Writing retreat at ACU

 I have spent three very productive days at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Brisbane analysing data and writing with Dr Anna Cronin, A/Prof Jane McCormack and Caroline Tiong. During the week we also worked online with Dr Marie Ireland (in USA) and Dr Audrey Wang (in NSW). We are coming to the end of our grant with the Once Upon at Time Foundation and it has been wonderful to listen to the children's insights about their speech therapy - including what they liked and the few things that they did not enjoy. We have been writing a journal article and conference presentations during the week.

Sharynne, Caroline, Audrey, Anna and Jane

Sharynne, Marie, Jane and Anna

Jane, Sharynne and Anna at ACU in Brisbane

One child with large ears listening to his speech therapist at the table

A child practicing the words "zoo, today, pow" at speech therapy
with a roll of stickers for good work and the speech therapist sitting on a cushion.

Finishing a book: Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families and Professionals

Today I finished everything that needed to be done for the permissions and revised chapters  for our book that will be published by Springer titled "Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families and Professionals"

I haveco-edited the book with Linda Mahony, Andi Salamon and Jenny Dwyer and have co-authored chapters 1, 9, 10, 12, 16, and 18.

1. Why the Voices of Young Children Matter -  Linda Mahony, Sharynne McLeod, Andi Salamon and Jenny Dwyer 
2. Space, Voice, Audience, and Influence: The Lundy Model and Early Childhood - Carmel Ward and Laura Lundy Listening to Children in their Daily Context 
3. Language and Life: Going into Space - Stephen Kemmis and Andi Salamon 
4. Infant Emotional Capital Practices as Voice in Research and Pedagogy - Andi Salamon 
5. Contributing to SDGs through Conceptual PlayWorlds: Changing the STEM Story for Children, Families and Teachers - Anne Suryani, Susan March, Marilyn Fleer and Prabhat Rai 
6. Children’s Mathematical Graphics Illustrating Inner Voices: A Literature Review - Jenny Dwyer, Amy MacDonald and Shukla Sikder 
7. Early Childhood Friendships as a Significant Value of Education for Sustainability: The Voices of Young Children and Educators - Tamara Pribišev Beleslin and Sanja Partalo 
8. “Ears to Listen so I can Hear”: A Holistic Self-Report Tool of Children’s Listening at Preschool - Lysa Dealtry and Laura McFarland 
9. Jamaican Children’s Drawings of Talking in Jamaican Creole and English - Karla Washington, Rachel Wright Karem, Corrine Macaluso, Cecilia Schwartz and Sharynne McLeod 
10. Vietnamese-Australian Families: Children’s Language Competence and Home Language Maintenance - Van H. Tran, Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Verdon, Kate Margetson and Ben Phạm 
11. Many Voices, Many Languages: Listening and Learning from South African Children - Michelle Pascoe, Mikateko Ndhambi, Olebeng Mahura, Nomfundo Peaceful Buthelezi, Nicole Husselmann and Babalwa Ludidi 
12. When are Speech Sounds Learned and Why is this Important for Children to be Heard? - Sharynne McLeod, Kathryn Crowe and Jane McCormack
13. Giving Voice to Young Children Navigating Complex Life Challenges through a Strengths Approach - Linda Mahony and Angela Fenton 
14. After the Disaster: Facilitating Children to Talk of their Feelings and Experiences - Sarah Eagland, Michael Curtin and Tracey Parnell 
15. Peep in the Pandemic: Peep Practitioners Listening to Parents and Families - Hannah Hale, Elspeth McCartney and Muriel MacKenzie Professionals Learning from Listening to Children 
16. Sustainable Leadership Approaches to Retain Early Childhood Educators - Belinda Downey, Will Letts and Sharynne McLeod 
17. Multimodal Analyses of Children’s Voices as a Means for Critical Teachers’ Education - Fernanda Liberali, Emilia Cipriano Sanches and Sandra Cavaletti Toquetão 
18. Refusing to Silence Early Childhood Voices: The Establishment of the Early Childhood Voices Conference - Sharynne McLeod, Carolyn Gregoric, Tamara Cumming and Belinda Downey