Studying typical Vietnamese speech acquisition in over 1000 children

Dr Ly Kha Nguyen is a phonetics and linguistics lecturer at Phạm Ngọc Thạch University and at the HCMC University of Education and Training. She has undertaken a study of typical Vietnamese speech acquisition in over 1000 children in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas. She has invited Ms Xuan and myself to work with her to analyse the data and work towards publishing the data in an English journal. We had many discussions about her research plans in 2011 - so it is extremely exciting to see that the data have now been collected and the first phase of analysis has been undertaken. On Thursday we spent four hours together discussing the data and writing the first draft of the article. With Ms Xuan's excellent interpreting skills it did not seem that Dr Ly Kha and I spoke different languages - and we were so engrossed in our conversation that we missed lunch! (Each day at the university there is a 2 hour lunch break from 11:30-1:30 where the students eat, then lay out their silk cloth on the ground and have a sleep. Typically that is when English-speaking staff have lunch and meetings). We have planned to keep working on the paper together next week. This paper will form a useful first step for working with children with speech sound disorders in Vietnam. These data will provide a preliminary benchmark for decision-making regarding children’s need for speech-language pathology services and for planning appropriate intervention goals.

Ms Xuan, Dr Ly Kha, and Sharynne

Learning about Vietnamese every chance I get

While in Việt Nam, I am trying to learn more about Vietnamese. It is a complex language with 6 tones (thanh) and different pronunciations of consonants depending on the region of Vietnam. For example, the letter "d"  is pronounced as /j/ in the south and /z/ in the north.
Some of the people I am learning from include:

• Dr Ly Kha, the linguistics lecturer from Ho Chi Minh University of Education and Training.
• Ms Xuan, a new graduate speech therapist who has been my co-teacher and interpreter for the two weeks.
• Dr Alison Winkworth (from Charles Sturt University) who is a director of the Trinh Foundation, and is in Vietnam for one month. Each day she attends language classes and then tells me about what she has learned that day.
• Mr Truc, our Vietnamese guide on the Mekong River - who happily chatted about the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that he had learned to enhance his pronunciation of French and English.

Mr Truc - our guide on the Mekong River who uses the IPA

Speech therapy students at Phạm Ngọc Thạch University

Students having fun during a tutorial as they practiced giving speech assessments
(one was the speech therapist, one was the child,
one was the transcriber, one was the teacher/advisor)

Sharynne and Ms Xuan with the speech therapy students at PNTU

The speech therapy students at Pham Ngoc Thach University are very dedicated to learning. They ask many questions, participate wholeheartedly in class discussions, and are committed to co-founding the speech therapy profession in Viet Nam with the first speech therapy graduates. Today we enjoyed discussing how to create and use speech assessments with different children. Ms Xuan (who is interpreting and assisting with teaching) has provided helpful advice and examples from her clinical practice.

Sharynne and Ms Xuan lecturing to the students

Teaching and learning at Pham Ngoc Thach University, Việt Nam

Over the next two weeks I am volunteering at Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University, in Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam. I am lecturing in their speech sound disorders class - as I did in 2011. Although I am their teacher, I am learning so much from the students, interpreters, and the new graduate speech therapists. I am very fortunate to have Ms Xuan as my interpreter and tutor for the two weeks. Ms Xuan was in the first cohort of speech therapy graduates in Vietnam - graduating in 2012. She visited me in Bathurst, and over the past two years has helped me to understand alot about the Vietnamese language and Vietnamese children. I am also very thankful to all I have learned from Dr Ly Kha Nguyen (Linguistics lecturer) in 2011 - my lectures are much better this year because of her help. Libby Brownlee (course coordinator), Caitlin Stewart (clinical coordinator) and Ms Thanh (interpreter) also have made me feel welcome and have been really helpful. I am also really pleased that Dr Alison Winkworth from Charles Sturt University, and a director of the Trinh Foundation, is in HCMC this week as well. We have worked together in different universities for over 20 years.

