Contributing to the peer review process is important. I am frequently asked to undertake peer reviews and say yes as often as I can - and when I have appropriate expertise. This week I have completed peer reviews for the 2022 Speech Pathology Australia National Conference and will finalise reviews for the following journals: Journal of Communication Disorders and Speech, Language and Hearing.
September 30, 2021
Peer reviewing
Planning our next research
What a joy to spend time with colleagues from our Speech-Language-Multilingualism team to plan our next research project.
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| Dr Kate Crowe (Iceland), Sharynne, A/Prof Jane McCormack (Sydney), Dr Sarah Masso (Germany) |
September 29, 2021
Eureka Prize finalists
Congratulations to A/Prof Lena Danaia and A/Prof Amy MacDonald and their Little Scientists Australia team who are finalists in the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources Eureka Prize for STEM Inclusion. We are crossing our fingers that they are the winners; but what a HUGE accomplishment to be a finalist! https://australian.museum/get-involved/eureka-prizes/2021-eureka-prizes-finalists/
Here is their video profiling their work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juKCGYWOrlo
PhD by Prior Publication and Editors' Awards presented at CSU Faculty Forum
Marie Ireland is a PhD by Prior Publication student who is enrolled at Charles Sturt University for 1 year to complete her PhD. Of the 13 publications reviewed for her admission, one publication has just won an editors’ award: "Evaluating children in U.S. public schools with speech sound disorders: Considering federal and state laws, guidance" and this research was authored with Sharynne McLeod, Kate Crowe and Kelly Farquharson.
Today Marie Ireland was invited to describe her work at the CSU Faculty of Arts and Education Forum. It was the middle of the night - so Marie recorded her 3 minute presentation. Here is a link to Marie explaining this article and her research: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YCSP2QIktzMub-2rcq6qbG8Sdbs1zMnW/view
The full citation for this article is:
Ireland, M., McLeod, S., Farquharson, K., & Crowe, K. (2020). Evaluating children in U.S. public schools with speech sound disorders: Considering federal and state laws, guidance, and research. Topics in Language Disorders, 40(4), 326-340. https://doi.org/10.1097/TLD.0000000000000226
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| A screenshot from Marie's presentation |
After Marie's presentation one of our colleagues from FOAE emailed me to say
"I just want to congratulate you and your team for always outstanding research and collegiality. It is always so inspiring and I love that you want to make a difference in young children’s lives, especially the ones who need extra support to play and learn."
Marie also received this email from Professor John McDonald, Executive Dean
"Hi Marie,Thank you for taking the time to produce a video presentation at today’s Faculty Forum. Congratulations on the award. You are doing truly important research and it is wonderful to know that you are working with Sharynne who continues to inspire and mentor our researchers. I appreciated your reflection about doing research that makes a difference. Follow your heart. Everything flows from that.Best wishes for the remainder of your doctoral candidature. Regards, John"
September 28, 2021
SPA Position Paper and Clinical Guidelines: Working in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Society
Today was the next working party meeting in the Speech Pathology Australia Position Paper and Clinical Guidelines: Working in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Society. Dr Sarah Verdon has been leading this work. SPA is pleased with the work of the committee. The penultimate draft will head to SPA by the end of this year.
September 23, 2021
Reading with 1-2 year olds impacts later academic achievement at 8-11 years
Congratulations to Michelle Brown who has had her important paper accepted for publication:
Brown, M. I., Wang, C., & McLeod, S. (in press). Reading with 1-2 year olds impacts later academic achievement at 8-11 years. Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
Here is the abstract:
Parent-child book reading with infants is widely recommended and considered one of the most effective parent-child activities for promoting language and literacy development; however, there is limited evidence that reading books with infants (1-2 years) strengthens later literacy skills. The present study examined the long-term impact of parent-child book reading at 1-2 years with literacy, language, and numeracy skills at 8-11 years. Participants were 3,547 infants and their caregivers from a nationally representative study. The number of minutes caregivers reported reading books with their infants (1-2 year) were examined with literacy, language, and numeracy skills on a national assessment program in Grades 3 (8-9 years) and 5 (10-11 years). Covariates included sex, age, race, language background, socioeconomic position, and cognition. Small and positive relationships were found between parent-child book reading at 1-2 years and reading, spelling, grammar, and numeracy scores in Grade 3 (8-9 years) and reading, writing, spelling, and grammar scores in Grade 5 (10-11 years). Infants (1-2 years) whose parents read with them for 11 mins or more per day had stronger reading, spelling, and grammar skills in Grades 3 and 5.
