I just graduated from my 8 year cancer journey. Thank you Prof Fran Boyle, Prof Andrew Spillane, Prof Gillian Lamoray, my wonderful family and friends. I'm so glad to be alive.
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| My oncologist, Prof Fran Boyle celebrating my cancer graduation (and I'm wearing my PhD bonnet that was at hand for the photo) |
Today we had two celebrations of The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World with 61 of our our chapter authors. We had one celebration at 8am and one at 6pm AEST in order to accommodate the world's timezones. THANK YOU TO OUR WONDERFUL MULTILINGUAL MINDS.
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| OUP chapter authors - Celebration 1 |
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| OUP chapter authors - Celebration 2 (photo 1) |
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| OUP chapter authors - Celebration 2 (photo 2) |
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| OUP chapter authors attending celebration 1 (yellow) and 2 (blue) |
The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World (McLeod, 2026)
Oxford University Press websites:
Google books sample:
Charles Sturt University associated sites:
CELEBRATION 1 – 21 ATTENDEES
Wed 12 August 2026 – 8am AEST
CELEBRATION 2 – 39 ATTENDEES
Wed 12 August 2026 – 6pm AEST
22. Anna-Leena Martikainen
23. Annette Fox-Boyer
24. Spyros Armostis (Σπύρος Αρμοστής)
25. Anniek van Doornik
26. Avivit Ben-David
27. Ben Phạm
28. Ciara O'Toole
29. Dana Buntová
30. Diana Ignatova
31. Elaine Ballard
32. Ewa Czaplewska
33. Ghada Khattab
34. Hadeel Ayyad
35. Hanne Gram Simonsen
36. Helen Blake
37. Helen Grech
38. Jennifer Boer
39. Katri Saaristo-Helin
40. Lakshmi Venkatesh
41. Leah Gedalyovich
42. Marit Carolin Clausen
43. Martina Ozbič
44. Melanie Basinger
45. Olebeng Mahura
46. Paula Fikkert
47. Paulina Zydorowicz
48. Salome Geertsema
49. Tamer Abou-Elsaad
50. Rowena Garcia
51. Saira Ambreen
52. Sara Lavaggi
53. Sari Kunnari
54. Savitha Vadakkanthara Hariharan
55. Sharynne McLeod
56. Silke Fricke
57. Sofia Strömbergsson
58. Spyros Armostis
59. Taelo Qhala
60. Thora Masdottir
61. Yvonne Wren
Apologies
In December 2024, we learned that Charles Sturt University would fund the establishment of the Children's Voices Centre as a CSU research centre for 3 years (2025-2027). During 2025, we have renovated building 1451 to become The Treehouse, recruited 4 staff (2.6 FTE) and had an amazing year with over 60 CVC affiliates, children, families, professionals, colleagues and friends.
Today we held our last CVC staff meeting for the year followed by a 2-hour celebration with CVC affiliates. During the 2-hour celebration 20 CVC staff and affiliates spoke: Prof Sharynne McLeod, A/Prof Tamara Cumming, Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Lorraine Bennett, Dr Shukla Sikder, A/Prof Kathy Cologon, Dr Leanne Gibbs, Dr Lyndsay Smith, A/Prof Suzanne Hopf, Dr Brendon Hyndman, Dr Lysa Dealtry, Dr Jo Grimmond, Dr Sabrina Syed, Sarah Bartlett, Dr Kate Margetson, Camilla Porsanger, Dr Lucia Wuersch, Alam Hossain, Dr Belinda Downey, and Dr Helen Blake. Congratulations to everyone for your accomplishments during 2025 that have impacted the lives of children, families and communities across the world. Have a restful holiday - to get ready for 2026.
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| Celebratory pavlova |
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| Starting at the top: Alam, Tamara, Lucia, Lorraine, Belinda and Sharynne on the stairs in The Treehouse |
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| CVC members online |
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| Jo Grimmond's celebration of 2025 |
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| Kathy Cologon's thank you |
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| Tamara, Belinda, Alam, Lorraine, Leanne and Shukla |
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| Last CVC staff meeting for 2025 |
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| Celebratory pavlova covered in edible flowers |
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| The Treehouse in the sunshine |
Today Lorraine, Tamara and I joined our colleagues at CSU for a Christmas lunch. We enjoyed sharing the event with the CSU Advancement team. They have chosen to feature the Children's Voices Centre on their Christmas card this year! They have been important champions of our work during 2025 and we are very grateful.
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| Sharynne, Lorraine and Tamara at CSU |
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| Christmas lunch |
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| Christmas lunch |
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| Sharynne and Tamara |
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| CSU Advancement team - Stacey Fish, Naomi, Aimee, Sam Bolt and Justin |
The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World edited by Charles Sturt University Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod presents a transformative approach to overcome traditional English- and Western-centric biases by respecting and acknowledging longstanding traditions of research, theories, and knowledge from a wide range of countries and cultures – including knowledge not previously translated into English. Languages spoken by First Nations people and traditionally marginalized groups are given equivalent status to majority languages, and the language maps, resources, and pronunciation guides have been created using a rights-based, social justice approach, acknowledging the impact of colonization.
