CLTT special issue - discussion with CLTT editors

Tonight Holly McAlister and I had a conversation with the Child Language Teaching and Therapy editors Prof Judy Clegg and Prof Vicky Joffe about the special issue we are guest editing titled: Listening to children with diverse communication abilities. Guidelines are here: https://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/CLT/CLTT-Call%20for%20Papers-ListeningTo%20Children-FINAL-1733118416.pdf

The issue received 21 papers by the due date in April 2025. We have rejected 5 papers, we have 16 papers undergoing revisions. We still have quite a bit of work to do. It is going to be a fantastic special issue that will be published in 2026. 

Judy, Sharynne, Holly, Vicky

CLTT special issue

Holly McAlister and I continue to be busy as guest editors of the special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy https://journals.sagepub.com/home/CLT "Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities". We have sent feedback on four papers and are awaiting reviewers' advice on the remainder. It is going to be a great issue - with diverse and innovative content.

Special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy - Listening to children with diverse communication

This morning Holly McAlister and I met to go through all of the papers submitted to the special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy "Listening to children with diverse communication". We have received a lot of fascinating papers. We are very grateful to the reviewers who have agreed to provide advice about each of the manuscripts and have just begun making decisions about some of the manuscripts.

 

Call for Papers - Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue

Call for Papers - Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/CLT

Listening to children with diverse communication abilities

Editors: Professor Judy Clegg and Professor Victoria Joffe

With Guest Editors: Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod and Holly McAlister from Charles Sturt University, Australia

"Child Language Teaching and Therapy is an international peer reviewed journal which aims to be the leading inter-disciplinary journal in the field of intervention and management of children’s speech, language, and communication needs. The journal publishes original research and review articles of high practical relevance, and which emphasise inter-disciplinary collaboration between education and therapies. The readership of the journal consists of academics and practitioners across the disciplines of education, speech and language therapy, psychology, and linguistics."

Child Language Teaching and Therapy is inviting authors to submit to a special issue titled: Listening to children with diverse communication abilities. This special issue supports children’s communication rights and expands on the Child Language Teaching and Therapy summer lecture titled “Do we really listen to children?” presented by Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre.

You can watch the Child Language Teaching and Therapy summer lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iajSaUyEuOw

Here is the abstract from the summer lecture:

Communication is a human right for all; and ALL includes children with speech, language, and communication needs, including those who speak/sign non-dominant languages (McLeod, 2018). Aligning with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989) we have given attention to the “voice” of children. For example, we have creatively engaged in child-friendly arts-based methods to provide children with the “right to freedom of expression… regardless of frontiers” as outlined in Article 13. However, do we REALLY listen to children? As we become more accustomed to including children’s perspectives in our professional practices, it is time to reflect on whether some of our inclusion of children’s voices could be perceived as “tokenistic” (Hart, 1992). As communication specialists, we have the power to support children’s voice and to assist others to listen. How can we mature in our practices to enhance children’s participation within democratic processes in their families, schools, communities, and society?

For this special issue, the editors invite papers that explore:

• Innovations in the identification and support of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) as a result of listening to and learning from children and young people.
• Methods to support children’s voice and to assist others to listen by considering space, voice, audience, and influence (see Lundy, 2007).
• Moving beyond tokenistic inclusion to supporting children’s engagement in research processes where children are lead researchers, or collaborators and co-designers of the research (see Hart, 1992; 2008; Shier, 2019).
• Diverse languages, cultures, modes of communication (sign language, AAC), ages (including infants and toddlers), geographies, abilities, and types of speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN). 

Theoretical, methodological, systematic review and empirical papers are all invited for consideration across the disciplines of education, speech and language therapy, psychology, and linguistics, as well as interdisciplinary and international contributions. Papers must be supported by new evidence and/or evidence-based literature. Papers that include research data must include a statement about ethical approval (including information about parent/guardian consent and child assent). Papers are encouraged from people who live and work in Majority World countries (including low and middle-income countries and small island states) and people who have lived experience of communication and / or swallowing disability.

