First articles of the decade in two journals

I am very pleased to announce that my PhD students' papers have been published as the first papers of the decade (first pages in issue 1) in two different journals:

• Blake, H. L., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2020). Intelligibility Enhancement Assessment and Intervention: A single-case experimental design with two multilingual university students. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 34(1-2), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2019.1608470 
• McGill, N., & McLeod, S. (2020). Waiting list management in speech-language pathology: Translating research to practice. Speech, Language and Hearing, 23(1), 2-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2020.1716471

I have had another paper published in 2020 as well:

• McLeod, S. (2020). Intelligibility in Context Scale: Cross-linguistic use, validity, and reliability. Speech, Language and Hearing, 23(1), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2020.1718837

Supervising Masters students in Viet Nam

This year I have the honour of co-supervising two Masters' students with Dr Ben Phạm who is the primary supervisor. The students (Hang Nguyen and Vấn Phạm) are studying in the Masters of Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. They will be researching the use of the Intelligibility in Context Scale with preschool children with speech sound disorders in Northern Viet Nam. We had our first meeting via Skype today. The students had prepared excellent questions, and I think we are going to be a great team. I hope to meet them face-to-face in the middle of this year.

Skype meeting with Hang Nguyen,  Vấn Phạm, and Dr Ben Phạm in Viet Nam

Resources for supporting young children and families during disasters (fire, flood, earthquakes etc.)

Over the past few months, many Australians have experienced bushfires and now floods. Here are some links that can be used to support young children and families during disasters:

• Birdie's Tree stories from QLD Health: https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/natural-disaster-recovery/
• NSW Department of Education: https://education.nsw.gov.au/early-childhood-education/working-in-early-childhood-education/bushfire-recovery

New beginnings for our SLM team's family

Our SLM team includes mothers who have supported their children to move into new life stages this year. One of our team members' child has begun attending an early childhood education and care centre, two team members' youngest children have started school this week, one has started high school and my youngest started work as a teacher (after finishing her university degree last year). Our family roles are important in understanding the research we do and the lives of our participants and their families.

20 year service milestone medal from Charles Sturt University

Today I received my 20 year service milestone medal from Charles Sturt University. I celebrated by wearing CSU orange - and thanking my colleagues with delicious "orange" peaches from a local orchard. The motto of CSU is "For the public good" and I have enjoyed collaborating with my colleagues and students to work towards this goal for the past 20 years.

20 year medals for Prof Sharynne McLeod, Dr Julie Lancaster and Dean Will Letts

Recipients of the 5, 10, 20 and 30 year service awards with Charles Sturt's writing desk and students' PhD theses behind

CSU colleagues: Dr Rahul Ganguly, A/Prof Alan Bain, Jessica Graham, Jenny Dwyer

Dean Will Letts with his 20 year award and Associate Dean Lucie Zundans

Continued interest in McLeod and Crowe (2018)

There continues to be interest on social media about the "new norms" from the McLeod and Crowe (2018) cross-linguistic review of speech acquisition, including the "SLPs for Evidence Based Practice" Facebook group and Children's Literacy and Speech Sound Lab (see below)

https://buff.ly/33Cn7Wq

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

Free graphics: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition 

First publication for the new decade

Blake, H. L., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2020). Intelligibility Enhancement Assessment and Intervention: A single-case experimental design with two multilingual university students. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 34(1-2), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2019.1608470

Intelligibility Enhancement Assessment and Intervention protocols are available as supplemental materials here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.1080/02699206.2019.1608470/suppl_file/iclp_a_1608470_sm6855.pdf

