Congratulations Holly

Congratulations to Holly McAlister who has had these papers published for her PhD while I have been on leave:

McAlister, H., McLeod, S., & Hopf, S. C. (2026). Ladders, trees and matrixes: Child-focused participatory action research frameworks for children with diverse communication abilities. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261455298 

McAlister, H., Hopf, S. C., & McLeod, S. (2026). Mountain garden views: Speech-language pathologists’ beliefs, practices and aspirations for culturally responsive practice with Pacific Islander children and families. Speech, Language and Hearing, 29(1), 2671099. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2026.2671099
 

Three papers published in the latest issue of LSHSS!

A colleague at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention alerted me to the fact that our team has had THREE papers published in the latest issue of ASHA's Q1 journal - Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. Congratulations CVC team!

McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Davies, J., Dealtry, L., Delli-Pizzi, L., Downey, B., Elwick, S., Hopf, S. C., Ivory, N., McAlister, H., Murray, E., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Tran, V. H., & Zischke, C. (2025). Children Draw Talking Around the World. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1088-1109. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-23-00190 

Margetson, K., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2025). Cross-Linguistic Transfer in Vietnamese–English Speech. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1192-1216. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-25-00046 

Doornik, A. v., Franken, M.-C., McLeod, S., Terband, H., & Gerrits, E. (2025). Children's, Parents', and Experts' Perception of Speech and Communication. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1042-1053. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-24-00140 

LSHSS Clinical Forum: Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Dr Helen L. Blake, A/Prof Kathy Cologon and I are working on the LSHSS Clinical Forum: Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). We are delighted by the large number of submissions from across the world - and are now inviting reviewers.

 

Editorial board membership

It is my pleasure to be on the editorial board of the following journals:

• International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology [Q1]
• Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics [Q1]
• Child Language Teaching and Therapy [Q1]
• Speech, Language and Hearing [Q1]
• Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech [Q2]
• Advances in Communication and Swallowing

In 2025 I am co-editing a special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy and have been invited to be co-editor of some special issues in the future.

Accepted journal article - Methods of Diagnosing Speech Sound Disorders in Multilingual Children

Our manuscript titled "Methods of Diagnosing Speech Sound Disorders in Multilingual Children" has just been accepted for publication in the "Changemaker" Special Forum for the Q1 journal Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. It came about because our session at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association convention in 2024 was one of the few that was awarded "changemaker" status - so we were invited to write up our submission. Thanks to Karla and Kate for leading this important paper. Here is the reference and abstract:

Washington, K. N., Crowe, K., McLeod, S., Margetson, K., Bazzocchi, N. B. M., Kokotek, L. E., van der Straten Waillet, P., Másdóttir, T., & Volhardt M. D. S., (2025, in press). Methods of diagnosing speech sound disorders in multilingual children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Purpose: Identification of speech sound disorder (SSD) in children who are multilingual is challenging for many speech-language pathologists (SLPs). This may be due to a lack of clinical resources to accurately identify SSD in multilingual children as easily as for monolingual children. The purpose of this paper is to describe features of multilingual speech acquisition, identify evidence-based resources for the differential diagnosis of SSD in speakers of under-studied language paradigms, and to demonstrate how culturally responsive practices can be achieved in different linguistic contexts.
Method: Examples of different approaches used to inform accurate diagnosis of SSD in 2- to 8-year-old multilingual children are described. The approaches used included: (a) considering adult speech models, (b) completing validation studies, and (c) streamlining evidence-informed techniques. These methods were applied across four different language paradigms in countries within the Global North and Global South (e.g., Jamaican Creole-English, Jamaica; Vietnamese-English, Australia; French and additional languages, Belgium; Icelandic-Polish, Iceland). The culturally responsive nature of approaches in each cultural/linguistic setting is highlighted as well as the broader applicability of these approaches.
Results: Findings related to dialect specific features, successful validation of tools to describe functional speech intelligibility and production accuracy, and the utility of different techniques applied in the diagnosis of SSD are outlined.
Conclusions: Culturally responsive methods offer a useful framework for guiding SLPs’ diagnostic practices. However, successful application of these practices is best operationalized at a local level in response to the linguistic, cultural, and geographic context.

Authorship contributions

Naming authors on research papers and presentations ensures that appropriate people get credit and are accountable for the reported research. 

