Accepted - Parent-reported speech and language in early childhood is an early indicator of Indigenous Australian children’s literacy and numeracy outcomes

The following paper has been accepted for publication:

McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., McMahon, C., Wang, C., & Evans, J. R. (2025, in press March 2025). Parent-reported speech and language in early childhood is an early indicator of Indigenous Australian children’s literacy and numeracy outcomes. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Here is a short summary:

This longitudinal study of 1,534 Indigenous Australian children demonstrated that parent report of speech and language concern in early childhood is an important early indicator of education outcomes at school. Families are important knowledge holders throughout a child’s trajectory of learning and development.

Here is the abstract

Purpose: To longitudinally investigate parent-reported children’s speech and language in early childhood as an early indicator of Indigenous Australians’ school-age educational outcomes.
Method: Participants were 1,534 children from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) whose parents reported on expressive and receptive speech and language concern (SLC) at 3–5 years using the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS). A total of 467 children (30.4%) were identified as having SLC, of whom 308 had only expressive SLC, 65 had only receptive SLC, and 81 had both expressive and receptive SLC. Educational outcomes included (a) National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests (grade 3; 8–9 years), (b) teacher-reported literacy and numeracy on the Academic Rating Scale (ARS) (8–9, 9–10 years), (c) research officer-administered Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT)-Reading (6–7, 7–8, 8–9, 9–10 years) and PAT-Maths (8–9, 9–10 years).
Results: After controlling for covariates (child age, sex, having hearing problems, having a disability, speaking an Indigenous language, parent education, family life events, community socio-economic status, and remoteness), SLC was associated with significantly lower scores on all NAPLAN subtests (reading, writing, spelling, grammar, numeracy); teacher-rated ARS: Language and Literacy (9–10 years); and PAT: Reading (6–7 years) and Maths (9–10 years). Sub-group comparisons indicated that children with both expressive and receptive SLC had the poorest outcomes on NAPLAN and ARS subtests.
Conclusion: Parental reporting of Indigenous Australian children’s speech and language concern in early childhood is an important early indicator of education outcomes at school, indicating the importance of families throughout a child’s trajectory of learning and development.

Farewell to Dr Graham Daniel

This morning we had a farewell to Dr Graham Daniel. He was my office next-door-neighbour for 20 years. Over this time I was his PhD supervisor, colleague, and research collaborator. We co-supervised honours and PhD students and wrote research together. He was the Associate Head of School. His contributions will be missed but his legacy will continue. Thanks Graham.

Here are some of our joint publications:

• Barr, J., McLeod, S., & Daniel, G. (2008). Siblings of children with speech impairment: Cavalry on the hill. Language, Speech, and Hearing Service in Schools, 39(1), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2008/003)
• Daniel, G., & McLeod, S. (2011). ‘I can’t say words much’: Listening to school-aged children’s experiences of speech impairment. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 195–202). J&R Press. http://www.jr-press.co.uk/communication-needs.html
• McLeod, S., Daniel, G., & Barr, J. (2013). “When he's around his brothers … he's not so quiet”: The private and public worlds of school-aged children with speech sound disorder. Journal of Communication Disorders, 46(1), 70–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.006
•  Daniel, G. R., & McLeod, S. (2017). Children with speech sound disorders at school: Challenges for children, parents and teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 42(2), 81–101. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2017v42n2.6

Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) Conference

Congratulations to Belinda Downey who presented two papers from her PhD at the Australian Association of Research in Education Conference (AARE), Melbourne, Australia 

1. Downey, B., Letts, W., McLeod, S., & Gibbs, L. (2023, November). Building early childhood educator retention through connections [Oral presentation]. Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE), Melbourne, Australia. 

2. Downey, B., Letts, W., McLeod, S., & Gibbs, L. (2023, November). 2023 HDR Colloquium - Staying in early childhood. [Oral presentation]. Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE), Melbourne, Australia. 

