Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe

Our Children's Voices Centre has collaborated to write another paper based on the informative Children Draw Talking data set - and it has just been accepted for publication. Hooray!

Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., Davies, J. (2025, in press November). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102 

Here is the abstract:

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015) represent a global agenda for achieving a sustainable future for people and the planet to inform decision and policy making at all levels. Children should have a significant voice in shaping the world they will inherit; indeed, SDG 17 is focussed on partnership for the goals. The aim of the present study was to investigate which SDGs are depicted in children’s drawings of themselves talking to provide researchers and policy makers insights into their perceptions about, and solutions for, the SDGs. The Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-voices) included 200 drawings from children from 24 countries. Children aged 2–12 years responded to the online prompt “draw yourself talking” and submitted their drawing and explanation. A 15-member interdisciplinary research team analysed the drawings to determine their alignment with the seventeen SDGs. Most of the 200 drawings (n = 191, 95.5%) could be coded with at least one SDG. Overall, there were 359 representations of SDGs coded across the data set of 200 drawings. Many children highlighted access to green public spaces and housing (SDG11), education (SDG 4), and decision-making (SDG 16) while others portrayed reducing inequality (SDG 10) and addressing poverty (SDG 1). This research demonstrated that children may be implicitly aware of factors related to the Sustainable Development Goals across their lives and provides an exemplar of how children’s voices could be included by inviting them to contribute drawings.  

Friends from across the Western Pacific at WHO RCM 76

 During WHO RCM76 we met and made many friends. Here are some:

• Dr Mark Jacobs, WHO, WPRO (12 Pacific nations in WPRO and 21 Pacific Nations)
• Dr Gina Samaan, Regional Emergency Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, WPRO, Philippines 
• Dr Ki Dong Park, Director, Data, Strategy and Innovation ((DSI)WPRO 
• Eloise Adsett, WHO, WPRO 
• Latu Hurrell, WPRO 
• Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram, Brain and Mind Institute, India (World Federation of Neurology) who told us of a book he created with children's drawings*
• Anita Victor, Chief of Party, Global Fund Grants, World Vision, Solomon Islands*
• Pauline McNeil, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Solomon Islands delegation
• Dr Dora Katal, Papua New Guinea delegation 
• Eleanor T. Cabrera, Chief Strategy Officer, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, Mariana Islands (Saipan, USA Territory) 
• Fleur Davies, Assistant Secretary, Global Health Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government

*Representatives of non-state actors  

Sharynne  with Dr Dora Katal, Papua New Guinea

Holly McAlister, Latu Hurrell (WPRO) and Dr Helen L. Blake

with Pauline McNeil (Solomon Islands) and Dr Dora Katel (PNG)

with Dr Chandrashekhar Meshram, Brain and Mind Institute, India

Ki Dong Park, WPRO

Eloise Adsett, WHO

Eleanor T. Cabrera, Chief Strategy Officer, Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, Mariana Islands (Saipan, USA Territory)

Collaborations with ACU

A/Prof Jane McCormack and I meet on a semi-regular basis to share and collaborate between Australian Catholic University and Charles Sturt University. We have such a rich and long-term partnership.

 

Future collaborations

This morning I met with my wonderful colleague from the US - Professor Lynn Williams - to discuss future collaborations. Lynn and I have a rich past of very productive and impactful collaborations. It is exciting to now discuss new areas of work. 

 Here are some of the things we have published together: 

• Williams, A. L., McLeod, S., & McCauley, R. J. (Eds.). (2010). Interventions for speech sound disorders in children. Paul H. Brookes Publishing. 
• Williams, A. L., McLeod, S., & McCauley, R. J. (Eds.). (2021). Interventions for speech sound disorders in children (2nd ed.). Paul H. Brookes Publishing. 
• Baker, E., McCauley, R. J., Williams, A. L., & McLeod, S. (2020). Elements in phonological intervention: A comparison of three approaches using the Phonological Intervention Taxonomy. In E. Babatsouli & M. J. Ball (Eds.), On under-reported monolingual child phonology (pp. 375-399). Multilingual Matters. http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781788928946 
• Baker, E., Williams, A. L., McLeod, S., & McCauley, R. (2018). Elements of phonological interventions for children with speech sound disorders: The development of a taxonomy. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(3), 906–935. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0127 

ASHA evenings

Each evening at the ASHA convention there are receptions and events that are fantastic opportunities for networking and planning future collaborations. Here are some of the events Holly McAlister (my PhD student) and I have been invited to and attended:

Wednesday

• Researcher-Academic Town Meeting (RATM)
• ASHA Presidents' Reception (as a guest of Julie Malone)
• Award celebration with  Prof. Kenneth St Louis, Seyhun Topbas, Ahmet Konrot and İlknur Mavis

Thursday

• Kiwi Party - University of Canterbury, NZ
  
• ASHA Asian Pacific Islander Caucus (API SIH CAUCUS) - ASHA social hour
• International Reception
• Multicultural Concerns Collective (MC2)
  

Friday

• Reception in honour of Plural Publishing's 20th anniversary and Angie S. Singh's award
• Dr. Liz Peña's ASHA Honors Reception
• Dr. Jon Preston's ASHA Fellow Reception
• Dr. Carol Scheffner Hammer's ASHA Honors Reception
  

Researcher-Academic Town Meeting (RATM) with Prof. Nat Munro (Australia) on the screen

ASHA President Tena L. McNamara, AuD, CCC-A/SLP
with Holly McAlister, Julie Malone and Sharynne McLeod

Hong Kong Speech Therapists' Association representatives with Holly and Sharynne and the ASHA President's reception

President's reception with Julie Malone - Board Member at Large

International Reception - Holly McAlister, Cara Jane Millar (Australia), Kath Broofield (UK), Anthony Pak (Hong Kong SAR China), Eddy Wong (Hong Kong SAR China), Sharynne McLeod

RATM: Nicole, Karla Washington, Chelsea Sommer, Holly McAlister, Kath Broomfield, Lynn Williams, Anthony Pak, Kelly Farquharson, Sharynne McLeod

Asia Pacific Caucus (Holly and I are on the right)

Seldom heard voices in service user involvement

While at BSLTRU I had a chance to learn more about the work of Dr Kath Broomfield and her new book that she edited with Anna Volkmer: Seldom heard voices in service user involvement: The how and why of meaningful collaboration https://www.jr-press.co.uk/product/seldom-heard-voices/. Here is the description from the publisher's website:

Many communities are often excluded from research, service development and public consultations because they are considered too difficult to engage with. This list of seldom heard voices includes people with communication difficulties and/or mental health diagnoses, children and young people, minority and ethnic groups, and many more. Increasingly, there is a drive to be more inclusive and what sparse guidance there is suggests there should be engagement and communication with the relevant community, involving them in decision-making, co-design or co-produce at all levels. But how is this carried out?

Seldom Heard Voices in Service User Involvement is the first book that shares experiences and examples of service user involvement with communities of seldom heard voices. As well as being a practical resource for clinicians, it will provide a resource for future health and social care professionals and researchers. Additionally, it will bring together expertise and experience from across a range of seldom heard voices, ultimately sharing and maximizing the transfer of knowledge and resource.

There are many synergies with our new Children's Voices Centre and our book Listening to Children and Young People with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (https://www.jr-press.co.uk/product/communication-needs). Kath gave me a copy of her book and I have already enjoyed reading it.

Collaborative conversations

I am excited to be having conversations with Dr Lisa Furlong about future collaborations. I value her research, and have often quoted it. I also value her contribution to the research community as the guest editor of the conference special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and her role as chair of the scientific committee for the 2024 Speech Pathology Australia National Conference.

Early childhood research conversations

Today I had lunch with Dr Tamara Cumming, who is currently at Macquarie University. Tamara and I worked together to establish the Early Childhood Research Group a number of years ago. It was great to reconnect and dream about future collaborations.

IALP friends from across the world

One of the best parts of attending an international conference is saying hello to my friends from across the world. Our conversations are inspiring and creative - and we end up generating new collaborations and projects. Here are just a few people I have enjoyed talking with at the World Congress of the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP).

Dr Ben Pham from Vietnam

Prof Marleen Westerveld

Dr Rena Lyons and Dr Clare Carroll from Ireland

Josephine Bampoe, Sarah and A/Prof Sarah Verdon from CSU

Friends and colleagues from Vietnam, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Australia

IALP Past President Prof Pam Enderby (UK)

Dr Thomas Law and Dr Valerie Pereira (Hong Kong, SAR)

Dr Cristina Politi (Greece) and Maria Kambanaros (Greece/Australia)

Parent perspectives of the relationships between ear health and children’s speech and language

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication 

Morrow, A., Orr, N., Nash, K., Clague, L., Coates, H., Cross, C., Evans, J. R., Gunasekera, H., Harkus, S., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., McMahon, C., Neal, K., Salins, A. & Macniven, R. (2023, in press January). Parent perspectives of the relationships between ear health and children’s speech and language in the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. Children, 10(1), 165. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010165 