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations  comprise four criteria, all of which are required to claim authorship:

1. "Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved..." (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors)

https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html 

The CRediT Taxonomy  provides the opportunity to describe each person’s specific contribution to the scholarly output. The 14 roles listed in the CRediT Taxonomy are: "Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing" https://credit.niso.org/

Caregivers’ insights into supporting their late talkers using a Hanen® Parent Program

Congratulations Sarah Bartlett - whose manuscript from her Graduate Certificate has just been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Here are the details: Bartlett, S. & McLeod, S. (2024, in press). Caregivers’ insights into supporting their late talkers using Target Word™ Hanen® Parent Program.  International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Here is the abstract: 

Purpose. To explore caregivers’ experiences and engagement during the 16-week Target Word™ Hanen Program® for Parents program designed to support late talkers.
Method. Qualitative interpretative description (ID) methodology was used to understand the experience of five caregivers who had completed Target Word™ to support their children (aged 18-36 months). Caregivers attended a focus group to share their perspectives. Transcripts of these focus groups were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Result. Two themes were identified. Firstly, that caregivers described explicit roles for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to support their engagement over time: in the beginning (clarify expectations), middle (enable caregiver to link changes in their behaviour to positive child outcomes) and final (empowered caregivers) phases of the intervention. Secondly, that caregiver engagement in learning is individual, influenced by (a) individual needs and expectations, (b) active engagement during key learning moments, (c) influence of the broader environment.
Conclusion. Each caregiver participating in Target Word™ experienced unique engagement journeys over the course of the program. SLPs can explicitly facilitate engagement at each phase of Target Word™ to promote active engagement for learning and ultimately caregiver empowerment to support their children’s language growth.

Here is a photo of Sarah and I wearing our academic gowns this week. CSU changed their graduation dates in 2024 - and I was unavailable on the new dates. It was great to celebrate Sarah's graduation and accomplishments in Bathurst.

Advances in Communication and Swallowing now published by Sage

Advances in Communication and Swallowing has transitioned from its IOSPress website (https://www.iospress.com/catalog/journals/advances-in-communication-and-swallowing) to the new Sage website (https://journals.sagepub.com/home/cswb). I am on the editorial board.

Manuscript revisions after peer review

Journal articles undergo rounds of peer review before publication (or rejection). Prof Linda Harrison and I spent time revising an important manuscript this weekend while Linda was visiting Bathurst. We appreciate the time and thoughtfulness of the editor and reviewers. The message in our article is important for understanding outcomes of children with speech, language and communication need.

Leadership and retention in early childhood education

The following article has been accepted for publication from Belinda's PhD. Congratulations Belinda. Downey, B., Letts, W., McLeod, S. & Gibbs, L. (2024). Leadership and retention in early childhood education. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391241286935

Child Language Teaching and Therapy editorial board meeting

Tonight I attended the annual Child Language Teaching and Therapy (CLTT) editorial board meeting. 

One interesting topic that was covered included the use of AI in publishing: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/using-ai-in-peer-review-and-publishing.

There was a great discussion about sourcing and incentivising reviewers.

I am excited to work with CLTT to initiate a special issue based on my summer lecture. The lecture was sold out - and apparently there has been a lot of discussion throughout the world about it. The recorded version of the talk will be uploaded on the CLTT website soon.

Publication in BMJ

Our article has just been published in BMJ: 

Marshall, J., Wylie, K., McLeod, S., McAllister, L., Barrett, H., Owusu, N. A., Hettiarachchi, S., & Atherton, M. (2024). Communication disability in low and middle-income countries: A call to action. BMJ Global Health, 9(7), e015289. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2024-015289 I worked on this during my visit to Manchester Metropolitan University with Prof Julie Marshall (and other times). It is wonderful to see this work published. 

Children’s communication and the developing mind: A challenge for Australia

The following paper has just been published. It is an invited journal article based on the lecture I gave for the Royal Society of New South Wales last year that was part of the 2023 Royal Society of New South Wales and Learned Academies Forum: “Our 21st Century Brain” https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2023/11/invited-presentation-our-21st-century.html

McLeod, S. (2024). Children’s communication and the developing mind: A challenge for Australia. Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 157, 43–48. https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/157-1-11McLeod.pdf

There are many excellent papers in the special issue:

https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/157-1-web-complete.pdf

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF N.S.W. AND FIVE ACADEMIES FORUM: OUR 21st CENTURY BRAIN 

• Opening Address - The Governor,Margaret Beazley
• Welcome and Acknowledgements- Susan Pond
• Keynote Presentations - George Paxinos, Lucy Palmer, Joshua Gordon
• I−The Developing Mind - Penny van Bergen, Adam Guastella, Sharynne McLeod, Anne Castles, Kate Highfield
• II−The Brain: Social, Cultural and Philosophical Perspectives- Pip Pattison, Andrew Chanen, Andrew Leigh, Jennifer Kent, Jakelin Troy, David Bradden Mitchell
• III − The Brain Disease Burden in Adults- Anthony Cunningham, Glenda Halliday, Sharon Naismith, Lucette Cysique & Andrew Lloyd
• IV− Turbocharging Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence- Ian Oppermann, Sally Cripps, Stela Solar, Lyria Bennett Moses:
• V−Implications for the Future- Ian Hickie, Pip Pattison, Helen Christensen, Peter Baume, Jaky Troy