Highlights
- Long-term benefits from parent-child book reading with 1-2 year olds was examined
- 3547 infants and their parents from a nationally representative study participated
- Book reading predicted reading, spelling, grammar, and numeracy skills at Grade 3
- Book reading predicted reading, writing, spelling, and grammar skills at Grade 5
- Higher levels of book reading each day supported long-term literacy development
Michelle undertook this study with Audrey and myself during her postdoc. Congratulations Michelle!
Speech Pathology Australia course based on Dr Nicole McGill's research
Congratulations to Dr Nicole McGill who has worked with Speech Pathology Australia to create a 3-hour online professional development course that will increase the impact and uptake of her research:
Dr Nicole McGill: Waiting list management in speech pathology https://learninghub.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/speechpathologyaust/1706-waiting-list-management-in-speech-pathology
Program Overview This online learning program provides an overview of waiting lists and strategies used in waiting list management. This program introduces a systematic and holistic approach to waiting list management involving mapping of care pathways. Considerations for the selection and evaluation of waiting list management strategies will be discussed for application in clinical practice.
Learning objectives Upon successful completion of the program, participants will be able to
- identify key characteristics and consequences of waiting lists in speech pathology,
- map care pathways within the workplace,
- review waiting list management strategies with reference to four sources of evidence,
- identify methods for rigorously evaluating a waiting list management strategy in the workplace.
September 22, 2021
IALP Child Speech Committee Meeting
Tonight (9pm for me to accommodate everyone's time zones) we held the Child Spech Committee Meeting chaired by Yvonne Wren (UK) (I am the deputy chair of the committee). We discussed the upcoming panel series titled "What's in a name" and the next panel series based on Speech Sound Disorders and Multilingualism. There will be a special issue of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders on Terminology in Speech Sound Disorders following on from these Panels. We also discussed the three chapters our committee has contributed to the book for the Task for on Underservcd and Unserved Populations, the 2023 Conference to be held in New Zealand and the Centenary Year of IALP in 2024.
IALP Child Speech Committee Members are:
- Yvonne Wren (UK): Chair
- Sharynne McLeod (Australia): Deputy Chair
- Carol To: Hong Kong SAR China
- Thora Masdottir: Iceland
- Michelle Pascoe: South Africa
- Aileen Wright: Ireland
- Helen Grech: Malta
- Annette Fox-Boyer: Germany
- Susan Rvachew: Canada
- Ben Pham: Vietnam
- Sarah Verdon: Australia
September 21, 2021
Happy Mid Autumn Festival
Today Audrey Wang and I had the day off - and celebrated birthdays and Mid Autumn Festival.
September 20, 2021
Celebrating our Editor's Award for Topics in Language Disorders
We have just celebrated our Editor's Award for Topics in Language Disorders. The four authors were located across the globe so we met on Friday night (9pm my time to accommodate everyone's time zones).