 

Cultural and linguistic diversity in NSW Department of Education schools (2019)

Here is some interesting information from the NSW Department of Education about linguistic diversity in schools in 2019
https://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/publications-filter/schools-language-diversity-in-nsw-2019

• "In March 2019, 64.1% of students enrolled in NSW government schools came from homes where English was the only language spoken. More than a third (35.9%) of students came from homes where languages other than English were spoken" 
• "There are 240 different language backgrounds of LBOTE [language backgrounds other than English] students at NSW government schools" 
• "Government preschools enrolled 2,050 students from language backgrounds other than English in 2019, representing 51.3% of all government preschool enrolments" 
• "In March 2019 68.9% of LBOTE students were from the nine largest languages and language groups. There were at least 5,000 students in each of these languages/language groups" 
• "The largest single language of LBOTE students in March 2019 was Arabic (39,793 students), followed by Mandarin (27,396 students) and Vietnamese (16,854 students). Two European language backgrounds, Greek and Spanish, also featured in the largest language backgrounds, with 8,004 and 7,985 students enrolled respectively" 

https://mcusercontent.com/3452dd17dc6f9eb39197fbfe1/images/9661a3a2-d467-4d89-98ab-3348aea6c3a6.jpg

Evaluating children in U.S. public schools with speech sound disorders: Considering federal and state laws, guidance, and research

The following manuscript was accepted for publication today:
Ireland, M., McLeod, S., Farquharson, K., & Crowe, K. (2020, in press June). Evaluating children in U.S. public schools with speech sound disorders: Considering federal and state laws, guidance, and research. Topics in Language Disorders.

This paper was a wonderful collaboration with colleagues in the US resulting from our discussions about how to apply the speech acquisition normative data published in McLeod and Crowe (2018) and Crowe and McLeod (2020) to the US context regarding eligibility for services.

Here is the abstract

More than half of U.S. speech-language pathologists (SLPs) currently practice in the school setting and 92.6% of SLPs who work in schools provide services focused on children’s speech sound production (articulation and/or phonology). This paper describes evaluation and eligibility requirements for children with speech sound disorders (SSDs) in the United States focusing on four sources of information: (1) federal requirements, specifically the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), (2) state and local requirements and guidance, (3) other sources of guidance (e.g., from professional associations), and (4) research. To be eligible to receive services under IDEA, three conditions must be met: (1) the student has an impairment, (2) that impairment results in an educational impact, and (3) the student requires specially designed instruction to make progress. Civil rights and diversity (cultural, linguistic, and gender) within these contexts are also considered. Case examples are provided to highlight eligibility criteria and to guide SLP practice. The information and examples provided in this article will enable SLPs in the United States to navigate IDEA evaluation and eligibility requirements to ensure children with speech sound disorders who are eligible under IDEA receive appropriate services.

“One Belt, One Road” Speech and Language Rehabilitation Summit, Beijing, China

This week I was invited to represent Australia to speak at the “One Belt, One Road” Speech and Language Rehabilitation Summit Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing. My invited presentations were titled:

• Speech Sound Disorders in Children 
• Speech Pathology Education in Australia 

Prof GAO Liqun (China - Organizer), Prof Sumalai Maroonroge (Thailand/US), Philippa Friary (NZ), Prof Lilly Cheng (US), Prof Sharynne McLeod (Australia), Prof Kartini Ahmad (Malaysia), Dr Ben Pham (Vietnam)

Prof Pao-Chuan Torng (Taiwan) and Prof Sharynne McLeod

 Dr Ben Pham represented Vietnam and presented an invited paper on the development of the speech and language therapy (SALT) profession in Vietnam.