Invited paper accepted for publication in Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy

We have just had the following invited paper accepted for publication in the Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy: 

McLeod, S., Blake, H. L. & Margetson, K. (2024, in press). Enhancing children’s speech using international evidence-based resources. RPTF - Revista Portuguesa de Terapia da Fala [Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy] https://www.aptf-rptf.com/

 It is wonderful to continue our collaborations with our colleagues in Portugal: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/search/label/Portuguese

 

Children’s communication and the developing mind: A challenge for Australia

The following paper has just been accepted for publication:

McLeod, S. (2024). Children’s communication and the developing mind: A challenge for Australia. Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of NSW, 157, 1-6. ISSN: 0035-9173/24/0101-06

It expands the information that I presented at Government House during my invited lecture last year.

Invitation RPTF - Revista Portuguesa de Terapia da Fala [Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy]

 I have been invited to write a paper for RPTF - Revista Portuguesa de Terapia da Fala [Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy] https://www.aptf-rptf.com/.  I will work with Helen Blake and Kate Margetson and base it on my keynote presentations in Portugal in 2023 and 2024.

Three years between acceptance and publication of a journal article

This paper was accepted for publication in March 2021 – and finally has been published with volume and page numbers in March 2024!

 Tran, V. H., McLeod, S., Verdon, S. & Wang, C. (2024). Vietnamese-Australian parents: Factors associated with language use and attitudes towards home language maintenance. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(2), 489-506. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.1904963 

50 free online copies of are available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KWECZQYPTHTETRGFWTZY/full?target=10.1080/01434632.2021.1904963

Eligibility determinations for speech and language services in United States public schools: Experiences and tensions

Congratulations to Marie Ireland who has had an exciting week. First she learned the excellent result of her PhD by Prior Publication. Second, she learned that the following manuscript based on a chapter in her PhD has been accepted for publication: 

Ireland, M., McLeod, S, & Verdon, S. (2023, in press). Eligibility determinations for speech and language services in United States public schools: Experiences and tensions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. 

Here is the abstract: 

Purpose: To examine school speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) experiences regarding students’ eligibility for services in public schools within the United States. 

Method: Fifteen school SLPs participated in online focus groups to examine the complex nature of SLPs’ participation within decision-making teams and describe practice experiences in U.S. schools. SLPs worked in 1-10+ schools serving students from pre-K through 12th grade. Data were analyzed using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) (Engeström, 2015). 

Results: School SLPs’ practice is impacted by rules, community, and division of labor in schools. Participants discussed: culture of the work setting; interaction between team members; desire to assist families and children; knowledge of regulations; evaluation practices; and the impact of poverty, cultural and linguistic differences. Nine major tensions were identified: SLPs’ concerns regarding outcomes of eligibility decision-making; documentation of educational impact; need for greater SLP empowerment and advocacy; complexities of students learning English as an additional language; overuse of the diagnosis of speech-language impairment (SLI) for students who do not qualify; administrators’ adherence to rules; parents’ involvement in decision making; disagreement between team members; and concerns about evaluation data for decision making. 

Conclusion: Within the schools, the CHAT framework was useful to identify tensions and opportunities for change at the individual and institutional level impacting team decision-making for eligibility, SLPs provision of services, and student outcomes. Acknowledgment of tensions and opportunities for change regarding students’ eligibility for services may guide public policy, pre-service training, and individual, local and national advocacy.

ECIR Children Draw Talking - Last official meeting

This afternoon was the last official meeting of the ECIR Children Draw Talking team before we submit our manuscript at the ECIR Research Retreat on 9th October. 

This research was undertaken by members of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group funded by the Charles Sturt University Sturt Scheme. The following people contributed to the research and analysed the data: Jessamy Davies, Lysa Dealtry, Laura Delli-Pizzi, Belinda Downey, Sheena Elwick, Julian Grant, Carolyn Gregoric, Suzanne C. Hopf, Nicola Ivory, Holly McAlister, Sharynne McLeod, Elizabeth Murray, Azizur Rahman, Shukla Sikder, Van H. Tran, and Cherie Zischke. The Children Draw Talking Around the World Global Online Gallery was profiled at the Early Childhood Voices Conference 2022 (ECV2022) https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2022/children-draw-talking-gallery-1-the-world/.

Carolyn Gregoric, Sharynne McLeod, Cherie Zischke, Suzanne Hopf, Nicola Ivory, Jessamy Davis, Libbey Murray, Belinda Downey, and Van Tran

Here is how we will reference our journal article once we submnit it: McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Davies, J., Dealtry, L., Delli-Pizzi, L., Downey, B., Elwick, S., Hopf, S. C., Ivory, N., McAlister, H., Murray, E., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Tran, V. H., Zischke, C., & Grant, J. (2023). Children draw talking around the world [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group, Charles Sturt University.

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