Here is our award winning paper:
Ireland, M., McLeod, S., Farquharson, K., & Crowe, K. (2020). Evaluating children in U.S. public schools with speech sound disorders: Considering federal and state laws, guidance, and research. Topics in Language Disorders, 40(4), 326–340. https://doi.org/10.1097/tld.0000000000000226
The award is named for Katharine G. Butler who was the Founding Editor of Topics in Language Disorders. This article about her life is inspirational:
Nelson, N. W. (2019). In Memoriam: Saga of a Trailblazer: Katharine G. Butler Founding Editor: Topics in Language Disorders: March 15, 1925–June 17, 2019. Topics in Language Disorders, 39(4), 343-347. https://doi.org/10.1097/tld.0000000000000201
What an honour to recieve this award.
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| Kelly Farquharson, Marie Ireland, Kate Crowe, Sharynne |
September 19, 2021
Research Impact: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has adopted our research. They thanked the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) for allowing them to "adapt portions of their resource guide for Wisconsin".
Here is an example where they use our work:
Developmental Scales Developmental scales include information about typical speech and language development; the student’s skills are compared to the expected age of acquisition of skills (see ASHA’s Typical Speech and Language Development-resource for parents). Crowe and McLeod 2020 norms can be used to highlight sounds the student has mastered and has not mastered in consideration of a Speech or Language Impairment. See also Wisconsin Articulation Speech Development Infographic. (p. 8) (also see pp. 4-5)
Recent research (Hustad et al. 2020; McLeod et al. 2015; McLeod 2020) acknowledges that intelligibility varies by context (e.g., familiarity of listeners, word or discourse level, amount of background noise) and therefore intelligibility ratings must be interpreted with caution given the these variables. It is beneficial to obtain more than one sample in more than one context and to consider intelligibility within the context of other assessment activities conducted when considering a Speech or Language Impairment. (pp. 9-10, also see p. 11).
Here are the links that reference our work:
- https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-assessment-speech-sound-prod.pdf
- https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-sound-development-chart.pdf
- https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-articulation-infographic.pdf
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| https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-sound-development-chart.pdf |
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| https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-articulation-infographic.pdf |
Here are the papers that they are citing:
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/doi:10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00168
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
McLeod, S., Crowe, K., & Shahaeian, A. (2015). Intelligibility in Context Scale: Normative and validation data for English-speaking preschoolers. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 46(3), 266–276. https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_LSHSS-14-0120
September 17, 2021
Keynote invitation for 2nd International Conference on Innovation in Learning Instruction and Teacher Education
Today I have been invited to be a keynote speaker at the 2nd International Conference on Innovation in Learning Instruction
and Teacher Education at the Hanoi National University of Education, Viet Nam. The theme of the conference is: Innovation for sustainable education in the changing context. The conference will be held on 11-12 December 2021 and is sponsored by UNESCO, World Bank Vietnam and a number of other organizations across the world.
The Conference aims to creating an international forum for international scholars, educators and policy-makers to share theoretical and practical research on the sustainable development of education; innovations in school models and governance, teaching content, techniques, methods and assessment (at all levels); and reform of teacher education and training in the changing contexts, especially the global pandemic and the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. In doing so, the Conference is expected to provide valuable scientific evidence and insights for policymaking and school/university teaching, as well as for teacher education, towards sustainable and stable development of education; and contribute to the achievement of the 2030 New Agenda goal of ensuring quality, equitable, and inclusive education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Thank you. I am honoured to be invited and look forward to this opportunity.
Which speech sound norms are used in US public schools?
I have just had the opportunity to read a preprint copy of the following manuscript that will be published in Seminars in Speech and Language soon:
Farquharson, K., & Stevenson, K. L. (2021). Which speech sound norms are used in US public schools? A retrospective survey analysis. Seminars in Speech and Language.
Here is the abstract:
Speech sound acquisition normative data are widely and heavily used in the United States (US) to determine eligibility for services. Normative studies differ in the age and geographic location of participants, which can limit applicability across the US. In 2016, we queried school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the US using a web-based survey, to determine which speech sound norms are used. All 9 regions from the US census were represented. The Iowa-Nebraska norms were most commonly reported. However, many SLPs were unable to name the source of the data that they used. Over 60% of the sample indicated that they referred to one source of normative data. Results of a logistic regression indicated that region of the US predicted if SLPs used one or multiple sources. Specifically, SLPs in the West North Central region of the US (which includes Iowa and Nebraska) were more likely to use only one source of data, the Iowa-Nebraska norms. We recommend that speech sound norms are less heavily relied upon for eligibility decisions, particularly due to the substantial variations in culture and dialect throughout the various regions of the US.