Abstract: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) may be approached by multilingual speakers wishing to improve their intelligibility in English. Intelligibility is an essential element of spoken language proficiency and is particularly important for multilingual international students given their need to express complex ideas in an additional language. Intelligibility Enhancement aims to improve the intelligibility and acceptability of consonants, vowels and prosody with multilingual speakers who are learning to speak English. This study aimed to describe the Intelligibility Enhancement Assessment and Intervention Protocols and determine whether the intervention changed multilingual university students’ English intelligibility. A multiple-baseline single-case experimental design was applied with direct inter-subject replication across two female participants whose home languages were Vietnamese and Putonghua (Mandarin). English intelligibility was assessed at multiple intervals pre, post and during intervention. The intervention protocol consisted of 11 weekly 1-h sessions with an SLP targeting English consonants, vowels and prosody. Following intervention, both participants displayed increased performance across most measures. For example, the Vietnamese participant’s percentage of consonants correct (PCC) increased from 62.5% to 85.0% in probe keywords. Effect sizes, when comparing baseline and withdrawal phases, were 5.5 for PCC, 4.6 for final consonants, 2.3 for consonant clusters and 1.6 for syllables indicating improvements in all variables measured. Her speech rate reduced, word stress increased in accuracy and she perceived less difficulty communicating in English. These promising results suggest further testing of the Intelligibility Enhancement Protocols is warranted to determine effectiveness as an intervention for multilingual speakers.

Sharing ideas with Prof Sheila Degotadi

I had a lovely time catching up with Prof Sheila Degotadi in Bathurst and sharing ideas about grants, journals, and international research across early childhood and speech pathology. Both Sheila and I have current Australian Research Council grants that include assessing young children's speech and language:

• VietSpeech:  
• https://www.csu.edu.au/research/vietspeech/overview
• Language for Learning - MQ TALK!: 
• https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/projects/language-for-learning-developing-learning-oriented-talk-in-long-d
• https://www.mq.edu.au/about/about-the-university/faculties-and-departments/faculty-of-human-sciences/departments-and-centres/department-of-educational-studies/our-research/mq-talk!-study

PhD nearing completion

Yesterday Nicole McGill met virtually with her supervisors (Sharynne and Suzanne Hopf in Australia and Kate Crowe in Iceland) to discuss the final draft of her PhD thesis. It was a meeting of congratulations and cheering onto the finish line. Only a small amount to go now. Well done Nicole.

Masters thesis supervison in Vietnam

Yesterday Dr Ben Pham and I met with Prof Lindy McAllister and others in Australia to be briefed on supervision of two students' theses within the Masters of Speech Language Therapy (MSLT) at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. This is part of the ongoing work of the Trinh Foundation to support the development of lecturers in Vietnam.

Intelligibility in Context Scale: Cross-linguistic use, validity, and reliability

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication in a special issue focusing on implementation science: McLeod, S. (2020, in press January). Intelligibility in Context Scale: Cross-linguistic use, validity, and reliability. Speech, Language and Hearing.
Here is the abstract:

The Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) is a free parent-report screening tool that has been translated into over 60 languages. To date, there is cross-linguistic evidence regarding its validity and reliability reported in 18 studies of over 4,235 children from 14 countries (Australia, Croatia, Fiji, Germany, Hong Kong SAR China, Italy, Korea, Jamaica, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Viet Nam) speaking 14 languages (Cantonese, Croatian, Dutch, English, Fijian (Standard or dialects), Fiji-Hindi, German, Italian, Jamaican Creole, Korean, Portuguese, Slovenian, Swedish, Vietnamese). Cross-linguistic research provides support for the use of the ICS as a primary screening tool for young children to identify which children require additional assessment. Additional research has been undertaken to determine its relevance during assessment and intervention as a descriptive tool and outcome measure for children (and some adults) with speech sound disorders, cleft lip and palate, hearing loss, and autism spectrum disorder. The review concludes with an exploration of cross-linguistic possibilities of the ICS within implementation science.

