Two internationally renowned linguists from the United Kingdom will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) this week to talk with staff, students, local teachers and health professionals about advances in understanding speech and communication difficulties.
The visit from Associate Professor Sara Howard and Professor Mick Perkins from The University of Sheffield, England is an opportunity to hear from world leaders in communication disorders.
Professor Howard’s work focuses on children with speech difficulties, including those with cleft palate. Few speech pathologists work in the field of cleft palate in Australia. Professor Perkins’ research has looked at how conditions such as brain injury, developmental language disorder and autism impact not only on the communication of the individuals affected but also on those who interact with them in everyday life.
The two visiting academics will be involved in a one day program of seminars and public lectures to be held on Wednesday 7 April at CSU in Bathurst which brings together staff and students from CSU and practicing professionals from the education, psychology, linguistics and speech pathology fields.
The program also includes:
- Ben Bradley, Foundation Professor of Psychology at CSU whose early research interests were in the foundations of human communication, especially what infants bring to their communication with others and whose current work is on the developmental origins of group mind, through the observation of babies in all-infant groups;
- David Fryer, Professor of Community Critical Psychology at CSU, Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa and President of the European Community Psychology Association whose current work involves disability, therapeutic and human sciences approaches from the standpoint of critical theory;
- Sharynne McLeod, Professor of Speech and Language Acquisition at CSU, member of CSU’s Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education, whose research explores children’s ability to communicate through verbal and non-verbal methods such as speech and body language and investigates how fundamental that is to their development and impacts on their educational outcomes.
“This is a unique gathering as we are bringing together people from a range of disciplines to explore speech and language difficulties from a wide variety of perspectives. The value in this approach is that tackling problems from different perspectives will assist in promoting the best outcomes for individuals with communication problems,” Professor McLeod said.
Social
Explore the world of social