Sharynne at the entrance to PNTU

Sharynne, Ms Thanh, Libby Brownlee, Ms Xuan

Sharynne eating street food (bun) with Caitlin Stewart

Dr Alison Winkworth

Images of Việt Nam

Việt Nam is a vibrant and beautiful country. Here are a few contrastive images.

Motorbikes in Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam

Lotus flowers - Viet Nam's national flower

Cai Be floating markets - Mekong River

Rice paddies

March - May 2013 Summary

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL FUTURE FELLOWSHIP UPDATE ‘Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia’ Written by Kim Woodland, Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education for the May 2013 RIPPLE Update

Sharynne has continued working on her Future Fellowship, participating in CRN-related research, launching the ARC Sound Start study in March, and supervising PhD students.

Back in January, Sharynne travelled to Jamaica with Karla Washington from the University of Cincinnati to study Jamaican children’s speech and language acquisition. Karla and a team from the University of Cincinnati continued the data collection, and 60 children have now had their speech and language skills in Jamaican and English assessed. The researchers are now analysing the data, in readiness for presenting their findings later this year.

In April, Sharynne attended the first meeting of Speech Pathology Australia's Australian Strategic Advisory Group on the International Communication Project. The aim of the intern

ational group is to foreground communication and people with communication disability. To date, five international professional organisations are involved in the discussions, with a focus on hosting events in 2014 and beyond.

Sharynne has also co-authored a manuscript outlining the work of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech that met in Cork, Ireland in June 2012 and the resulting position paper.

McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Bowen, C., & the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech. (In press). International aspirations for speech-language pathologists’ practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders: Development of a position paper. Journal of Communication Disorders.

Her journal article publication record for 2013 already looks outstanding: to date she has 6 articles submitted, 6 in press, and 7 published.

For more information, please visit Sharynne’s blog: Speaking my languages.

2013 publications (so far)

I have been asked to submit summary of my 2013 research activity. It was interesting to see the ratio for my journal articles: 6 submitted: 6 in press: 7 published.

SUBMITTED (under review)

1.   Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Winsler, A. (submitted). Language diversity, use, maintenance, and loss in a population study of young Australian children.

2.   McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Bennetts Kneebone, L. (submitted). Celebrating Indigenous Australian children’s speech and language competence.

3.   Washington, K., Thomas-Stonell, N., Oddson, B., McLeod, S., Warr-Leeper, G., & Robertson, B., & Rosenbaum, P. (submitted). Predictors and outcomes of communicative participation for preschoolers with speech-language impairments with and without concomitant mobility impairments.

4.   McLeod, S., McAllister, L., McCormack, J. & Harrison, L. J. (submitted). Applying the World Report on Disability to Australian children with communication disability.

5.   Crowe, K., McLeod, S., McKinnon, D. H., & Ching, T. Y. C. (submitted). Speech or sign: Factors influencing caregiver choice for children with hearing loss.

6.   To, C. K. -S., Cheung, P. S. -P., & McLeod, S. (submitted). Phonetic variations and sound changes in Hong Kong Cantonese and implications for speech sound assessment.

IN PRESS

1.   McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Bowen, C., and the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech (2013, in press April). International aspirations for speech-language pathologists’ practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders: Development of a position paper. Journal of Communication Disorders.

2.   Crowe, K., Fordham, L., McLeod, S., & Ching, T. Y. C. (2013, in press February). “Part of our world”: Influences on caregiver decisions about communication choices for children with hearing loss. Deafness and Education International.

3.   Washington, K. Thomas-Stonell, N., Oddson, B., McLeod, S., Warr-Leeper, G., & Robertson, B., & Rosenbaum, P. (2013, in press January). Construct validity of the FOCUS© (Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six): A functional communication outcome measure for preschool children. Child: Care, Health and Development (Special Issue on Participation)

4.    Lockart, R. & McLeod, S. (2012, in press December). Factors that enhance English-speaking speech-language pathologists’ transcription of Cantonese-speaking children’s consonants. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology

5.   McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., McAllister, L. & McCormack. J. (2012, in press December). Speech sound disorders in a community study of preschool children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

6.   Crowe, K. & McLeod, S. (in press, December, 2012). A systematic review of cross-linguistic and multilingual speech and language outcomes for children with hearing loss. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

