Speech Pathology Australia is committed to promoting innovation and being at the forefront of emerging trends and opportunities. In order to help meet this aspiration, early in 2019, the Association’s Board of Directors approved the introduction of the Speech Pathology Australia Innovation Awards. In 2020, the Speech Pathology Australia Innovation Award in the Research category has been awarded to Kirrie Ballard for her nomination, titled: ‘Go Bananas! The game changer in speech therapy’. The nomination outlined the development of an interactive video-gaming system for remote tablet-based speech therapy that solves the challenge of delivering intensive evidence-based treatment protocols to children with speech sound disorder. As the winner, Kirrie Ballard is required to provide an article for Speak Out about her innovation and to provide a short presentation to the Speech Pathology Australia National Conference in Darwin in 2021. Congratulations to Kirrie Ballard! #innovation #WeSpeechies #SLPeeps #SP2030
These grants and acknowledments enable her to continue her important work that we profiled here: McLeod, S., Ballard, K. J., Ahmed, B., McGill, N., & Brown, M. I. (2020). Supporting children with speech sound disorders during COVID-19 restrictions: Technological solutions. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/doi:10.1044/2020_PERSP-20-00128