Dr Ben Pham presenting her invited paper

Congratulating Ben after her presentation: Prof Sumalai Maroonroge (Thailand/US), Dr Lemmietta McNeilly (ASHA, US), Prof Kartini Ahmad (Malaysia), Dr Ben Pham (Vietnam), Christine Medina-Chin (Philippines), Prof Lilly Cheng (US), Mae Catherine Sadicon and Elinor Cunanan-Bautista (Philippines)

Prof Sharynne McLeod presenting the McLeod and Crowe (2018) research about children's speech acquisition

Chatting with Dr Ao Chen from Beijing Language and Culture University

Teaching ESS419: Principles of Inclusive Education

Today I had the opportunity to give a lecture about children with speech, language and communication needs to the Charles Sturt University teacher education students (K-12) in their subject ESS419: Principles of Inclusive Education.
Two of the resources we discussed were:

• Speech Pathology Australia (2017). Speech pathology in schools. Melbourne, Australia: Author. Retrieved from https://speechpathologyaustralia.cld.bz/Speech-Pathology-in-Schools-2017
• Sutherland, D. (2017). Developing communication skills. In Foreman, P. & Arthur-Kelly, M. (Eds.) Inclusion in action (4th ed.). (pp. 300-345). Melbourne, Australia: Cengage.  

Dr Rachael Hutchesson and ESS419 students after our lecture

Media attention regarding our teacher-child relationships paper

The following journal article has been profiled by Charles Sturt University's media department this week:

Wang, C., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Walker, S., & Spilt, J. L. (2018). Can teacher–child relationships support human rights to freedom of opinion and expression, education and participation? International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(1), 133-141. doi:10.1080/17549507.2018.1408855

It is freely available (open access) here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17549507.2018.1408855

The CSU media release is here: http://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/education/teacher-education/early-teacher-child-relationships-vital-to-a-childs-ability-to-effectively-communicate-in-life

Cen (Audrey) has been interviewed about the journal article here:

• Radio ABC Central West (2CR) interviewed by Kristy Reading
• Radio 2SM (Sydney) interviewed by Emily
• Western Advocate - 11 April 2018, p. 9

The article and media release also has received attention on social media too:

Here is Audrey's summary of our findings that she presented on the radio (and available at Kudos https://goo.gl/uAZzMD):

Communication is a fundamental human right. We believe it is important for children, especially children with speech and language difficulties to have the ability to express themselves and debate in the public domain. Therefore, we wanted to study what factors are helpful for children with speech and language difficulties to overcome these challenges. In this particular research, we studied teacher-child relationships. We all remember or know teachers who made us feel valued, loved, warm and safe. We are more likely to share our feelings/experience with them and have a warm affectionate relationship. This positive relationship provides children a wonderful language context to freely express themselves and develop language skills. This can be especially important for children with speech language difficulties.

We analysed the data from a government collected dataset called Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. It is a study that spanned a number of years. In this study, we were able to examine teacher-child relationships when children were 4-5 years, then  6-7 years, then again 8-9 years and finally 10-11 years. The total number of participants is over 4000.

We found a few interesting findings:

1. First of all, we have good news.  For both children with speech language difficulties and children without speech language difficulties, the majority had consistently higher levels of closeness and consistently lower levels of conflict with their teachers over time.
2. However, children with speech and language difficulties tend to have slightly higher levels of conflict and lower levels of closeness with their teachers over time, compared to children without speech language difficulties.
3. An important and interesting finding is that children with speech and language difficulties who had positive relationships with teachers did better on all the outcomes compared to children who had NO speech language difficulties but had negative relationships with their teachers. This suggests that teacher-child relationship quality matters and a positive relationship is an important buffer against the negative effects associated with speech and language difficulties. The outcomes we examined in this study include children’s literacy and language skills, their sense of school belongingness, their peer relationship quality and their school engagement.

There are a few suggestions for teachers, parents and schools:

1. Forming positive relationships need to start early. This is because early close relationships with teachers can put children at a low conflict trajectory with their teachers; equally importantly, it helps children who started school with moderate/high initial levels of conflict to be on a trajectory of decreasing conflict.
2. One aspect to note is that children with speech language difficulties may have difficulties expressing themselves, understanding concepts and social cues. They have also been shown to have reduced capacity to understand their emotional experiences, express their needs effectively, and regulate their behaviours. Therefore, some of these children may appear more disruptive and show behavioural issues in the school environment. It is important to look beyond the behaviour issues and investigate whether the underlying cause could be speech and language difficulties. There are certain tools out there for teachers and family to make this identification.  My colleagues Prof. Sharynne McLeod and Prof. Linda Harrison have developed a very short, easy to use checklist, called Intelligibility in Context scale to help with early identification. This scale can be found at CSU’s website: http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/ics
3. There are free speech pathology services provided at local hospitals and community health centres that families can access. Families and schools can also go to the Speech Pathology Australia website to type in their postcode to locate local speech pathology service.