PUBLISHED

1.    To, C. K. S., Cheung, P. S. P., & McLeod, S. (2013). The impact of extrinsic demographic factors on Cantonese speech acquisition. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 27(5), 323-338. doi:10.3109/02699206.2013.763385

2.   To, C. K. -S., Cheung, P. S. -P., & McLeod, S. (2013). A population study of children's acquisition of Hong Kong Cantonese consonants, vowels, and tones. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 56(1), 103-122. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/11-0080)

3.   Limbrick, N., McCormack, J., & McLeod, S. (2013). Designs and decisions: The creation of informal measures for assessing speech production in children. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(3), 296-311.

4.  Crowe, K., McKinnon, D. H., McLeod, S., & Ching, T. Y. C. (2013). Multilingual children with hearing loss: Factors contributing to language use at home and in early education. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 29(1), 103-121. doi: 10.1177/0265659012467640.

5.  Wren, Y., McLeod, S., White, P., Miller, L. & Roulstone, S. (2013). Speech characteristics of 8-year-old children with speech difficulties: Findings from a prospective population study. Journal of Communication Disorders, 46(1), 53-69. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.008

6.  McLeod, S., Daniel, G., & Barr, J. (2013). “When he's around his brothers … he's not so quiet”: The private and public worlds of school-aged children with speech sound disorder. Journal of Communication Disorders, 46(1), 70-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.006

7.  Hambly, H., Wren, Y., McLeod, S., & Roulstone, S. (2013). The influence of bilingualism on speech production: A systematic review. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 48(1), 1-24. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-6984.2012.00178.x

Congratulations Nicole!

Nicole Limbrick recently completed her honours degree in speech pathology. Jane McCormack and I were fortunate to be her supervisors. A journal article based on Nicole's honours thesis has recently been published

Limbrick, N., McCormack, J., & McLeod, S. (2013). Designs and decisions: The creation of informal measures for assessing speech production in children. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(3), 296-311.

In addition Nicole will present her findings at the upcoming Speech Pathology Australia conference in June, and she presented a paper at last years' conference as well.

Here is a list of the additional awards she has received over the past 2 years

• 2012 - Speech Pathology Australia Student Award for outstanding academic and clinical performance within the Bachelor of Health Science (Speech Pathology) program at Charles Sturt University
• 2012 - Dean’s Awards for Academic Excellence recipient (Semester 1 and 2)
• 2012 - Inaugural Three Minute Thesis Competition Winner at Charles Sturt University Albury
• 2012 - Charles Sturt University Honours Operating Grant recipient 
• 2011 - Charles Sturt University Honours Scholarship recipient

Congratulations Nicole!

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

Today is the United Nations' World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. Here are the aims for 2013

• "To raise awareness worldwide about the importance of intercultural dialogue, diversity and inclusion.
• To build a world community of individuals committed to support diversity with real and every day-life gestures.
• To combat polarization and stereotypes to improve understanding and cooperation among people from different cultures."

More information is available here.
UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001.

Congratulations Jane!

Today Jane McCormack was awarded second place in the Pursuit Awards for PhDs in the field of child disability research. There were 19 applications in total from the US, Hong Kong, Canada, and Australia.
See previous blog post for details. Congratulations Jane!

Pursuit Award prize winners

Dr Karla Washington congratulating Dr Jane McCormack

Dr Jane McCormack with Dr Tom Chau,
Vice President, Research - Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

The importance of international travel and multicultural friendships

Statement 4 of the Multilingual Children’s Speech Position Paper says‘‘SLPs aspire to develop rich partnerships with families, communities, interpreters, and other health and education professionals to promote strong and supportive communicative environments’’ (International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, 2012, p. 2).

