Children's Speech Sound Disorders - third edition has been published

It is a priviledge to have written in each of the three editions of Caroline Bowen's book: Children's Speech Sound Disorders. It is exciting to see that the third edition has just been published.

Epidemiological papers considering children with low language skills

This newly published paper reviews epidemiological papers considering children with low language 

Hill, E., Calder, S., Candy, C., Truscott, G., Kaur, J., Savage, B., & Reilly, S. (2023). Low language capacity in childhood: A systematic review of prevalence estimates. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12944

Our paper that reports data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) was included in the analysis - and was rated as "high quality".

McLeod, S., & Harrison, L. J. (2009). Epidemiology of speech and language impairment in a nationally representative sample of 4- to 5-year-old children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(5), 1213–1229. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0085)

 

 

Students

 I love working with my research and higher degree students:

1. Belinda Downey*
2. Kate Margetson
3. Marie Ireland*
4. Holly McAlister
5. Cathie Matthews
6. Sarah Faulks
7. Sarah Bartlett
8. Caitlin Hurley (UWA)
9. Anniek Van Doornik (Utrecht) 

I am principal supervisor for Kate, Marie and Sarah B.

*Submitted in 2023

 

ECV2022 is included in CSU's 2022 Sustainable Development Goals report

Emmaline Lear (Manager Researcher Development, Office of Research Services and Graduate Studies) contacted us about including ECV2022 in CSU's 2022 Sustainable Development Goals report. 

• CSU's 2021 report: https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/267639799/M1507_Charles_Sturt_SDG_Report_2022_WEB_V2.pdf (VietSpeech was profiled on page 17)
  
• CSU's 2020 report: https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/175209220/Charles_Sturt_University_2020_SDG_report.pdf 

Here is our text that will be used in the 2022 report

The Early Childhood Voices 2022 Conference (ECV2022) was a multidisciplinary international conference held over five days by the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group. This was the second bi-annual conference to share research about innovative methods, theories and partnerships with children, families and practitioners. The conference is held entirely online and asynchronously and is free for presenters and attendees, drawing on Charles Sturt’s motto “for the public good”. Researchers and post-graduate students were invited to submit abstracts to share their work on innovations to improve the lives of children, families and practitioners during early childhood (generally birth-8 years) or within the early childhood sector. Children were also invited to contribute to draw their story of ‘talking’ that was hosted in an Online Gallery and five yarning circles were held for synchronous conversations. After peer review, ECV2022 accepted six keynote presentations and 99 oral presentations from 25 countries, all aligned with relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Online Gallery showcased 191 children’s drawings and around 80 participants connected in the Yarning Circles to talk about topics like families, communication, children’s rights and the SDGs. ECV2022 overall participation included 1,956 registrations from 72 countries, 6,431 website views from 1,358 users, and over 3,500 YouTube views of the presentations including 243 hours of viewing. ECV2022 achieved their aim to support social justice during early childhood and within the early childhood sector across the world.

Interactive content links:

• https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2022/organising-committee/ 
• https://earlychildhoodresearch.csu.domains/early-childhood-voices-conference-2022/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ECV2022-BOOK-FINAL-v2.pdf

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 75 next year

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 75 next year. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has put out a Call for input: Views of youth-led and youth-focused organizations and institutions on the future of human rights for the development of the Human Rights 75 Youth Declaration https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2023/call-input-views-youth-led-and-youth-focused-organizations-and-institutions

Our team has done a lot of work on Article 19 of the UDHR.

Article 19. 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 

As part of our recent Early Childhood Voices conference we asked children across the world to draw themselves talking to someone. We listened to 200 hundred children (2-12 years) from 20+ countries (Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Croatia, Fiji, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong SAR China, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Latvia, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam). Their drawings are displayed in four Children Draw Talking Global Online Galleries. The majority of children (79%) felt happy about talking, 8% felt unsure, 1.5% felt sad, and some did not respond or said another feeling. The children drew themselves talking to a friend (22%), their mother (16%), father (14%), animals (9%), siblings (9%), other family members (5%), and teacher/speech pathologist (4%) (some unable to be classified). Parents of 28.5% of children had concerns about how their child talked or made speech sounds (similar to the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, McLeod & Harrison, 2009). 

The Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme at Charles Sturt University have put together a submission to the United Nations where children have provided “recommendations to decision and policymakers, including … the United Nations, and others, to advance human rights in the future”. 

A few years ago we documented communication as a human right in the special issue of IJSLP (free online). The lead article summarizing the special issue is here: 

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 

We took this special issue to the United Nations in 2019.

Recently, we have published a special issue demonstrating how communication is central to the Sustainable Development Goals (free online). The lead article summarizing the special issue is here: 

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 

I have been encouraging my colleagues fro across the world to engage with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

Also, see Dr Suzanne Hopf reading Article 19 from Fiji - https://youtu.be/XlfonR_aQaQ. Her video is included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Multilingual Video Collection https://www.un.org/en/udhr-video/curated.shtml.

References 

Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., Dwyer, J. (Eds.) (in press). Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals. Springer Nature. 

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

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

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

Provocations blog post

I have been invited to write a Provocations Blog post following on from my CSU Public Lecture. 

 Here is the link to my post: https://provocationsqa.csu.edu.au/communication-is-a-human-right-but-not-everyone-can-communicate-effectively/   

 

Provocations https://provocationsqa.csu.edu.au/ and information about the blog:

Provocations is a series of blogs written by prominent thinkers that seek to address the grand challenges confronting regional Australia and the world. How can we mitigate climate change and build climate proof, safe and sustainable communities? Can First Nations ways of knowing, being and doing guide sustainable development? How can we reinforce Australia’s supply chains and sovereign manufacturing capability in a post-Covid world? Is it possible to achieve productive and circular agriculture? How can we reduce income inequality between urban and regional Australia and build more inclusive communities? Does liberal democracy need to be redefined in a post-Covid world? How can we build a knowledgeable, inclusive and resilient citizenry prepared for the challenges of the future? Does Australia’s relationship with China require a radical rethink? Is there a role for faith in contemporary democratic thought? Provocations will challenge orthodoxy through new thinking but will also revive policy ideas and political thought from the past for one more encore.

 

Celebrating the submission of our Springer book

This morning the editors of "Early childhood voices in the lives of children, families, and professionals" joined together via Zoom to celebrate the submission of our book to Springer.

Here is information about the Table of Contents:  https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2023/08/submitted-early-childhood-voices-in.html

Editors - Dr Linda Mahony, Prof Sharynne McLeod, Jenny Dwyer, Dr Andi Salamon

 

Here is the Foreword written by Prof Fran Press

This book is a remarkable achievement. It draws together scholars from an array of disciplines, from across the world, to interrogate what it means to elicit and engage meaningfully with the many languages of very young children. Steeped in a commitment to children’s rights, each chapter is also mapped against the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These Goals ‘recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests’. (United Nations https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

It is a testament to the richness and breadth of this edited collection that it traverses multiple dimensions of children’s experiences on the planet, including home and family, the early childhood setting, friendship, the experience and aftermath of climate change impacts, and the disruption of the pandemic. It asks us to consider how we can address gender inequalities by actively engaging young girls in the early childhood setting in STEM. It asks us to consider how the mathematical graphics of young children are a form of children’s expression. Many of the chapters provoke us to be better at redressing the inequalities and/or disadvantages children might face.

A theme that runs throughout the book is the central role of communication. As Kemmis and Salamon remind us, the practice of communication not only creates a pathway for children to participate in the decisions that affect them (CRC Article 3), but it is also integral to our understanding and construction of the world. Through thoughtful and research informed contributions, the book’s authors cause us to reflect upon how we, as adults, might consciously tune in and recognise children’s many languages, including the embodied social and emotional language (Salamon) that accompanies or precedes verbal language. A number of chapters offer specific models or tools that we can draw upon to better obtain children’s insights and perspectives. The framework for children’s participation proposed by Ward and Lundy, for example, creates the conditions which invite and validate children’s perspectives but also recognises that adults may need to play an additional role in providing children access to information that enables them to form a view.