We aim to publish this special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy in early 2026.

Submissions

To be considered for publication, papers must be received using the online submission system by Friday 18th April 2025 (early submissions are encouraged). Please prepare and submit manuscripts according to the guidelines available at https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/CLT. Papers should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract, notes, references, tables, biographical statement, etc.). Papers in excess of 8,000 words will not be sent for review. When submitting your paper, please indicate that the paper is to be considered for the special issue. The manuscript should be submitted to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cltt. All papers will receive a double-blind review, following the usual review process and criteria of Child Language Teaching and Therapy. The special issue is scheduled for publication in early 2026. Accepted papers will be published online first before the issue. Any papers accepted for publication but not included in the special issue due to space constraints will be published later in a regular issue. For further information, please contact the Editors, Judy Clegg (j.clegg@sheffield.ac.uk), Vicky Joffe (v.joffe@essex.ac.uk) and Guest Editors Sharynne McLeod (smcleod@csu.edu.au) and Holly McAlister (hmcalister@csu.edu.au).

References

• Hart, R. A. (1992). Children’s participation: From tokenism to citizenship. United Nations Children’s Fund International Child Development Centre.
• Hart, R. A. (2008). Stepping back from ‘the ladder’: Reflections on a model of participatory work with children. In A. Reid, B. B. Jensen, J. Nikel, & V. Simovska (Eds.), Participation and learning: Perspectives on education and the environment, health and sustainability (pp. 19-31). Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4020-6416-6
• Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’ is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Education Research Journal, 33, 927–942. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920701657033
• Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., & Dwyer, J. (Eds.). (2024). Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0
• McCormack, J., McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., & Holliday, E. L. (2022). Drawing talking: Listening to children with speech sound disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(3), 713–731. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00140
• McLeod, S. (2018). Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2018.1428687
• Roulstone, S., & McLeod, S. (Eds.). (2011). Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. J&R Press. http://www.jr-press.co.uk/communication-needs.html
• Shier, H. (2019). An analytical tool to help researchers develop partnerships with children and adolescents. In I. Berson, M. Berson, & C. Gray (Eds.), Participatory methodologies to elevate children’s voice and agency (pp. 295–315). Information Age Publishing.
• United Nations (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. https://www.unicef.org/crc/

Sustainable Development Goals, Communication and Swallowing

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs https://sdgs.un.org/goals) “provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future” (United Nations, 2015). Each of the 17 SDGs impacts the world’s citizens and the United Nations encourages strong commitment by all stakeholders, to achieve these goals. Communication for all is essential for the achievement of the SDGs and everyone has a role.

Professor Sharynne McLeod (CSU) and Professor Julie Marshall (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) were the guest editors of a special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology titled “Communication, Swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals” (open access - https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl20/25/1). Thirty-six papers, by authors from 36 countries, between them addressed all of the 17 SDGs, demonstrating the importance of communication and swallowing to their achievement. The 36 papers were written by authors who work in Australia, Austria, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Columbia, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, India, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, State of Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa, Uganda, UK, USA, Vietnam. Innovations by communication professionals and researchers focussed on poverty, hunger, health, education, work, innovation, climate, cities, land, oceans, justice, and partnerships. This special issue supports the international call for SDG 18: Communication for All. 

• The following paper presents an overview of the special issue: McLeod, S., & Marshall, J. (2023). Communication for all and the Sustainable Development Goals. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2022.2160494 
• Professor Sharynne McLeod launched the special issue at a plenary session of the Speech Pathology Australia national conference in Hobart in May. 
• Throughout 2023 she has/will co-present with Professor Marshall about the special issue at conferences and seminars in Salzburg (Austria), Manchester (UK), Auckland (NZ), Santander (Spain) and Boston (USA). 
• Speech Pathology Australia has a webpage devoted to the special issue (https://bit.ly/SPAWEB_CSSDG) Additionally, 
• Speech Pathology Australia has launched a podcast on Soundcloud titled “UN Sustainable Development Goals: How speech pathologists can support peace and prosperity for people and the planet”: https://soundcloud.com/speechpathologyaustralia/un-sustainable-development-goals-how-speech-pathologists-can-support-peace-and-prosperity-s05e18