Visiting outback New South Wales

I am on leave this week and am visiting outback New South Wales. While on leave I am learning more about rural and distance education in our very large state and had a chance to visit Broken Hill School of the Air.

Outback Australia is very sparsely populated

Kylie Green (Principal) and David McLeod at Broken Hill School of the Air
speaking with remote parents via satellite

Global efforts towards quality education for all

Today Professor Vinayagum Chinapah visited CSU from the Institute of International Education (IIE), Department of Education, Stockholm University, Sweden. Australia was the 158th country that he has visited, and it has been a lifelong dream to come. While at CSU he presented a lecture titled: Global efforts towards quality education for all: Evidence and reflections from international and comparative perspectives to address achievements and challenges

Here is the abstract

 In the process of constructing post-2015 development global frameworks, education is increasingly seen globally to be a powerful tool for preparing students to enter the labor market as well as to create a peaceful and sustainable society. International and comparative educational research conducted on the achievement of the EFA goals has clearly revealed that despite important efforts accomplished in many countries, there are still serious challenges in terms of the quality of education that is offered. The paper examines the extent to which a minimum Quality of Education For All (QEFA) can be reached through effective use and application of evidence-based international and comparative educational research. Global efforts to attain QEFA are examined by investigating major international surveys of learning outcomes. The case of Arab states demonstrates diverse socio economic and political contexts of each country and should be reflected in regional strategies to achieve QEFA. Evidence from data on national, regional and international assessments indicates that low achievement is globally widespread and stronger government intervention will be needed. This research demonstrates that the diversity of learning conditions and environment across and within countries should be carefully reflected into quality assurance by enhancing each individual´s learning potentials. 

Ben Pham, Sally Lamping, Vinay Chinapah, Shukla Sikder, Sharynne McLeod

Here is his biography

Vinayagum Chinapah (Sweden and Mauritius) is Professor, Chair Holder and Head of the Institute of International Education (IIE), Department of Education, Stockholm University, Sweden since 2009. Professor Chinapah has been the Director of the Joint UNESCO-UNICEF International Program on Monitoring the Quality of Education and Learning Achievement which covered some 80 countries world-wide during the period (1992-2006). He also served for one year as UNESCO Regional Educational Adviser for the Arab States, UNESCO Regional Office, Beirut, Lebanon (2007-2008) before returning back to lead IIE in January 2009. Professor Chinapah is member of various research associations and research councils and author and co-author of some 70 books, chapters in books, scientific journal articles as well as some 160 reports, conference papers, training manuals and prototypes for capacity building workshops world-wide. He has done research, training, and consultancies for several UN agencies (UNESCO, UNICEF. UNDP, FAO); International agencies (The World Bank, OECD); bilateral agencies (SIDA, Finnish CIMO, CIDA, Commonwealth Secretariat) and several national governments and institutions in some 140 countries world-wide over the past 35 years.

Prof. Vinay Chinapah receiving a CSU boomerang

Kangaroos in Bathurst

Prof Chinapah saw 20+ kangaroos near the university

Joeys in their mothers' pouches

Speech Pathology in Schools Resource Project

I am a member of the Expert Advisory Group for the NSW Department of Education Speech Pathology in Schools Project being run by Speech Pathology Australia. The website outlining the project has just been launched here.
The website states:

The purpose of the kit is to provide:

•  information to principals, teachers, parents and speech pathologists about best practice speech pathology in an educational setting.
• support to encourage more schools in NSW to engage (either employ or contract) speech pathologists to work in their schools.
• advice regarding how speech pathologists working collaboratively in schools can improve student learning outcomes and wellbeing.