Waiting list management in speech-language pathology: Translating research to practice

The following manuscript has been accepted and forms part of Nicole McGill's PhD:
McGill, N., McLeod, S. (2020, in press January). Waiting list management in speech-language pathology: Translating research to practice. Speech, Language and Hearing. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2020.1716471
Here is the abstract:

Background: Many people with communication disorders wait for speech-language pathology services. Children may miss out on timely intervention and families may feel disempowered. Waiting list management poses a challenge for stakeholders, including children, parents, and speech-language pathologists (SLPs).
Aim: This paper aims to inform SLPs’ waiting list management by presenting a care pathway and example framework for planning, evaluating, and implementing waiting list management strategies. Method: This paper draws on literature and a programme of research involving: (1) submissions to an Australian Government Senate Inquiry (n = 133); (2) questionnaire responses about waiting lists from SLPs (n = 264); (3) design of an active waiting website based on feedback from members of the public (n = 119), focus groups (n = 16), and a review of existing sites (n = 25); and (4) a randomized controlled trial evaluating active versus passive waiting by children and families (n = 97).
Results: Studies 1 and 2 informed the development of a speech-language pathology care pathway, extending on findings from the literature, to promote holistic consideration of the duration and stages of waiting and support advocacy. Studies 3 and 4 were mapped onto Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to demonstrate a potential framework for planning, evaluating, and implementing waiting list management strategies in clinical settings.
Conclusion: Action is needed to address waiting lists in the absence of timely intervention. When managing waiting lists, professionals, governments, and policymakers are encouraged to consider the impact of waiting throughout the care pathway and adopt a systematic, planned approach when implementing solutions.

ASHA awards ceremony: Official photos

The official photos from our ASHA awards ceremony have just arrived. It was a very special night shared with very special people. Here is the CSU media release.

Dr Kate Crowe and Prof Sharynne McLeod receiving the AJSLP editor's award from Prof Mabel Rice

Sharynne and Kate

ASHA journal award winners

Prof Sharynne McLeod (CSU, Australia), Dr Karla Washington (US), Dr Kate Crowe (CSU and Iceland), Dr Thora Masdottir (Iceland), Dr Helen Blake (CSU and UTS Australia), Dr Michelle Brown (CSU, Australia)

Prof Lilly Cheng, Prof Sharynne McLeod, Dr Helen Blake, Prof Dolores Battle

Thank you to the SLM team for your support in 2019

Thank you so much to the following 20 people who have been part of the SLM team and have provided magnificent support throughout 2019

• Helen Blake - PhD student 
• Dr Michelle Brown - Postdoc 
• Anna Cronin - PhD student 
• Dr Kate Crowe - Research fellow 
• Dr Suzanne Hopf - Colleague
• Kylie Huynh - VietSpeech Research assistant 
• Kate Margetson - VietSpeech Project officer
• Dr Sarah Masso - Colleague 
• Holly McAlister - Honours student 
• A/Prof Jane McCormack - Colleague
• Nicole McGill - PhD student 
• Dr Ben Pham - Research fellow 
• Olivia Richards - StoryBabies Research assistant 
• Jake Sheader - Research assistant 
• Lily To - VietSpeech Research assistant 
• Dr Van Tran - PhD student 
• Dr Sarah Verdon - VietSpeech Co-investigator 
• Dr Cen (Audrey) Wang - VietSpeech Project officer

and special thanks to:

• Donna Bateup - SOTE Admin 
• David McLeod - Super supporter 
• and all of my colleagues across the world

Our work together means we have to trust each other in many ways as we grow to be better researchers, better people, and to create new knowledge that will benefit the world.

Finally, thanks to the Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University, NSW Health, and the Australian Research Council for funding our research in 2019.