As language plays such a central role in communication, other chapters specifically address issues concerning children’s speech and language including interventions for children’s language acquisition. Some of these contributions illuminate the multilingual worlds that children inhabit and the multilingualism that many children practice and are adept in. Children’s right to maintain their home language is highlighted. These chapters are written with a consciousness of the trap of cultural specificity and how this can colour or limit our capacity as adult ‘experts’ to closely listen to children and, if required, provide appropriate support for speech development.

The rich insights to be gained from these collective offerings underscore both universality and particularity. Through these writings we can see where a shared experience such as the pandemic gave rise to unique and creative responses to reaching children and their families so that children could continue their educations (CRC Article 29), while also bringing into sharp relief the inequalities that exist within and between nations, that the SDGs exhort us to address.

It is incumbent upon adults to uphold children’s rights and to design and implement strategies that strive to attain the SDGs. Professionals who work with young children need to consciously seek ways to activate children’s rights backed by, as Downey et al. remind us, leadership that ensures ethical practices toward children. In doing so, we not only respect the right of the individual child, but we also work toward the collective good of all children.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge to all the authors, that I felt honoured to be invited to write the foreword for this book, and deeply appreciative of its content.

Professor Frances Press, Head and Dean, Education and Professional Studies Griffith University, Australia

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. 

 

Guest lecture for CSU Dentistry students - Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics

Tonight I gave a 2-hour guest lecture (online) to the 4th year Bachelor of Dental Science students at Charles Sturt University in their subject Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics. I was invited by Dr Winey Wan, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Dentistry l Specialist Paediatric Dentist, Centre for Rural Dentistry & Oral Health, School of Dentistry & Medical Sciences on the Orange campus at CSU. I really enjoyed the evening.

We discussed Speech Pathology Australia's position on tongue ties. Here is their Fact Sheet

Seeing Speech is an excellent website to see the oromusculature working during speech production

Interview with Virginia Haussegger for CSU Research Futures

Today I was interviewed by journalist Virginia Haussegger AM for the Charles Sturt University Research Futures series. We discussed children's communication, Australia as a multilingual nation, and our research at Charles Sturt University. It was a pleasure to discuss our work and impact. Virginia has a podcast titled "BroadTalk: Women, Power, The World": https://play.acast.com/s/broadtalk

Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills (PEEPS)

Today Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills (PEEPS) arrived in the mail. PEEPS was created by A. Lynn Williams, and Carol Stoel-Gammon; and I was very honoured to write the foreword and the Appendix.

In my Foreword I wrote:

To date, there have been few tools available to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to assess young children’s emerging speech skills. The Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills™ (PEEPS) has been designed for young children (18–36 months of age) who have small vocabularies and limited inventories of speech sounds. The PEEPS™ is a unique evidence-based speech assessment and is a welcome addition to SLPs’ almost empty toolboxes for young children. The word list has been carefully selected using the authors’ extensive knowledge of young children’s vocabularies and emerging speech skills and children can enjoy the process of naming toys during “play” (i.e., assessment). The PEEPS™ profile is a “multilayered description of a child’s phonological system” (p. 5) that enables SLPs to gain an overview of children’s strengths and identify “warning signs” or “red flags for phonetic and phonological development” (p. 68).
The authors of the PEEPS™ are eminent authorities on children’s speech and have undertaken extensive research that underpins their conceptualization and operationalization of this unique tool. They have spent more than 15 years developing the PEEPS™ and the world has been waiting. The PEEPS™ has proven value for working with young children, including those with cleft lip and palate (Scherer et al., 2012).

From the CSU Vice Chancellor's Message

Today's CSU Vice Chancellor's message included the following paragraph:

"We are also seeing excellent progress in our priority area to strengthen our existing research capability and improve research quality. As of 19 July, Charles Sturt has published 651 Journal Articles with 91% in Q1/Q2 journals. Not only are we on track to publish our goal of 1,200 articles with 93% in Q1/Q2 journals, currently we are exceeding our Field-Weighted Citation Impact (this measures the impact of our research) target for research."

Congratulations to our team of researchers from the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme and also our Speech-Language-Multilingualism team. Almost every article we publish is in a Q1/Q2 journal - so we have contributed to this achievement.