Children with speech sound disorders at school: Challenges for children, parents and teachers

The following journal article has been accepted for publication:
Daniel, G. R. & McLeod, S. (2017, in press). Children with speech sound disorders at school: Challenges for children, parents and teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education.
It is available here: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol42/iss2/6 
Here is the abstract:

Teachers play a major role in supporting children’s educational, social, and emotional development although may be unprepared for supporting children with speech sound disorders. Interviews with 34 participants including six focus children, their parents, siblings, friends, teachers and other significant adults in their lives highlighted challenges for these children in school, and challenges for their parents and teachers in meeting these children’s developmental and educational needs. These challenges were centred on the need for specific expertise in the school setting, and access to additional classroom and professional services to support these students’ engagement in the learning and social environments of school. This research identifies frustrations that impact these families and teachers as they attempt to navigate the bureaucracies to which they are beholden.

Professor David McKinnon's contributions to understanding children's learning needs

While in Perth, Kate Crowe and I had the pleasure of catching up with our colleague Professor David McKinnon. David is currently the Director of the Edith Cowan Institute for Education Research. He has been an important collaborator in our studies to understand the prevalence and nature of children's learning needs. Here is a list of papers we have published together (so far):

1. Crowe, K., McKinnon, D. H., McLeod, S., & Ching, T. Y. (2013). Multilingual children with hearing loss: Factors contributing to language use at home and in early education. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 29(1), 111-129. doi: 10.1177/0265659012467640
2. Crowe, K., McLeod, S., McKinnon, D. H., & Ching, T. Y. C. (2014). Speech, sign, or multilingualism for children with hearing loss: Quantitative insights into caregivers’ decision-making. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 45(3), 234-247. doi: 10.1044/2014_lshss-12-0106
3. Crowe, K., McLeod, S., McKinnon, D. H., & Ching, T. Y. C. (2015). Attitudes toward the capabilities of deaf and hard of hearing adults: Insights from the parents of deaf and hard of hearing children. American Annals of the Deaf, 160(1), 24–35. 
4. McKinnon, D. H., McLeod, S., & Reilly, S. (2007). The prevalence of stuttering, voice and speech-sound disorders in primary school students in Australia. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38(1), 5-15.     
5. McLeod, S., & McKinnon, D. H. (2007). The prevalence of communication disorders compared with other learning needs in 14,500 primary and secondary school students. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42(S1), 37-59. doi: 10.1080/13682820601173262
6. McLeod, S., & McKinnon, D. H. (2010). Required support for primary and secondary students with communication disorders and/or other learning needs. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 26(2), 123-143.       
7. Watts Pappas, N., McLeod, S., McAllister, L., & McKinnon, D. H. (2008). Parental involvement in speech intervention: A national survey. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 22(4), 335-344.

David, Renee, Sharynne, and Kate in Perth

Australian Government Senate Inquiry on students with disability in the school system

Today Gaenor Dixon (President of Speech Pathology Australia) and I were invited to give evidence to the Australian Government Senate  Standing Committee on Education and Employment  addressing Current levels of access and attainment for students with disability in the school system, and the impact on students and families associated with inadequate levels of support. The terms of reference of the Senate  Standing Committee on Education and Employment are here

Gaenor Dixon (SPA President) and Sharynne McLeod presenting at the Senate Inquiry

As part of the submission Linda Harrison, Cen (Audrey) Wang and I were commissioned by Speech Pathology Australia to undertake research into the NAPLAN outcomes for children with communication impairment.