SDGs podcast for Speech Pathology Australia

Prof Julie Marshall and I were interviewed by Nathan Cornish-Raley for a Speech Pathology Australia podcast in the Speak Up series. We were interviewed about the special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Langauge Pathology focussing on the Sustainable Development Goals. The episode has just been released on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/speechpathologyaustralia/un-sustainable-development-goals-how-speech-pathologists-can-support-peace-and-prosperity-s05e18

Here are some of Nathan's excellent questions that we discussed:

• You received a lot of submissions on this topic: 36 articles. Did you think you would get that type of a response? What does that tell us about how speech pathologists see themselves and communication positioned in global, sustainable development?
• Can you give us an overview of the 17 SDGs? How did they come to be and what is next for them? · There’s an emphasis throughout the work on global partnerships and co-constructing change with local communities or people with lived experience
• Were there any “lessons-learned” about partnerships and multi-directional learning that stood out to you? · What were some of the things you discovered, or interesting perspectives on sustainability that you found during this project? 
•  There is an international call for an additional Sustainable Development Goal: SDG 18: Communication for All. Tell us about this. Where does it fit within this sustainable development? What movement has already happened in this space? How can speech pathologists help move this forward?

IJSLP special issue: Communication, Swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals

I am delighted to report that today all papers have been accepted for the IJSLP special issue: Communication, Swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The 36 papers address all 17 goals, focussing on poverty, hunger, health, education, work, innovation, climate, cities, land, oceans, justice, and partnerships. 

Authors worked and undertook their research in Australia, Austria, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Columbia, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, India, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, State of Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa, Uganda, UK, USA, Vietnam.

Thanks to  

• Co-guest editor: Julie Marshall from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
• IJSLP editors: Libby Cardell and Natalie Munro
• IJSLP Taylor and Francis staff
• Authors from across the world who are doing great work with people with communication disability and communication professionals. 

There are a few papers that still need page proofs finalised - then the special issue will be ready for publication as volume 25(1) in 2023.

Julie Marshall, Sharynne McLeod, Libby Cardell, Natalie Munro

A blank slate again - all papers have been finalised :)

IJSLP special issue - Communication, swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals

I am guest editing a special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology with Prof Julie Marshall. The issue is titled "Communication, swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals". 

I am very pleased to have accepted an invited commentary by Prof Graeme Clark and his team -- inventors of the cochlear implant. Their manuscript is titled "Restoration of the senses and human communication: Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 9". I recently met with co-author, Prof David Nisbet, to finalise the manuscript and to let him know of the esteem in which I hold their team for the significant contribution they have made to so many people's lives.

Prof David Nisbet and Sharynne

Tonight I finally managed to get zeros in my workflow so the special issue is now in the latter stages:

I have seven page proofs to upload - and more to come. It is going to be a fantastic special issue!

IJSLP Sustainable Development Goals special issue

Prof Julie Marshall and I continue to work on the IJSLP Sustainable Development Goals special issue. We have accepted ~10 manuscripts and are working on revisions of another ~20 manuscripts. It is going to be a fantastic special issue.

The editorial team met on Thursday 13 October to discuss the issue - and our plans for promoting the content of the issue across the world.

Julie Marshall, Sharynne McLeod, Libby Cardell, Natalie Munro

First manuscript for IJSLP special issue on SDGs has arrived

This morning the first manuscript for the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology special issue on Communication, Swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals has just arrived. Prof Julie Marshall (Manchester Metropolitan University) and I excited to bring this important topic to light through these papers. I met with the IJSLP editors Prof Elizabeth Cardell and A/Prof Natalie Munro last Friday afternoon, so we are all ready to begin the reviewing phase.