New office

Having just returned from 5 weeks travelling, I have a lot of tasks to do. Two big tasks are to clear the backlog of emails and unpack my new office.

Here is a photo sent to me while I was away. Thanks Jenny and Mary for helping to pack and move the boxes while I was away.

Here is my blogpost showing my last week in my old office: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2023/06/packing-up-my-office-for-past-20-years.html

Here is my office after unpacking had begun:

Submitted book: "Early childhood voices in the lives of children, families, and professionals"

On 30th June 2023 we submitted the following book for publication by Springer who have just advised us that it is currently under review. The book began after the successful Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV2020). It has been an exciting collaboration as a result of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme. 

Book title: Early childhood voices in the lives of children, families, and professionals  

Series title: International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 

Editors: Linda Mahony, Sharynne McLeod, Andi Salamon, Jenny Dwyer 

Table of Contents 

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 

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 After the Disaster: Facilitating Children to Talk of their Feelings and Experiences Sarah Eagland, Michael Curtin and Tracey Parnell 

8 Giving Voice to Young Children Navigating Complex Life Challenges through a Strengths Approach Linda Mahony and Angela Fenton 

9 Sustainable Leadership Approaches to Retain Early Childhood Educators Belinda Downey, Will Letts and Sharynne McLeod 

10 Multimodal Analyses of Children’s Voices as a Means for Critical Teachers’ Education Fernanda Liberali, Emilia Cipriano Sanches and Sandra Cavaletti Toquetão 

11 Peep in the Pandemic: Peep Practitioners Listening to Parents and Families Hannah Hale, Elspeth McCartney and Muriel MacKenzie 

12 Early Childhood Friendships as a Significant Value of Education for Sustainability: The Voices of Young Children and Educators Tamara Pribišev Beleslin and Sanja Partalo 

13 “Ears to Listen so I can Hear”: A Holistic Self-Report Tool of Children’s Listening at Preschool Lysa Dealtry and Laura McFarland 

14 Jamaican Children’s Drawings of Talking in Jamaican Creole and English Karla Washington, Rachel Wright Karem, Corrine Macaluso, Cecilia Schwartz and Sharynne McLeod 

15 Vietnamese-Australian Families: Children’s Language Competence and Home Language Maintenance Van H. Tran, Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Verdon, Kate Margetson and Ben Phạm 

16 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 

17 When are Speech Sounds Learned and Why is this Important for Children to be Heard? Sharynne McLeod, Kathryn Crowe and Jane McCormack 

18 Refusing to Silence Early Childhood Voices: The Establishment of the Early Childhood Voices Conference Sharynne McLeod, Carolyn Gregoric, Tamara Cumming and Belinda Downey

The book includes the following international interdisciplinary contributors

1. Sandra Cavaletti Toquetão Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 
2. Emilia Cipriano Sanches Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 
3. Kathryn Crowe University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland; Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia 
4. Tamara Cumming Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia 
5. Michael Curtin Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia 
6. Lysa Dealtry Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia 
7. Belinda Downey Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia 
8. Jenny Dwyer Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia 
9. Sarah Eagland Royal Far West, Sydney, NSW, Australia 
10. Angela Fenton Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia 
11. Marilyn Fleer Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 
12. Carolyn Gregoric Charles Sturt University, Australia 
13. Hannah Hale University of Stirling, Scotland, UK 
14. Nicole Husselmann University of Cape Town, South Africa S
15. tephen Kemmis Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia 
16. Will Letts Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia 
17. Fernanda Liberali Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 
18. Babalwa Ludidi University of Cape Town, South Africa 
19. Laura Lundy Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland 
20. Corrine Macaluso Butler Educational Service Center, USA 
21. Muriel MacKenzie Stirling Council, Scotland, UK 
22. Linda Mahony University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD, Australia 
23. Olebeng Mahura Charles Sturt University, Australia 
24. Susan March Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 
25. Elspeth McCartney University of Stirling, Scotland, UK 
26. Jane McCormack Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, NSW, Australia 
27. Amy MacDonald Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia 
28. Laura McFarland The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 
29. Sharynne McLeod Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia 
30. Mikateko Ndhambi University of Cape Town, South Africa 
31. Tracey Parnell Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia 
32. Sanja Partalo University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina 
33. Michelle Pascoe University of Cape Town, South Africa 
34. Nomfundo Peaceful Buthelezi University of Cape Town, South Africa 
35. Ben Phạm Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam; Charles Sturt University, Australia 
36. Tamara Pribišev Beleslin University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina 
37. Prabhat Rai Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 
38. Andi Salamon Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia 
39. Celia Schwartz Springfield City School District, USA 
40. Shukla Sikder Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, Australia 
41. Anne Suryani Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 
42. Van H. Tran Charles Sturt University, Australia 
43. Sarah Verdon Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, Australia 
44. Carmel Ward Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK 
45. Karla Washington University of Toronto, Canada 
46. Rachel Wright Karem Indiana University, USA