Within my 4-year Australian Research Council Future Fellowship I have been provided with funds to travel around the world and cultivate multicultural collaborations and friendships. This travel has enabled me to "develop rich partnerships". The importance of this was highlighted to me as I read the page proofs of our recent manuscript to be published in the Journal of Communication Disorders. Page 9 of the page proofs states

"The importance of collaborative partnerships with families and communities was identified repeatedly. For example, an online panel member wrote ‘‘Our experience ... is that students need to TALK with people of other cultures and not just attend cultural events’’. There was emphasis placed upon a genuine appreciation of cultural viewpoints and valuing the contribution of diverse cultural attitudes rather than tokenistic inclusion of cultural elements. Subsequently, position statement 4 was included ..." (McLeod, Verdon, Bowen, International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children's Speech, 2013)

 I am very grateful for the funds to enable me to visit and work with so many people in so many different countries over the past 4 years.

Review of Multilingual Aspects of Speech Sound Disorders in Children

A review of our book “Multilingual Aspects of Speech Sound Disorders in Children” has been published in The Phonetician, Volume 105-106 (2012 I/II), pp. 121-124. The review was written by Judith Rosenhouse from Israel who wrote: 

"...The numerous chapters of the book present much more information than expected about the linguistic and practical problems in treating multilingual children with speech sound disorders and the possible outcomes of various linguistic interactions. Yet this is the tip of the iceberg, as the authors write, because many questions remain un-answered and unresolved, and lack of knowledge or missing research tools, assessment and treatment are noted in almost every chapter. Thus, the principal readers of this book would be practitioners in speech-language pathology, therapist, logopedists, etc. But this volume is not less important for students and researchers interested in linguistics, phonetics and/or phonology who will find here a host of interesting facts and topics for further study." (pp. 123-124)

A previous blog post containing details of the book is here

Time out with my family

Over the past few weeks I have taken long-service leave to spend time with my family. Most of the time time I did not have internet access, and I decided not to take my computer (!) It was great to take time out from work, and I am very thankful to my students and colleagues for enabling me to take a break.

My daughter has been learning Japanese at school, so I went on a high school trip to Japan for 13 days. We had a fantastic time visiting schools and significant sites across Japan, practicing Japanese, and most importantly learning about Japan and Japanese culture from local students, teachers, and many others. The photo below is of our welcome from the Ōkuma community who have been relocated to Aizu since the earthquakes, tsumani and nuclear disaster in 2011. You can read about our links with the Ōkuma community on previous blog postings here, here, and here.

 After my trip to Japan we drove across Australia to hear my son performing at a national jazz festival that also featured Gordon Goodwin and the Big Phat Band from LA. Many  posts on my blog show that I am proud of my students, but I thought this blog may show readers I am very proud of my family as well.

International aspirations for speech-language pathologists’ practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders: Development of a position paper

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication:

McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Bowen, C. & the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech (in press). International aspirations for speech-language pathologists’ practice with multilingual children with speech sound disorders: Development of a position paper. Journal of Communication Disorders.

The paper outlines the work of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech that met in Cork, Ireland in June 2012, and the resulting position paper. The position paper can be found at: http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/position-paper

Here is the abstract:

A major challenge for the speech-language pathology profession in many cultures is to address the mismatch between the “linguistic homogeneity of the speech-language pathology profession and the linguistic diversity of its clientele” (Caesar & Kohler, 2007, p. 198). This paper outlines the development of the Multilingual Children with Speech Sound Disorders: Position Paper created to guide speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs’) facilitation of multilingual children’s speech. An international expert panel was assembled comprising 57 researchers (SLPs, linguists, phoneticians, and speech scientists) with knowledge about multilingual children’s speech, or children with speech sound disorders. Combined, they had worked in 33 countries and used 26 languages in professional practice. Fourteen panel members met for a one-day workshop to identify key points for inclusion in the position paper. Subsequently, 42 additional panel members participated online to contribute to drafts of the position paper. A thematic analysis was undertaken of the major areas of discussion using two data sources: (a) face-to-face workshop transcript (133 pages) and (b) online discussion artifacts (104 pages). The following themes were identified: definitions, scope, framework, evidence, challenges, practices, and consideration of a multilingual audience. Finally, a moderator with international expertise in working with children with speech sound disorders facilitated the incorporation of the panel’s recommendations. The resulting position paper contains guidelines for providing services to multilingual children with speech sound disorders (http://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/position-paper). The paper is structured using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Children and Youth Version (World Health Organization, 2007) and incorporates recommendations for (a) children and families, (b) SLPs’ assessment and intervention, (c) SLPs’ professional practice, and (d) SLPs’ collaboration with other professionals.