This remarkable book was written by 173 authors from across the globe. It contains 1008 pages and 80 chapters covering 49 languages and 27 dialects with companion audio recordings of children and adults. A Charles Sturt YouTube channel presents a free summary of each chapter in English and the target language (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition/multilingual-childrens-speech-development).
The Handbook was launched at the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) conference in Patras, Greece on Thursday 26th June 2025. The CSU authors in the book are: Prof Sharynne McLeod , Dr Helen L. Blake, Dr Suzanne C. Hopf, A/Prof Sarah Verdon, Dr Kate Margetson, Holly McAlister. CSU Adjunct staff authors are: A/Prof Kate Crowe, Dr Van H. Tran, A/Prof Ben Pham.
This volume presents a paradigm shift in the world’s knowledge about children’s speech development. Each of the chapters follows the same structure, facilitating comparison across languages and dialects. Researchers and students can identify relationships between common and unique elements of children’s speech to develop new theories and enhance understanding. Crucially, the curated data in the chapters can be used by communication specialists to collaborate with families and communities, in order to support children’s home language maintenance and speech development.
More information: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-speech-development-in-languages-of-the-world-9780192868862
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| Chapter authors presenting in our 3-hour seminar based on the book's content |
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| No one wanted to "eat the children" until we asked some children who were attending with their parents for permission! |
Congratulations to Kate Margetson who learned of her outstanding PhD results this afternoon. The international examiners were extremely positive in their examination. Congratulations!
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| Kate Margetson learning the exciting news from her proud supervisors A/Prof Sarah Verdon and Prof Sharynne McLeod |
Today Audrey Wang and I had the day off - and celebrated birthdays and Mid Autumn Festival.
This week, Charles Sturt University is hosting graduation celebrations for our students who officially graduated in 2020, but were unable to attend their ceremonies due to COVID restrictions.
Wednesday 2nd June was the first School of Teacher Education graduation ceremony and Dr Kelly Tribolet, one of our colleagues graduated. I had played a small role in supporting her PhD completion in my role on as chair of the SOTE Research Committee, so it was wonderful to celebrate this special day with her and her supervisors (Prof Linda Harrison, Dr Loraine Fordham and Dr Deb Clarke). Congratulations Kelly!
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| Dr Kelly Tribolet, Prof Linda Harrison, Prof Sharynne McLeod |
Thursday 3rd June saw the graduation of a number of the Faculty of Arts and Education doctorates including Dr Roslyn Cox, Dr Anna Cronin, Dr Graham Lupp, and Dr Lucia Wuersch.
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| Faculty of Arts and Education graduates and staff |
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| Dr Lucia Wuersch |
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| Speech Pathology Australia's social media image |
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| Australians at ASHA in Orlando on SPA's 70th birthday: Sharynne, Tim Kittel (President of SPA), Helen Blake, Sheila Degotardi, Sarah Masso, Michelle Brown |
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| Colleagues from the School of Teacher Education (SOTE) |
From Carol Burgess (Head of School): The School of Teacher Education has had a lot to celebrate over the past few weeks so we would like to come together to take time out to recognise some wonderful achievements for the staff within our school.
A/Prof Alan Bain, Carol Burgess (HOS), Prof Sharynne McLeod
These are some amazing achievements and SOTE are very proud of Sharynne and Alan. If staff in Bathurst are able to join us for a morning tea on Wednesday 6 November at 10 am, the school will provide some lovely treats to indulge in during our celebration.
- Sharynne McLeod was recently recognised in The Australian newspaper for being Australia’s Top Researcher in the World for the field of Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology.
- Alan Bain was also recently recognised for his work, being named on The Educator’s inaugural ‘Hot List’ of innovators in Australian Higher Education.
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| Thank you to Donna Bateup and Carol Burgess for organising the event |
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| Anna Cronin, Prof Sharynne McLeod and Dr Shukla Sikder celebrating CSU's 30th birthday with fairy bread |
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| CSU's birthday cake on the Bathurst campus |
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| Sharynne McLeod, Bruce Andrews (CSU Media), Anna Cronin, Lisa McLean wearing CSU beanies |
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| CSU staff, students and families enjoying iceskating |
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| Bathurst Winter Festival lights projected onto the courthouse |
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| Lisa McLean (Faculty of Education Research and Graduate Studies Office) receiving Sarah's PhD |
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| Sharynne and Sarah with her PhD. |
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| Sarah's cheer squad and fellow PhD students: Wei Dong, Helen Blake, Ben Pham and Minh |
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| Professor Tara Brabazon and A/Professor David McKinnon |
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| Kate with her submitted thesis! |
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| Kate with her proud CSU supervisors: David McKinnon, Sharynne McLeod, Loraine Fordham |
