CVC submissions to government and global organizations

 The Children's Voices Centre has worked with children to create a number of submissions: 

• Submission to Review of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act (Nov, 2025)
• Submission to World Health Organization Disability Health Equity Network (Nov, 2025) (https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/4506148/CVC-Children-draw-health-2025-Fiji-submission.pdf)
• Submission to United Nations Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration (https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/youth/hr75/submissions/subm-views-youth-led-cso-early-childhood-interdisciplinary-resear.pdf)

 

Policy/advocacy discussion with Speech Pathology Australia

This afternoon I had a long discussion with Dr Nicole McGill, from Speech Pathology Australia about policy/advocacy to support children's communication and solutions for long waiting lists and fragmented services across health/education/disability/private practice. 

Here is some of the evidence that we discussed:

• McLeod, S., Davis, E., Rohr, K., McGill, N., Miller, K., Roberts, A., Thornton, S., Ahio, N., & Ivory, N. (2020). Waiting for speech-language pathology services: A randomised controlled trial comparing therapy, advice and device. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22(3), 372–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2020.1731600 
• McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., & Wang, C. (2019). A longitudinal population study of literacy and numeracy outcomes for children identified with speech, language, and communication needs in early childhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 47, 507–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.07.004 
• Rvachew, S., & Rafaat, S. (2014). Report on benchmark wait times for pediatric speech sound disorders [Rapport sur les temps d’attente repères pour l’orthophonie pédiatrique]. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, 38, 82–96. 
• CSU Provocations Blog: https://provocations.csu.edu.au/communication-is-a-human-right-but-not-everyone-can-communicate-effectively/ 
• CSU Provocations Public Lecture: https://research.csu.edu.au/engage-with-us/provocations; https://youtu.be/pnMRyU5BSOQ?feature=shared
• McLeod, S. (2018). Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2018.1428687 
• McLeod, S., & Marshall, J. (2023). Communication for all and the Sustainable Development Goals. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2022.2160494

Advocacy from US and UK about SDG18 Communication for All

Thank you Dr. Lynn Willams (US) for promoting our advocacy about communication for all and the Sustainable Development Goals in your interview with Kathy Brodie (UK), for her Early Years Summit (https://www.earlyyearssummit.com/).

https://video.bunnycdn.com/play/9918/1283088f-f4d7-4ecc-9ccb-8a3da1e714d4 (time 20-24mins)

McLeod, S., & Marshall, J. (2023). Communication for all and the Sustainable Development Goals. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2022.2160494