Peer reviewing: Hot of the press

Recently I have had the interesting task of reviewing grant applications for the Australian Research Council and abstracts for the 29th World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics to be held in Turin, Italy. Additionally, I review many papers as editor of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Throughout Australia and the world there are many innovative people who are working to change the lives of people with communication disabilities. It is a privilege to be one of the first people to read about new research before it is hot off the press.

The Sound of Speech: Speech Pathology Australia facts sheets

Speech Pathology Australia has launched two new facts sheets here:

• The Sound of Speech: 0-3 years
• The Sound of Speech: Preschool and school aged children

Jane McCormack and I were invited to write these fact sheets some time ago, and the published versions have been amended and ratified by National Council.

International Communication Project

Today I attended the first meeting of Speech Pathology Australia's  Australian Strategic Advisory Group on the International Communication Project. The aim of the international group is to foreground communication and people with communication disability. To date 5 international professional organizations are involved in the discussions, with a focus on hosting events in 2014 and beyond.

Seminar: Supervision of distance, remote, and part-time higher degree research students

This morning Kate Crowe and I presented a 1.5 hour seminar in the Charles Sturt University Higher Degree by Research Supervisor Series. It was titled: “Supervision of distance, remote, and part-time higher degree research students” and it was described as follows: “Interact with other HDR supervisors and share and build your own knowledge and understanding of how to effectively supervise distance, remote and part-time HDR candidates. This workshop will include a presentation from a experienced HDR supervisors, as well as group sharing and discussion.” There were participants from CSU and other universities - and hearing first hand from Kate as a recent distance PhD student made the session very real.

International finalist for PhD in childhood disability research

This morning Jane McCormack received a letter from Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto Canada to say that she has been selected as one of three finalists in the 2013 Pursuit Award competition in childhood disability research. This is an international competition for recent PhD graduates who have completed their PhDs in the area of childhood disability research.The 2012 winners are here. They indicated that they received a "strong cast of nominations from around the world" so it is exciting to see that Jane is a finalist. They will fly her to Canada in May to present a paper, and each of the finalist receives a cash award as well. Congratulations Jane!
Here are the details of Jane's PhD.

PhD students in 2013

I am very fortunate to be working with a group of outstanding PhD scholars this year:

Sarah Verdon (co-supervised with Sandie Wong) 
Topic: Providing equitable and quality services for multilingual children with speech sound disorders

Suzanne Hopf (co-supervised with Sarah McDonagh) 
Topic: An analysis of speech sound acquisition patterns in simultaneous and sequential learners of Fijian English

Sarah Masso (co-supervised with Elise Baker and Jane McCormack) 
Topic: A Sound Start: innovative technology to promote speech and pre-literacy skills in academically at-risk preschoolers

Jacqui Barr (co-supervised with Graham Daniel)
Topic: “I’m not like most other kids”: Sibling experiences of disability and implications for education

Kate Crowe: Submitted 2013 (co-supervised with David McKinnon, Loraine Fordham, Teresa Ching) 
Topic: Multilingual children with hearing loss: Communication and choice

Most of us were able to meet in Bathurst this week either in person or by Skype (my students are scattered across NSW and the Pacific). It was good to enable the team to get to know one another personally and professionally. For Sarah Masso, this was her first visit to Bathurst and her visit included a tour of the town and campus. CSU offers PhD studies by distance education, a model that works successfully and is used by most of my students. Kate Crowe is living proof that such a model works as she submitted her PhD in February, a month ago, one month ahead of schedule.

Kate Crowe, Sarah Masso, Sharynne McLeod, Hannah Wilkin (Honours), Sarah Verdon

Sarah Masso's first visit to Bathurst as a PhD student included a tour of the town

Dr Sarah McDonagh, Kate Crowe, Suzanne Hopf (on Skype), Sarah Masso, Sarah Verdon