Our students are our future

Yesterday I had the priviledge of meeting two final year speech pathology students who are in the final week of their final placement. One more exam/assessment task to go, then they are speech pathologists. All the best Bridgette Hardman (UTS) and Wanting Lin (Celia) (UC). Thanks to Cathie Matthews and others like her who mentor students during their clinical placements.

Leadership and retention in early childhood education

Congratulations to Belinda Downey who has just had this paper published from her PhD: 

Downey, B., Letts, W., Gibbs, L., & McLeod, S. (2024). Leadership and retention in early childhood education. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 49(4), 343-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391241286935 

Here is the abstract: 

Global early childhood education workforce shortages have highlighted the importance of recruitment and retention. The development of effective leadership has not been a retention policy focus even though effective leadership has been identified as an important driver for improving working conditions and supporting educator retention. The aim of this research was to investigate what factors affect retention focussing on retention challenges for leaders in an under researched context. Participants were 34 early childhood educators in the Northern Territory of Australia. A constructivist grounded theory methodology framed the research and the data analysis, and a constant comparative method was used to generate categories. The lack of learning on leadership, coupled with competing priorities, were identified as critical factors that contribute to increased attrition. However, informal mentoring was found to support both the positional and emerging leaders, increasing the probability of their retention regardless of their access to leadership development.

Recording the ECV2024 Conference Welcome

This morning Dr Belinda Downey and I recorded the Early Childhood Voices 2024 conference co-chairs welcome:

Dr Belinda Downey and Prof Sharynne McLeod - ECV2024 conference co-chairs

BD: Greetings from the Wiradjuri lands of New South Wales, Australia. I'm Dr. Belinda Downey,

SM: and I'm Professor Sharynne McLeod.

BD: We are the co-chairs of ECV2024 - the Early Childhood Voices Conference - at Charles Sturt University, Australia.

SM: The Early Childhood Voices Conference began in 2020 and this is our third conference.
It is a free online interdisciplinary conference focusing on children.

At ECV we share research about innovative methods, theories, and partnerships with children, families, and practitioners that support social justice during early childhood and within the early childhood sector.

BD: ECV 2024, is organised by the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group at Charles Sturt University in Australia.

There are 3 ways to participate,  

1. Attend the conference online from the 25th to the 28th of November 2024 – watching the online recordings at times that suit you
2. Join online yarning sessions to discuss topics relevant to the conference on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the week of the conference.
3. Enjoy the Children Draw Playing Global Online Gallery – where approximately 200 children from across the world present their views of playing.

SM: We are so excited to welcome over a 1000 people from 54 countries who have registered to attend. We hope you enjoy listening to our 4 excellent keynote presentations and the 147 oral presentations across two streams:

1. 71 papers in the  “Early childhood voices: International interdisciplinary research” stream  (71 abstracts)
2. And 76 papers in the “Multilingual children's speech development” stream. These papers are presented in English and in many other languages including Kurdish, Jamaican, Icelandic, Danish, Turkish, and Swedish.

The peer reviewed abstracts are published online and in the Conference proceedings. 

BD: Thank you to our amazing colleagues from Charles Sturt University for working hard on committees to ensure this conference is a success. We particularly thank our wonderful conference secretary, Dr Carolyn Gregoric.
We hope that by participating in ECV2024 you are inspired to listen to children’s voices, advocate for children and social justice during early childhood.
 

BD&SM: Welcome to our conference!

Congratulations Associate Professor Ben Pham

Congratulations to Associate Professor Ben Pham who has just been promoted by the government of Vietnam. We are so proud of you!

Ten years ago Ben came to Bathurst to undertake her PhD with me. It has been an honour to work alongside Ben for the past decade. Her research has had a huge impact on the world's understanding of how Vietnamese children learn to speak.

Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families, Professionals (2e)

Our CSU editorial team met again today - and submitted our book proposal for a second edition/volume of Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families, Professionals (2e). We have already received an initial positive response from the commissioning editor. 

Editorial team: Shukla Sikder, Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Verdon, Lysa Dealtry, Sheena Elwick

ASHA Research Roundtable Invitation - "Engaging in International Research Collaborations"

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Academic Affairs & Research Education Team have invited me  to host a table on “Engaging in International Research Collaborations” at the Research Roundtables during the 2024 ASHA Convention (Friday, December 6, 2024). They have invited Dr. Giang Pham from San Diego State University to co-host the table with me and Dr Helen L. Blake and Dr Kate Margetson to attend as my collaborators. I have enjoyed this role a few years ago at an ASHA convention - so look forward to participating again.