Here is the abstract: 

Health and wellbeing are holistic concepts that are perceived to be inseparable for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We examined relationships between parent-reported ear symptoms for 787 Indigenous children at two time points (age 2-3 years, age 4-5 years) and two parent-reported speech and language outcomes one year later (age 5-6 years). Most parents (80.2%) reported no concern about their child’s expressive language and (93.8%) receptive language. Binary logistic regression models examined ear health as a predictor of children’s expressive and receptive speech and language adjusting for sociodemographic and health covariates. For children without parent-reported ear symptoms there were lower odds of parental concern about expressive speech and language (aOR=0.45; 95% CI 0.21-0.99) and receptive language (aOR=0.24; 95% CI 0.09-0.62). Parents were less likely to have concerns about the child’s expressive speech and language if their child was female; lived in urban or regional areas; had excellent or very good global health; or had no disability when aged 2-5 years. Since parent-reported ear health and speech and language concerns were related, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children could benefit from culturally safe, strength-based, family-centred, integrated speech, language and ear health services.

This research was as the result of collaboration with Masters students and researchers at the HEARing Co-operative Research Centre including Prof Cath McMahon's team focusing on Indigenous people's ear health.

Collaborations with Dr. Karla Washington

I met with Dr. Karla Washington today. We celebrated her recent ASHA Fellow award.

We are currently working on a few book chapters together. 

1. a chapter about Jamaican children's drawings of talking in a Springer book on children's voices
2. a chapter on Jamaican creole speech development for the Oxford University Press book I am editing.
   

Travelling the world from my home

Zoom meetings (and emails) enable me to travel across the whole world from my home. This week I have spoken with people in the following countries:

• Fiji - Suzanne Hopf (email)
  
• Germany - Sarah Masso (email)
• Hong Kong SAR China - Carol To
• Iceland - Kate Crowe
• The Netherlands - Anniek van Doornik
  
• Vietnam - Ben Pham, Hang Nguyen, Van Pham
• United Kingdom - Yvonne Wren
• United States - Lynn Williams; Marie Ireland

It is wonderful to collaborate with so many different people and fascinating to learn from each person about the impact and restrictions of COVID-19 on their daily lives.

Carol To (Hong Kong, SAR China) and Sharynne McLeod

COVID-19 test to be taken before going to work in The Netherlands

Future research collaborations

Last week I met with Prof Julian Grant, Dr Tamara Cumming and Dr Sarah Verdion to plan our future resarch collaborations. It was a productive and inspiring meeting.

Sarah, Julian, Sharynne and Tamara

NSW Health Translational Research Grant team meeting

Today our NSW Health Translational Research Grant team met in Orange to begin writing our conference poster and journal article. We are almost finished collecting the data for our randomised controlled trial comparing advice, device, and therapy for children on speech pathology waiting lists. We spent a lot of time using the CONSORT statement to describe our sample, and prepare for writing. It was a very productive day.

Sharynne McLeod, Angela Roberts, Emily Davis, Sally Thornton, Nina Ahio, Kate Miller, Katrina Rohr, Nicole McGill

Sharynne, Nicole, Emily, Kate, Angela, Sally, Katrina, and Nina hard at work

Research collaborations

Charles Sturt University has new software to document and compile our research. One fascinating tool displays collaborations. It is great to see how many people I have been able to collaborate with over the past few years to write research! I have a number of papers currently in press - so the line thickness will change for some of my collaborators soon.

Thanks to the RIPPLE staff

On my way home from attending the ASHA convention in Philadelphia I traveled to Wagga Wagga to attend the final CSU Academic Senate meeting for the year. I took the opportunity to meet with the fantastic staff at the Research Institute for Professional Practice Learning and Education (RIPPLE). Jo Masters, Kim Woodland and Andrew Stockman have provided outstanding support for my research, particularly my research grants and my research students for many years. I am so grateful for their professionalism, enthusiasm and encouragement. (Happy birthday Jo!)

Kim Woodland, Sharynne, Jo Masters, Andrew Stockman

Combining PROPH+ and PHON

Sarah Masso and I have been collaborating with Yvan Rose and Brian MacWhinney to to create a computerized speech analysis system that is useful for speech pathologists by combining the features of PROPH+ with PHON. We used the time at ASHA to advance the project further.

Sharynne with Brian MacWhinney