Special issue of IJSLP on Sustainable Development Goals

Last night Professor Julie Marshall and I met to consider the 67 submissions to the special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology addressing “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and people who experience communication and/or swallowing disability” We had an overwhelming response to our call for EOIs with many more submitted than we had imagined. The scope of work being undertaken across the world to support people who experience communication and/or swallowing disability is outstanding. We spent many hours deliberating about how to meet the page limits of the special issue. In the end we prioritised papers that met the following guidelines from our call for papers: 

“Expressions of interest are sought from authors across the world in a variety of disciplines. Commentaries are encouraged from people who live and work in Majority World countries (including low and middle-income countries and small island states) and people who have lived experience of communication and / or swallowing disability. The aim is to cover EVERY SDG – so be creative.”

We are contacting authors regarding their outcomes today and tomorrow.

 

Special issue of International Jounal of Speech-Language Pathology special issue on SDGs

A call has been extended throughout the world for expressions of interest for papers to be considered for a special issue of the International Jounal of Speech-Language Pathology (IJSLP) focussing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

https://speechpathologyaustralia.cld.bz/IJSLP-special-edition-EOI

Special issue title: Communication, Swallowing, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

 Journal: International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl20/current)

Guest Editors: Professor Sharynne McLeod, Charles Sturt University, Australia Professor Julie Marshall, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK 

Expressions of interest due Monday 13 December, 2021 to Sharynne McLeod (smcleod@csu.edu.au)

The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) “provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future… In order to make the 2030 Agenda a reality, broad ownership of the SDGs must translate into a strong commitment by all stakeholders to implement the global goals.” (UN, 2015).

Each of the 17 SDGs impacts the world’s citizens, including people with speech, language and communication needs, people with dysphagia, and those who work with them (e.g., speech-language pathologists, audiologists, psychologists, teachers, doctors, lawyers). The International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology will join the world to work with the United Nations to implement the SDGs by publishing this special issue, acknowledging that communication and swallowing are important for “peace and prosperity for people and the planet (UN, 2015)”

This special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology will include 2,500-3,000 word commentary articles/ essays that address at least one SDG and its relationship to people who experience communication and swallowing disability. Commentaries must be supported by (a) new evidence and/or (b) evidence-based literature and will be peer-reviewed. Commentaries can be broad ranging, describing the relevance of the SDG to this field, or provide an overview of work with a specific intervention, country or population.

Expressions of interest are sought from authors across the world in a variety of disciplines. Commentaries are encouraged from people who live and work in Majority World countries (including low and middle-income countries and small island states) and people who have lived experience of communication and / or swallowing disability. The aim is to cover EVERY SDG – so be creative.

Expressions of interest are due Monday 13 December 2021 and should include: 

1. Proposed title (the title should include the acronym “SDG”) 
2. The SDG number(s) that will be the focus of the commentary (e.g., SDG8) (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). You may also like to include the relevant SDG target and indicator, but this is not essential (an example is provided below). 
3. Contact author’s name, institution, country, email address 
4. Additional author(s) names, institutions, countries, email addresses (if appropriate) 
5. Proposed type of manuscript: commentary containing (a) new evidence and/or (b) evidence-based literature (2,500-3,000 words) 6
6. Proposed abstract. The abstract should be approximately 200 words. State the primary objective of your commentary; your focus (broad ranging, or an overview of work with a specific intervention, country or population), your main outcomes and results; and conclusions that might be drawn, including their implications for further research or application/practice. 
7. A statement to indicate that you will be able to submit the manuscript by April 30, 2022 and revisions to the manuscript (after peer review) by June 2022.