Here is their description:

The Research Roundtables offer researchers, including students interested in research careers, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty, the opportunity to meet and learn from experienced researchers and funding agency staff. We hope you will be able to host a Research Roundtable. Your willingness to share your experience and knowledge is greatly appreciated by researchers in our professions.

Translating and sharing research - videos and posters

Today I met with A/Prof Belinda Cash for our monthly mentoring meeting. One of the topics we discussed was how important it is to translate our Q1 journal articles to user-friendly formats (videos, posters, resources etc.).

Here are some examples of ways that we have translated our research into user-friendly formats

1. VIDEO "The Lifelong Effects Of Speaking Multiple Languages" Multilingualism is a superpower! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBrXmRW7lwg

Based on:

Blake, H. L., McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Fuller, G. (2018). The relationship between spoken English proficiency and participation in higher education, employment and income from two Australian censuses. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(2), 202–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2016.1229031 

McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(4), 1546–1571. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100

2.  RESOURCES "VietSpeech SuperSpeech - Maintaining home languages" https://www.csu.edu.au/research/vietspeech/info

Based on: 

McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Tran, V. H., Margetson, K., & Wang, C. (2022). SuperSpeech: Multilingual speech and language maintenance intervention for Vietnamese-Australian children and families via telepractice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(3), 675-697. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00146

3.  POSTERS "Learning English consonants"https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition

Based on:

McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(4), 1546–1571. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100

Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155–2169. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00168

4. VIDEO "ON-TRAC - transitioning to residential aged care" https://youtu.be/DKPSTt4ihyk

Based on: 

Fealy, S., McLaren, S., Nott, M., Seaman, C.E., Cash, B., & Rose, L. (2024). Psychological interventions designed to reduce relocation stress for older people transitioning into permanent residential aged care: A systematic scoping review. Aging and Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2024.2340731

(Created by Gareth Smart - CSU digital media technologist - DLT)

Mentoring group - Editing a book

I have held regular mentoring meetings with two groups of colleagues to work on developing book proposals, then editing books as part of our Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR). Our Springer book group met today (Sheena Elwick, Shukla Sikder, Lysa Dealtry) and our Multilingual Matters book group have just had their proposal accepted and we are about to meet to discuss the proposed contract from the publisher. 

Lysa Dealtry, Sharynne McLeod, Shukla Sikder, Sheena Elwick

Congratulations Dr. Karla Washington - Canada Research Chair

Congratulations to my colleague Dr. Karla Washington at the Universitiy of Toronto who has been named as a Canada Research Chair in Monolingual and Multilingual Paediatric Speech-Language Pathology (Tier 2). Here is a description about her work and appointment:

Speech sound disorder (SSD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) present significant barriers to academic and social participation, with the potential to negatively impact the speech and language development of children globally. Dr. Washington’s overarching research goal is to support children’s human right to effective communication by improving diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. Her research addresses misdiagnosis of SSD and DLD in multilingual preschoolers in an understudied context (Jamaican Creole-English) through diversification of theoretical and empirical approaches. She also aims to characterize the neural basis of DLD, with the goal of better understanding memory-language mechanisms underlying grammar learning and impairment.

CSU Conscia Research Staff Mentoring program

I have just been accepted into the CSU Conscia Research Staff Mentoring program and will be mentoring CSU staff members during 2024.

https://research.csu.edu.au/research-support/researcher-development/mentoring/conscia

The Conscia Research Staff Mentoring Program pairs staff with a research work-function with a more experienced academic research mentor to develop their research career, meet research goals, and strategize for future academic success. 

We attended an information session about the Conscia program that schedules and tracks goals and evidence regarding mentoring.

Learning from one another during our mentoring session

 

Mentoring

I am very honoured to be able to spend time during 2024 to mentor A/Prof Belinda Cash. We had our first official session today.

Mentoring conversations

I have really enjoyed meeting with Dr Kerry Ttofari-Eecen from Australian Catholic University over the past year. We have had regular mentoring conversations that have encompassed many areas and have opened up opportunities for research and collaborations with colleagues in Greece and Cyprus.

Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme

Today I have had three excellent meetings with members of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme.

