet need for services was noted, and there were differences in health, education and disability policies regarding access to services. Conclusions: Updated legislation, policies and practices are needed to more effectively support access to services to support children’s communication across health, education and disability sectors.Implications for Rehabilitation
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Figure 1. Drawings created by 4- to 5-year-old children with speech impairment in response to being asked to draw themselves talking to someone. These examples are of drawings that accentuated the listener’s ears, and many of these examples also demonstrate the listener or speaker leaning towards the other, possibly to facilitate understanding of the spoken message. Copyright 2012 by S. McLeod, L. McAllister, J. McCormack and L. J. Harrison. Reprinted with permission. |
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| (Photos courtesy of Afasic) |
Hannah Wilkin has just found out that she achieved first class honours for her thesis titled "Oh I forgot the voice: A comparative analysis of children's drawings". Congratulations Hannah! May your honours be a key that unlocks many doors in your future. Hannah is currently working as a primary school teacher in Bathurst.
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| Hannah's thesis, and the drawing that inspired her title |
Talking and listening are important skills for all children to learn in order to fully participate in society. Since the publication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (UNICEF, 1989), there has been increased recognition that children’s views should be valued and respected. Previous studies have shown the benefits of utilising child-friendly methods such as drawing to understand aspects of children’s lives. This study aimed to determine whether children with moderate to severe speech sound disorder (SSD) conceptualise talking differently in their drawings to children with typically developing speech. Participants were 78 4- to 5-year-old children (40 males, and 38 females) who were divided into two groups according to their speaking proficiency based on their percentage of consonants correct (PCC) on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP, Dodd, Crosbie, Holm & Ozanne, 2002). Children with typically developing speech achieved a standard score ≥ 7 and children with moderate to severe SSD achieved a standard score of ≤ 3. Children were matched on gender and age (within two months) to provide a comparative sample of 39 pairs of children. Each child was asked questions about their perceptions of their talking, to draw themselves talking to someone, and to describe their drawing. These drawings and accompanying descriptions were analysed using content, descriptive, developmental, and psychological approaches. The children were able to represent talking in their drawings. Findings from the study indicate few statistically significant differences between the drawings of children with SSD and typically developing speech. Significant differences were identified in three of the eleven areas assessed for the children’s drawings: accentuated body features, the colours used and one of the self report measures (KiddyCAT; Vanryckeghem & Brutten, 2006). Children with SSD were more likely to accentuate ears in their drawings, while children with typically developing speech were more likely to accentuate arms/hands. Children with SSD used red, brown, purple and yellow in their drawings more frequently than children with typically developing speech. The KiddyCAT self report measure found that more children with SSD were in the “some difficulty” category than children with typically developing speech. There were no significant differences for any of the other areas considered: number of people in the drawing, conversational partners, facial expressions, portrayal of talking, image of self, Who Am I? Analysis (WAI; de Lemos & Doig, 1999), Adapted Fury Relationship Analysis (AFRA; Holliday 2008) and Faces task (SPAA-C, McLeod 2004). The limited differences between the two groups could relate to children’s self-perception and self insights at that age, and compare with other research suggesting some preschool children do not believe they have difficulties talking, instead they suggest that their conversational partners have difficulty listening (McCormack, McLeod, McAllister & Harrison, 2010). It is recommended that drawings accompanied by children’s verbal descriptions can be used to enhance teachers’ and speech-language pathologists’ understandings of young children’s perceptions of their talking.
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| Hannah with her proud supervisors: Linda Harrison and Sharynne |