Fellows and Members Assessment Committee of the Council of the Royal Society of New South Wales

I have been appointed on the Fellows and Members Assessment Committee of the Council of the Royal Society of New South Wales. https://www.royalsoc.org.au/

"The Royal Society of NSW (the Society, RSNSW) traces its origins to the Philosophical Society of Australasia, which was established on 27 June 1821. The Society received Royal Assent in 1866 and was incorporated by an Act of the NSW Parliament in 1881. Today, the Society is an inclusive learned institution that aims to enrich lives through knowledge and inquiry. It encompasses a diverse group of people who are dedicated to ideas that matter and contributing to a just, secure, and sustainable society by: 

• Mobilising the multidisciplinary expertise of Society members
• Providing authentic and authoritative information 
• Addressing national and global challenges
• Recognising and promoting excellence."

My first committee meeting was held today to consider new applications. What an honour to consider such important people within NSW and to learn of their significant work. The committee membership is as follows:

• Sean Brawley (Chair)
• Trevor Danos AM (Secretary) 
• Professor Simon Ringer 
• Professor Lisa Jackson Pulver AM 
• Pamela Griffith OAM 
• Professor Ian H Sloan AO 
• Professor Sharynne McLeod 
• Professor George Paxinos 
•  RSNSW President (Professor Susan Pond AM) ex officio 
• RSNSW Secretary (Dr Donald Hector AM) ex officio 

 

Thank you Carolyn

Thank you Dr Carolyn Gregoric for all of your work to support the research and activities of the Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Sturt Scheme while I have been travelling and overseas for 5 weeks. So many things have progressed significantly while I have been away.

Carolyn and Sharynne discussing the Children Draw Talking data

Keynote at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB)

I have just arrived home after 5 weeks of travelling ( I left on June 25). The first day I was away, I presented a keynote at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB) https://www.isb14.com/home. My presentation was titled "Cross-linguistic perspectives on children’s speech development" and this week has been made publicly available here: https://youtu.be/mbMRPo73ERE The conference convenor kindly emailed "Everyone loved your keynote, it'll be a beautiful memento of the conference."

Visiting Anniek in the Netherlands

I was fortunate to travel home via the Netherlands - so organised to visit my PhD student, Anniek van Doornik. Anniek was very hospitable and we also had time to catch up on the latest regarding her PhD. I am looking forward to supporting her to submit in the next 6-9 months. Her research is important - so I can't wait for the world to see it.

 

Visiting Kate at The University of Iceland

Aðjúnkt Kathryn Crowe and A/Prof Þóra Másdóttir teach and research in the Talmeinafræði program at the University of Iceland
https://ugla.hi.is/kennsluskra/index.php?tab=nam&chapter=namsleid&id=820072_20176&kennsluar=2023 

I enjoyed visiting to see exactly where they worked - and Icelandic research into speech development and their home language maintenance research with their multilingual children.

Working on a book chapter and a Memorandum of Understanding between our universities

McLeod and Crowe (2018) posters in Iceland

Icelandic speech development poster featuring Lubbi and based on Masdottir & McLeod (2021)

Kate with her CSU award

Kate's office

Kate and Thora are currently undertaking a large-scale randomised controlled trial in preschools across Iceland to support multilingual children's speech and language development.