1. Leadership meeting

2. Weekly meeting with Dr Carolyn Gregoric

3. Children Draw Talking research meeting

We are such a productive research group. Our distributed leadership model enables such richness of experience and collaboration.

We provide an internship model of peer-to-peer research capacity building where people actively contribute to research with the support of mentors. Research activities include: organising conferences, editing books, writing book chapters, running research projects, analysing data, writing journal articles, and supporting members to apply for promotion and grants. 

 

ACU Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Stewardship - Congratulations

Congratulations to Dr Kerry Ttofari Eecen, A/Prof Jane McCormack and the team from Australian Catholic University who have won the ACU Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Stewardship!

Details are here and copied below from the ACU website

Stewardship through knowledge sharing 15 November 2022 

The Speech Pathology Speed Sessions team has been awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Stewardship.

The team, comprised of Senior Lecturer (Speech Pathology) Dr Kerry Ttofari Eecen, Senior Lecturer (Speech Pathology) Dr Kieran Flanagan, Head of Discipline (Speech Pathology) and Deputy Head (Interim), School of Allied Health NSW Associate Professor Jane McCormack and Administrative Officer Anita Drakulic, were recognised for their work coordinating a free, evidence-based and sustainable professional development program for practising speech pathologists, ACU alumni and students.

The Speed Session program was originally started as a teleconference program in 2015 by Dr Simone Arnott. Since that time, it has transformed into a series of monthly pre-recorded 30-minute web-based lectures by experts in speech-language pathology and related fields. The sessions are shared with a distribution list that has grown to more than 1800 subscribers.

Volunteers at the heart of the program Dr Kerry Ttofari Eecen is the Speed Sessions program coordinator. She said the program is made possible by the generosity of volunteer presenters.

“All the presenters are volunteers. They’re mainly from the Speech Pathology discipline at ACU, but we have also asked academics from other disciplines within ACU to present, as well as ACU Counselling and the Research Impact office. We invite external speakers from other universities and the community to present as well,” she said. Kerry said volunteer presenters are just one of the factors that make the program a strong example of stewardship. “It’s a sustainable program because we’ve set up the processes, we've set up the infrastructure and it can be used by other disciplines or departments at ACU.”

Sharing knowledge to benefit stakeholders and their clients The feedback from stakeholders has shown the program’s impact both for speech pathologists and their clients. “We receive a lot of emails and verbal feedback to our professional practice coordinators from speech pathologists in the community about how useful they find this program,” Kerry said. “They’re happy that it’s free and also that the sessions are quick so they don’t have to spend a lot of time accessing them – they’re bite sized sessions that can be accessed any time, so people can view them at their convenience.” For speech-language pathology consumers and clients, the program is also valuable, as each session is based on up-to-date research that can inform effective service provision. “Speech pathologists using evidence-based practice benefits the clients,” said Kerry.

She said the team was honoured to receive the Excellence in Stewardship Award. “The program was originally founded on the belief that, as academics, we are in a privileged position to have access to so many resources that a lot of people out there don’t have,” she said. “The founding principle was that it’s our duty as academics to share knowledge with people in the community. That’s consistent with ACU’s commitment to community service, so it’s a real honour to be recognised in this way.” Future plans to expand The monthly Speed Sessions are currently focused on speech pathology, but plans are in place to expand the program to the other allied health disciplines. “We're planning to extend the program to the whole of the School of Allied Health from next year, using the same processes,” said Kerry. If you would like to join the Speed Sessions mailing list, please contact professional.practice@acu.edu.au. 

 

Kerry kindly wrote to me:

Dear Sharynne, Since you are my mentor (and  Jane's unofficial mentor too), I thought you would be proud of the speech pathology team for getting a VC award this week. This is the program that you contributed to this year, so you are a winner too! 

Visiting The University of Sydney

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Professor Leanne Togher at the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney. I really enjoyed catching up on our lives and research and sharing advice about grant writing and mentoring. I also had a chance to chat with Dr Liss Brunner and Dr Rebecca Sutherland.

This was the first time I had been invited to visit since I left in 1999. Over the past few years the department has moved from their campus in Lidcombe to the Broadway campus. I visited the new Susan Wakil Building and had a chance to view the 5th floor containing staff and student hotdesks and lockers (it is an open-plan building), simulation suite, and on-campus clinic. 

