Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award

Today Speech Pathology Australia held an online version of their Book of the Year Award. Some amazing books by passionate authors.

My postdoc Dr Michelle Brown has been very involved in supporting SPA in this event and their focus on reading with children in Speechie Library Talks https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/library

Nick Dent mentioned he had speech therapy as a child.
He was chosen to read his book about kindness at the event.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Orlando, FL

This week, members of the SLM team are attending the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, in Orlando, FL. There were almost 3,000 papers and posters presented over the 3 days and 15,000+ attendees.
Here are the seminars/papers we are presenting:

• McLeod, S. & Crowe, K. - Children’s consonant acquisition across languages. Invited 1-hour seminar. 
• Baker, E., Williams, A. L., McCauley, R. J. & McLeod, S. - A taxonomy of phonological intervention to guide and teach clinical decision-making and fidelity of implementation. 1-hour seminar. 
• Blake, H. L., McLeod, S. & Verdon, S. - Intelligibility Enhancement assessment and intervention for multilingual university students. Technical paper. 
• Brown, M. I., Wang, C., & McLeod, S. - Parent-child book reading impacts academic achievement in Grade 3. Technical paper. 

Alyssa Boucher (Boston University), Sharynne McLeod (CSU), Kate Crowe (CSU/Iceland University), Michelle Brown (CSU), Sheila Deogtardi (Macquarie Uni) at ASHA

Sharynne, Karla Washington, Kate Crowe, Thora Masdottir, Helen Blake and Michelle Brown at the Researcher Academic Town Meeting (Wednesday night)

Sharynne, Rebecca McCauley and Lynn Williams about to present their 1-hour seminar
(Elise Baker presented via voice-over)

Speech Sound Disorders Researchers: Sharynne, Rebecca McCauley, Shelley Velleman, Greg Lof, Kelly Farquharson, Francois Brosseau Lapre, SLP, Brian Goldstein, Katy Cabbage, Jill Hoover, Sarah Masso

Sharynne and Kate Crowe presented an invited 1-hour seminar (and gave out free handouts)

Helen Blake about to present her paper

Dr Michelle Brown about to present her second paper

Michelle Brown, Sheila Degotadi, Sharynne, Lynn Williams (2021 ASHA President), Kate Crowe

John Bernthal and Sharynne catch up every year at the ASHA convention.
Sharynne is currently updating a book chapter in the 9th edition of John's book

Sharynne, Shelley Velleman, Amy Glaspey, Brian Goldstein

Sharynne, Michelle, Kate and Helen sampling Harry Potter's butter beer (100% sugar!)

Helen, Sharynne, Lynn, Michelle, Kate and Marie Ireland at the Harry Potter World ASHA closing party

Macquarie Infants and Toddlers Conference

This week is the Third Infants and Toddlers Conference at Macquarie University in Sydney. Anna Cronin (my PhD student) and Dr Michelle Brown (my postdoc) are attending. Michelle is presenting  "Reading during infancy strengthens academic achievement" (Brown, Wang & McLeod) at the conference.  Here is her abstract

Reading books is an important activity that early childhood educators and parents can undertake to promote early communication development. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to “freedom of expression” (Article 13) and “development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential” (Article 29). To support children reaching their fullest potential, the present study examined the long-term benefits for language and literacy achievement in Grades 3 and 5 from book-reading at 1-2 years. Participants were 3547 infants and their caregivers from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The relationship between the number of minutes per day caregivers reported reading with their infant and the child’s language and literacy subtests from the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Grades 3 and 5 was examined, using a series of regression analyses. The duration of book reading at 1-2 years positively predicted language and literacy outcomes in Grades 3 and 5. This research provides evidence to support early childhood educators, parents, and clinicians to encourage daily book-reading with infants to strengthen later language and literacy achievement.

Dr Michelle Brown presenting her research

Michelle Brown and Anna Cronin on the first morning of the Infants and Toddlers Conference

Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) Conference

The Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) 2019 Conference was held in Melbourne 9-12 July. Dr Michelle Brown presented the following paper titled: "Reading with young children promotes literacy and language development nine years later"
Authors: Michelle Brown, Cen Wang, Sharynne McLeod

Here is the abstract

Background: It is widely accepted that book-reading ameliorates later literacy and language development, however researchers examining book-reading and later academic outcomes have reported inconclusive evidence. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the long-term impact for literacy and language mastery from book-reading with young children.
Method: 3547 young children and their caregivers enrolled in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children participated. Using a series of analyses, the relationship between the number of minutes young children were read to per day and the children’s Grade 5 (10-11 years) literacy and language subtests from the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) was examined.
Results: The number of minutes young children were read to, positively predicted the children’s Grade 5 (10-11 years) NAPLAN literacy and language subtests. The relationship remained significant when controlling for demographic variables and cognitive abilities.
Conclusion: This study provides evidence with a relatively large sample that reading with young children for more than 10 minutes per day can promote literacy and language outcomes nine years later. Implications for teachers, educators, future research, and policy makers are considered with the goal of empowering teachers/educators to continue advocating for book-reading with young children.

Early storybook research profiled at three conferences

Over the next 2 months Dr. Michelle Brown (my postdoc) is presenting her research at three conferences as part of her CSU Senior Research Fellowship postdoc:

• Speech Pathology Australia National Conference (SPA)- Brisbane, 3-5 June - "Reading with babies impacts literacy, language, and numeracy skills at 8-9 years"
• Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) - Melbourne 9-12 July - "Reading with young children promotes literacy and language development nine years later "
• Macquarie University Infants and Toddlers Conference - Sydney 19 July - "Reading during infancy strengthens academic achievement" (Brown, Wang & McLeod)

Additionally, Michelle's research will be profiled in a Speech Pathology Australia SpeakUp podcast. Congratulations Michelle!