2019 Christmas tree filled with memories from around the world

Fifth Intergenerational Transmission of Minority Languages Symposium

Last week the VietSpeech team presented two papers at the Fifth Intergenerational Transmission of Minority Languages Symposium (ITML5), an international online symposium accessible here: https://www.isd.su.se/english/itml5. The theme this year was "Language, Culture and Ethnicity in Indigenous and Migrant Languages" Our papers are available here:

• Vietnamese language use, proficiency, and intergenerational transmission in Australia - Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Verdon, Cen (Audrey) Wang and Van Tran (https://www.isd.su.se/english/itml5/presentations/vietnamese-language-use-proficiency-and-intergenerational-transmission-in-australia-1.466375) 
• Factors affecting Vietnamese-Australian children's language proficiency and use - Van Tran, Sharynne McLeod, Cen (Audrey) Wang and Sarah Verdon (https://www.isd.su.se/english/itml5/presentations/factors-affecting-vietnamese-australian-children-s-language-proficiency-and-use-1.466368)

There was another presentation about Vietnamese as well:

• Language negotiation in bilingual mother-child interactions: The case of a Vietnamese immigrant family in Singapore - Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh and Nguyen Thi Hanh (https://www.isd.su.se/english/itml5/presentations/language-negotiation-in-bilingual-mother-child-interactions-1.466350)

Book chapters currently in press

Over the past few weeks I have learned that the following book chapters are now in press:

1. McLeod, S., McCormack, J., & Blake, H. L. (2019, in press December). Communication, participation and cohort studies. In J. Law, S. Reilly & C. McKean (Eds.). Handbook of language development in a social context. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
2. McCormack, J. & McLeod, S. (2019, in press December). Classifying health and wellbeing: Applying the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health to early years learners. In S. Garvis & D. Pendergast (Eds). Health and wellbeing in childhood (3rd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.
3. McCormack, J. & McLeod, S. (2019, in press December). Communication development. In S. Garvis & D. Pendergast (Eds). Health and wellbeing in childhood (3rd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.
4. Baker, E., McCauley, R. J., Williams, A. L., & McLeod, S. (2019, in press November). Elements in phonological intervention: A comparison of three approaches using the Phonological Intervention Taxonomy. In E. Babatsouli & M. J. Ball (Eds.) On under-reported monolingual child phonology. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 

It has been a pleasure to work with my colleagues on these chapters.

World Health Organization International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) beta tester

I have volunteered to be a World Health Organization International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) beta tester and today we had our online briefing/training session from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Recently I finished a 2-stage review as a member of a Delphi panel for the World Health Organization Rehabilitation Competency Framework where there were many opportunities to provide a non-medical perspective about communication.

Many years ago, I provided feedback on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY) and my contribution is acknowledged in the opening pages. 

I believe it is important to provide insight from the perspective of a speech-language pathologist into  WHO's development of classification systems.

Congratulations Dr Blake!

Today Helen Blake graduated with her PhD.
Charles Sturt University published a media release about her success: An interesting career led to PhD for significant multilingual speech research

Dr Sarah Verdon and I are her proud supervisors.

More information about Dr Blake’s PhD research is here:

• https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2019/03/congratulations-helen-phd-submission.html 
• https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2019/11/congratulations-helen-on-your-phd.html 

Dr Helen Blake with her proud supervisors Dr Sarah Verdon and Prof Sharynne McLeod

Dr Helen Blake

Faculty of Arts and Education PhD graduates

Dr Helen Blake and her father are related to ex-CSU Vice Chancellor CD Blake

 

Congratulations Grear

Today Grear McAdam graduated with a Bachelor of Communications (Radio) from CSU. Grear has been our research assistant over many years - so it was wonderful to be there to congratulate her.

CSU Media: "Another international award for leading Charles Sturt researchers"

Thanks CSU Media for so eloquently celebrating this award with us:

• "Another international award for leading Charles Sturt researchers" https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/another-international-award-for-leading-charles-sturt-researchers

• The story was also featured in the Campus Review (4 Dec 2019): "The award-winning Charles Sturt paper that 'broke' the internet"
• Here is the impact of our paper and how it is being used around the world

Campus Review story: "The award-winning Charles Sturt paper that 'broke' the internet"