Sharynne, Leanne Togher and the painting of Elinor Wray, the first director of the first speech therapy course in Australia. This painting used to be by my office door when I worked at The University of Sydney.

Simulation hospital ward

Simulation baby

Staff lockers

Staff hotdesks

Chatting with Dr Liss Brunner.
Leanne and I found our PhDs on the shelf in the department

Professor Leanne Togher holds many roles: 

• Professor of Communication Disorders Following Traumatic Brain Injury 
• Senior NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Research Fellow 
• Supervisor, Communication Sciences 
• Executive Leadership Team, Brain and Mind Centre 
• Director, speechBITE www.speechbite.com 
• Director, Acquired Brain Injury Communication Lab 
• Chief investigator, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Aphasia Rehabilitation 
• Board of Governors, International Brain Injury Association
  
• International Board member, Journals Board, American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) 
• Development Group Member for TBI, World Health Organization 
• Chair, Editorial Board, Brain Impairment

Teaching in the first Masters of Speech and Language Therapy course in Vietnam

This morning I received the following email thanking me and my 20 Australian colleagues for our contribution to teaching the first 14 Masters graduates of the Speech and Language Therapy course in Vietnam. The course was undertaken at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City (UMP HCMC), Vietnam. 

Dear international SALT lecturers, mentors, clinical supervisors, thesis research supervisors, 

I am Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy and I work as a Program Coordinator for my organization, MCNV, and in charge of the SALT Education Development Project in partnership with TFA since 2017. Under this project, the first Master of SALT course was implemented with 14 students at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh city (UMP HCMC), Vietnam. The 14 MSALT students have finished their training program and will be awarded with degrees at the end of April 2022. To come to this point of achievement, your contribution in the forms of lecturing, mentoring, clinical supervision, thesis research supervision has been invaluable. 

To celebrate the completion of the first MSALT course and to congratulate the MSALT students on their graduation, MCNV and UMP HCMC will jointly organize a WORKSHOP on SHARING FINDINGS FROM SOME RESEARCH ON SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY IN VIETNAM. On behalf of MCNV, I would like to send this email to invite you to join the Workshop online. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, M.Phil Coordinator Disability Program- MCNV Vietnam A: E3 Trung Tu Diplomatic Compound 6 Dang Van Ngu Str, Ha Noi City T: (+84) 24 3835 9005/ ext 25 M: +84 (0) 986607351 W: mcnv.org FB: MCNV

Inspiring Orange

Yesterday I had a series of inspiring meetings in Orange, NSW - my neighbouring city. First I met with Asta Fung and we shared wonton soup and our research journeys. I was Asta's lecturer at The University of Sydney in the 1990s. She is undertaking a PhD at the University of Newcastle about breathing and pain control using her speech pathology expertise. Next I met with four fourth year speech pathology students undertaking their fieldwork placements at Orange Community Health/Hospital. I loved their enthusiasm and we talked about how their professional (and personal) futures are an adventure. I believe that they have chosen a fantastic profession to be part of. Finally I spent the afternoon with Cathie Matthews, a speech pathologist and colleague who has worked in the Central West for many years. She is undertaking the NSW Health Rural Research Capacity Building Program and has invited me to be on her mentoring team. What an inspiring day.

Year 4 speech pathology students from The University of Sydney

Cathie Matthews and Sharynne

Welcoming new staff and mentoring for 2022

I love my role as a formal and informal mentor across my faculty, university, and the world. Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to welcome new staff to the School of Education and to Charles Sturt University and to discuss their research. Today I had a lovely coffee chat with Leanne Gibbs and Kate Smithers who have joined our school this year. Yesterday I had the opportunity to provide advice to Karen Sinclair from the CSU Research Office regarding how to capture research mentoring.

Welcome to CSU Leanne and Kate!

Mentoring conversations

I really enjoy my role as research mentor of colleagues within my School, Faculty and University. This week I have had a number of mentoring conversations with staff who are new to CSU as well as with some  I have mentored for a long time. The topics we cover are broad ranging - but always inspiring.

Sharynne and Heather Boetto

Being a referee

It is that time of year when I am invited to be a referee by people I know (e.g., for jobs, scholarships), AND by others who want to nominate people I know for awards. It is my great honour to spend time reflecting on the contributions of these people. I work with amazing colleagues! Although it is a timeconsuming, it is an important task. I hope that everyone is rewarded for their dreams and efforts.