People who submit an expression of interest will hear the outcome by the end of January 2022. If accepted to write a full paper, the requirements are: 1. Commentary papers should be 2,500-3,000 words. Word lengths include the title, abstract, references, tables, figures, appendices and references. 2. The manuscript should use IJSLP formatting and American Psychological Association referencing (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/healthcare/iasl.pdf) 3. The manuscript should be submitted to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tasl

 

Special topic issue of Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica: Transcription of Children’s Speech

In our roles on the Child Speech Committee of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP), Yvonne Wren, Sarah Verdon and I have been guest editors of a special topic issue of Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica titled Transcription of Children’s Speech. This week the entire issue has been finalised by the editor-in-chief Mike Robb and is ready for publication.
Here are the titles of the included papers:

1. Phonetic Transcription for Speech-Language Pathology in the 21st Century 
2. An Alternative Approach to Measuring Reliability of Transcription in Children’s Speech Samples: Extending the Concept of Near Functional Equivalence 
3. Transcription of Vietnamese Adults’ and Children’s Consonants by English-Speaking Speech-Language Pathologists 
4. Transcribing and Transforming: Towards Inclusive, Multilingual Child Speech Training for South African Speech-Language Therapy Students 
5. The Impact of Real-Time Articulatory Information on Phonetic Transcription: Ultrasound-Aided Transcription in Cleft Lip and Palate Speech 
6. Use of Transcription when Assessing Children’s Speech: Australian Speech-Language Pathologists’ Practices, Challenges, and Facilitators 
7. Percent Consonant Correct as an Outcome Measure for Cleft Speech in an Intervention Study
8.  Protocol for the Connected Speech Transcription of Children with Speech Disorders: An Example from Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Communication rights special issue of IJSLP

I just calculated that the Communication rights special issue of International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (IJSLP) has been viewed 89,794 times and has an Altmetric score of 1,164 since it was published in 2018!
My introductory article "Communication rights: Fundamental human rights for all" has been viewed 8,261 times to date.
I have enjoyed seeing the impact of this work rippling around the world. For example, yesterday I learned that the James Cook University Speech Pathology Student Society have planned their inaugural lecture to be titled "Communication and human rights" in October.

UN statement about the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Special issue of IJSLP regarding communication rights

We have almost finalised the content for our special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal of Declaration of Human Rights. There will be over 30 manuscripts in the special issue with the foreword written by the Australian Human Rights Commissioner and the Australian Disability Discrimination Commissioner. Here is a summary:

The special issue of International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (2018, volume 20, issue 1) celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and aims to expand the discussion of communication as a human right as it relates not only to Article 19, but also to subsequent national and international conventions, declarations, legislations, policies, and practices. The special issue addresses communication as a human right from four perspectives: (1) communication rights of all people, (2) communication rights of people with communication disabilities, (3) communication rights of children, and (4) communication rights relating to language. Many papers address more than one perspective; for example, the right to Arabic literacy education for children who are Syrian refugees in the US. In order to examine a broad range of interpretations of communication as a human right, this special issue draws on divergent perspectives from across the globe (including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Shetland, South Africa, Sweden, Syria, UK, and USA). First hand accounts of people whose right to communicate is compromised/upheld are included and other papers are written by people with expertise and advocacy roles in speech-language pathology, audiology, education, psychology, communications, literature, and law. This special issue has embraced the notion of imparting “information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” by not only including research articles and reviews, but by including short commentaries, invited papers, drawing and poetry.

It has been a privilege to be the guest editor for this important special issue.

IJSLP special issue titled Communication is a human right: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I am editing a special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology to be published in 2018. The issue will be titled: "Communication is a human right: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
The call for expressions of interest has gone out this week and is here
Here is the summary

In 2018 the world will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/). Article 19 supports communication as a human right and states "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

The International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology will join the world in celebrating the 70th anniversary of this important document by publishing a special issue acknowledging that communication is a human right and exploring issues surrounding this claim.

Expressions of interest are sought from authors across the world in a variety of disciplines including (but not restricted to) speech-language pathology, linguistics, disability, multilingualism, law, journalism, literature, and communications.

The email conversations I have had to date with potential authors has been very exciting.