• Speech Pathology Australia's submission is here 
• Speech Pathology Australia's news release is here
• Charles Sturt University's news release is here

Australia's media covered our presentation in most of the major newspapers (164 Australian newspapers on 25th September):

• The Australian
• Sydney Morning Herald
• The Age
• The Courier Mail
• The Mercury

 Here is an excerpt from Speech Pathology Australia's submission

NAPLAN results were analysed for 4,332 children within the K cohort of LSAC whose parents responded to questions about children’s speech and language when children were 4-5 years and 6-7 years and who had linked data to NAPLAN... For this research, the Kindergarten (K) cohort’s NAPLAN results for years 3, 5 and 7 were analysed" (p. 22)

"Analysis showed significant differences in the NAPLAN outcomes for children with speech/language problems compared to children without these problems. This was even after controlling for sex, SEP [socio-economic position], LBOTE [language background other than English], disability and hearing problems. Children with speech/language problems had poorer NAPLAN outcomes for every NAPLAN test at every year of testing. Importantly, the results indicate that both groups of students’ NAPLAN outcomes did improve over time – however the children with speech/language problems had consistently lower scores and did not ‘close the gap’ in their NAPLAN outcomes over time" (p. 24)

 

Dr Ronelle Hutchinson (SPA policy), Senator Sue Lines (Chair),
Gaenor Dixon (SPA President) and Sharynne McLeod (CSU)

Embracing diversity, creating equality: Research seminar presentation

Sarah Verdon with her PhD supervisors:
Sharynne and Sandie Wong

Today Sarah Verdon presented a summary of her PhD findings at the School of Teacher Education Research and Scholarship Brown Bag Seminar Series. Here is the title and abstract: 

Embracing diversity, creating equality: Supporting culturally and linguistically diverse children 

Effective communication is essential for social engagement, educational attainment and workforce participation. Australia, like many other English-dominant nations is becoming increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse. Therefore, an understanding of this diversity is essential for planning services to support all Australian children to become competent and effective communicators in ways that are responsive to their cultural and linguistic background. This presentation will describe of the findings of a mixed methods PhD thesis conducted in two parts. The findings of part 1 indicate that approximately 15.3% of 5,107 Australian children in a nationally representative study do not speak English at the age of formal school commencement. Australian children from both migrant and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds are linguistically diverse with some children learning up to 6 languages (Verdon & McLeod, 2014; Verdon McLeod, & Winsler, 2014a). The social and academic benefits of being multilingual are well documented and this research highlights the importance of balancing the development of children’s home languages and culture with the development of English for participation at school. Factors associated with home language maintenance among young Australian multilingual children included parental use of the language at home, the number of generations since migrations, type of child care, and the level of support and understanding from teachers and educational environments (Verdon, McLeod & Winsler 2014b). A mismatch was identified between the languages spoken by Australian children and the languages in which support services for speech, language and communication development were offered (Verdon, McLeod & McDonald, 2014).Part 2 of this research drew upon international expert opinion to identify aspirations and recommendations for supporting the speech, language and communication needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children (Verdon, McLeod & Wong, 2014). The realisation of these aspirations and recommendations were then examined through ethnographic observation of professional practice in 14 international sites in Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, and the US identified as working with culturally and linguistically diverse populations (Verdon, 2014). This presentation will share the findings of this research which advocate for culturally appropriate, high quality, and equitable services for all children and identify approaches to practice that facilitating lifelong participation in educational, employment and social contexts.

Lunch with the Dean of Education

Today Ben Pham and I were invited to lunch with the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Toni Downes. Toni invited us to lunch to welcome Ben and congratulate her on her Australian Awards PhD scholarship. Thank you Toni for a lovely lunch!

Professor Toni Downes, Ben Pham, Sharynne McLeod

Faculty of Education Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Forum

This week 77 higher degree by research (HDR) students and staff from the Faculty of Education at Charles Sturt University met in Bathurst for the HDR Forum. We learned from Dr Brian Hemmings, Subdean of graduate studies, that the faculty has 100 HDR students, with 67 enrolled part time. In 2013 there will be at least 10 graduands and 6 more students have their thesis currently under review, including my PhD student, Kate Crowe.

It was great that I could spend time with all of my current PhD students in the one location. It was the first time that Suzanne Hopf had come to CSU Bathurst (from Fiji) since beginning her PhD. My other PhD students, Sarah Masso and Sarah Verdon, presented their PhD research at the forum.  