The opening paragraph shows the impact of our recent review paper about children's speech acquisition:
In 2018, the McLeod and Crowe article on speech sound acquisition “broke the internet”1. Although the article did not include new data, it did include an important reexamination of how speech sounds are acquired. This raised many questions for practicing clinicians regarding the age at which they should consider treating certain sounds. As a part of that broad discussion, it became evident that clinicians may be placing too much clinical weight on speech sound normative data for making eligibility decisions, and that speech sound normative data was being used for diagnostic purposes2. In the past three years, there has been substantial discussion regarding the use of speech sound normative data (henceforth: speech sound norms), particularly in school-based settings...
I look forward to the continued "substantial discussion regarding the use of speech sound normative data" once this paper is published.
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
September 15, 2021
Two new articles have been published today in Vietnam
Two new articles have been published today in Vietnam. These articles were written by our masters' students, supervised by Dr Ben Phạm and myself. Congratulations Hang and Van!
2. Pham Thi Van, Phạm, B., McLeod, S., & Vo Nguyen Trung (2021). Tổng quan các tiêu chuẩn chẩn đoán rối loạn âm lời nói ở trẻ em [Review of diagnostic criteria for speech sound disorders in children]. Tạp chí Khoa học trường Đại học Sư phạm Hà Nội: Khoa học Giáo dục [HNUE Journal of Science: Educational Sciences], 66(4AB), 82-97. doi: 10.18173/2354-1075.2021-0063.
Congratulations!
September 14, 2021
Royal Society of NSW launched its Western NSW branch
The Royal Society of NSW inaugurated its Western NSW branch today. It was a pleasure to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW and to have been introduced to other members at this meeting.
“The Royal Society of NSW is the oldest learned society in Australia and is celebrating its bicentennial year. The Society encourages ‘... studies and investigations in Science, Art, Literature and Philosophy’, and sponsors lectures by internationally leading figures, and debates. The Governor of NSW is the patron, and the Society supports regular ‘events@thehouse’ and an annual forum at Government House.”
I was very pleased to see that the linguist Professor David Nash is a committee member of the Western NSW branch and that Professor Stan Grant will be presenting the inaugural lecture on 19 October.
There were 22 people present and there are 25 members currently in the Western NSW branch.
September 13, 2021
Translations
I work with people across the world. I am so pleased that so many people can use English and help me to understand their language and culture. We spend a lot of time on translating content, culture, and language. Mostly it works well. Sometimes it takes a while.
I am not completely sure of the intent of these sentences - but I know that we still have more work to do!
"Characterized by speech errors related to the deformation of the modal pattern: rubbing, clogging"
"Table 11. Percentage of children spoke a mean first word". Does "mean" = unkind, average, mean(ingful), ?
September 10, 2021
Reviewers' feedback: Communication rights moderated through hierarchies of disability and childhood
We have just received reviews of our chapter titled "Communication rights moderated through hierarchies of disability and childhood" which we submitted in May to "Hierarchies of Disability Human Rights" edited by Stephen Meyers, Megan McCloskey and Gabor Petri for the Interdisciplinary Disability Studies Book Series to be published by Routledge Press, NY.
While there were a few minor recommended changes we were thrilled with their overall summaries of our chapter:
Reviewer 1: "This is an important and well-written chapter. It clearly established the international legal framework for the right to education, describes barriers to that right, and provides a case study on children with disabilities’ right to education in Australia..."