On the first day we heard from Professor Sid Bourke from the University of Newcastle who said that in a study of 803 PhD thesis examinations only 12.4% were accepted with no changes, 46.4% required minor changes, 36.3% required major changes, 3.6% were invited to revise to be re examined and 0.1% failed.

We also enjoyed listening to the finals of the 3 minute thesis competition. On the last day, professors from across the Faculty of Education discussed what they wish they knew when they did their PhD. 

Thanks to Lisa McLean and Brian Hemmings for organizing a simulating, supportive, friendly, and informative forum. 

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) Sue Thomas and Suzanne Hopf

Sarah Masso presenting information about her PhD

The CSU HDR Forum

Kangaroos looking at us through the windows during the HDR Forum

Spending time with my PhD students: Sarah Verdon, Suzanne Hopf, Sarah Masso

Visit by Professors Jan Edwards and Marios Fourakis

Over the past 3 days, Professor Jan Edwards and Professor Marios Fourakis, have visited Charles Sturt University. They were visiting from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (USA).

Professor Edwards’ research aims to better understand the interactions between phonological and lexical development in young children.  Currently, she is examining the interactions among vocabulary growth and phonological knowledge (speech production, speech perception, and higher-level knowledge) in children who speak mainstream and non-mainstream dialects of English as well as children with normal hearing and children with cochlear implants. 

Professor Fourakis has collaborated with Professor Larry Shriberg in the development of the classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). He also undertakes research into speech perception and production by people with cochlear implants.

Professor Jan Edwards, Professor Sharynne McLeod, and Professor Marios Fourakis

On Monday 25th February, Professor Edwards gave the following presentation at the School of Teacher Education Brown Bag Seminar Series in Bathurst, and was simultaneously video-conferenced to people in Dubbo, Wagga and Albury.

Title: Dialect mismatch and its implications for academic achievement

Abstract: The single most important problem in public education in the United States today is the “achievement gap”: the well-documented observation that children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families perform less well academically than children from middle-SES families. Many children from low-SES families speak a non-standard dialect of English (e.g., African American English or AAE), while the language of instruction is Mainstream American English.  Dialect mismatch is an often-ignored factor that may contribute to the achievement gap.  This talk will discuss two studies related to dialect mismatch. Study 1 examines the impact of dialect mismatch on the awareness and comprehension of MAE by 105 4- to 7-year-old AAE-speaking children from low-SES families.  Study 2 describes a pilot intervention program to ameliorate dialect mismatch. Children from two pre-kindergarten classrooms participated in this program: one classroom received a focused curriculum that highlighted differences between “home” and “school” talk, while the other classroom received a control intervention that focused on mindfulness.  Children in the experimental group, but not the control group, improved significantly on measures of MAE comprehension and phonological awareness after the intervention program. [Funded by NIH grant 02932 to Jan Edwards and a Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery grant to Mark Seidenberg]

Kangaroos (including a joey in the pouch) welcoming Jan and Marios to Bathurst

Australian Association for Research in Education conference

The joint International Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and the Asia Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA) has been held in Sydney from 2-6th December. The conference has also hosted the 2012 Focal Meeting of the World Education Research Association (WERA).

One symposium I really enjoyed attending was titled: "Implications of cultural and societal aspects for educational environments of children with disabilities in Austria, Thailand and Ethiopia" lead by
Gottfried Biewer from the University of Vienna. The presenters and discussant are pictured below.

L-R: Michelle Proyer, Michalea Kramann, Alemayehu Teklemariam,
Gottfried Biewer, Sharynne McLeod, Ilektra Spandagou

I was coauthor of the following presentations based on analyses of data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

McLeod, S., Walker, S., Whiteford, C., & Harrison, L. J. (2012, December). The impact of bilingualism when 4- to 5-years-old on literacy, numeracy and social-emotional outcomes when 8- to 9-years-old. International Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and the Asia Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA). Sydney, Australia.

Verdon, S. & McLeod, S. (2012, December). Longitudinal and cross-sectional changes in the cultural and linguistic diversity of Australian children. International Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and the Asia Pacific Educational Research Association (APERA). Sydney, Australia.