Reviewer 2: "This is a well-written chapter that readers will find fascinating. Communication rights seem to be somewhat hidden in disability human rights discussion, therefore this chapter will be a valuable addition to our edited volume..."
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| Jess McLeod and Sharynne |
September 9, 2021
Sturt Scheme Team: Early Childhood Services
I am thrilled to be part of the Sturt Scheme Team focussing on Early Childhood Services. We met today to plan the next phase of our collaboration.
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| Tamara Cumming, Sharynne, Julian Grant, Sarah Verdon |
Keynote address to the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland Virtual Conference
The Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland Virtual Conference is being held on 9-10 September 2021 https://cfsgbi21.online/. It is a pleasure to be invited to present at the 2021 virtual conference whose theme is "Making a Difference". There were 163 people online during my keynote address.
Originally, I was invited to present the keynote address in Cardiff Wales in April 2020. However, the 2020 conference was postponed due to COVID restrictions.
My 2021 presentation is titled: "Making a difference to children's ability to communicate and participate" and profiles my work of Dr Anna Cronin, Dr Sarah Verdon and Dr Yvonne Wren and colleagues:
- Cronin, A., Verdon, S., & McLeod, S. (2021). Persistence, strength, isolation and trauma: An ethnographic exploration of raising children with cleft palate. Journal of Communication Disorders, 106102. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106102
- Cronin, A., Verdon, S., & McLeod, S. (2020). Working with toddlers with cleft palate: Learning from clients and families Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology, 22(2), 101–107. https://speechpathologyaustralia.cld.bz/JCPSLP-Vol-22-No-2-2020/30/
- Cronin, A., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2020). Holistic communication assessment for young children with cleft palate using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health:Children and Youth. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51(4), 914–938. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-19-00122
- Cronin, A., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2020). Applying the ICF-CY to specialist speech-language pathologists’ practice with toddlers with cleft palate speech. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, 57(9), 1105–1116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1055665620918799
- Seifert, M., Davies, A., Harding, S., McLeod, S., & Wren, Y. (2021). Intelligibility in 3-year-olds with cleft lip and/or palate using the Intelligibility in Context Scale: Findings from the Cleft Collective Cohort Study. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/1055665620985747
Topics in Language Disorders (TLD) Editors’ Katharine G. Butler Trailblazer Award
Today we received the following email that our article has won the Topics in Language Disorders (TLD) Editors’ Katharine G. Butler Trailblazer Award.
Ireland, M., McLeod, S., Farquharson, K., & Crowe, K. (2020). Evaluating children in U.S. public schools with speech sound disorders: Considering federal and state laws, guidance, and research. Topics in Language Disorders, 40(4), 326-340. https://doi.org/10.1097/tld.0000000000000226
Dear colleagues, Congratulations!! Your article, “Evaluating Children in U.S. Public Schools With Speech Sound Disorders: Considering Federal and State Laws, Guidance, and Research” earned the TLD Editors’ Katharine G. Butler Trailblazer Award.
Your article was nominated and reviewed by members of the editorial board based on the following criteria:Best wishes, Sarah and Gary
- Trailblazing in its scope, aims, methodology, or other aspect in a way that triggers readers to think differently about a topic;
- Represents valued interdisciplinary and/or international collaboration;
- Raises awareness of language as an aspect of communication that extends across the age-span and/or across varied populations of children or adults with language disorders; and
- Solid in technical aspects as appropriate for the article type.
Sarah E. Wallace, PhD, CCC-SLP, ASHA-Fellow University of Pittsburgh
Here is some interesting background information
- This article was the catalyst for Marie Ireland's enrolment in the PhD by Prior Publication at CSU. Marie has already won an editors' award for another article in an ASHA journal.
- Kate Crowe, an Adjunct at CSU is also an author. I have only won 4 editors’ awards in my career – and each one has been co-authored with Kate.
- Topics in Language Disorders is a Q1 journal in SciMago Journal Rank: https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=23289&tip=sid&clean=0
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