• A leading Charles Sturt University academic and researcher has received the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) ‘Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement’
• The award recognises ‘distinguished achievements and significant contributions in the area of communication disorders revealing great international impact from their work’
• Recipient Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod has demonstrated exemplary dedication and leadership in this field

A leading Charles Sturt University academic and researcher has received international recognition at the annual convention of the peak US professional body for audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language and hearing scientists.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) award was bestowed on Distinguished Professor of Speech and Language Acquisition Sharynne McLeod (pictured left with her husband David) in the Charles Sturt School of Education. She is also Director of the new Charles Sturt Children’s Voices Centre (CVC).

Professor McLeod received the award in person on Friday 6 December at the ASHA awards ceremony at its 2024 annual convention held this year in Seattle, Washington, USA. The convention had more than 13,000 registrations from 58 countries.

The award is ‘designed to recognise distinguished achievements and significant contributions in the area of communication disorders revealing great international impact from their work’, and the letter of notification to Professor McLeod confirmed her career accomplishments are most deserving of this recognition.

“I am honoured to have been able to create opportunities to bring together hundreds of colleagues from across the world to work on initiatives such as the Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World, the Intelligibility in Context Scale, the Multilingual Children’s Speech website, the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, and communication rights advocacy with the United Nations and World Health Organization,” Professor McLeod said.

“Colleagues have been generous in sharing their expertise about children’s communication enriching our collective knowledge to change children’s lives across the world.”

Professor McLeod was nominated for this latest award by a past ASHA President, Professor Lynn Williams from East Tennessee State University.

Professor Williams described Professor McLeod as a distinguished clinician-researcher whose groundbreaking work on child speech acquisition and disorders in over 100 languages, dialects and cultures has had a profound impact on children’s lives and influenced health and education professionals worldwide.

“Her contributions have been recognised by a number of awards, including ASHA Fellow and Honors of the Association,” Professor Williams said.

“As a speech-language pathologist and professor of speech and language acquisition at Charles Sturt University, Australia, Professor McLeod has demonstrated exemplary dedication and leadership in this field.

“Professor McLeod’s outstanding contributions in international education, publications and research have not only transformed the field of speech-language pathology but have also had a profound impact on children’s lives globally.

“Her dedication to advancing knowledge and fostering international collaboration exemplifies the spirit of this award, … and her unwavering commitment to excellence and innovation makes her a truly deserving recipient of this honour.”

During the ASHA convention Professor McLeod presented and co-presented three sessions:

• Culturally Appropriate Assessment in International Contexts: Assessing Children’s Speech in Their Home Language(s) - with Charles Sturt colleagues Dr Helen L Blake and Dr Kate Margetson. This session was selected by the 2024 ASHA Convention Co-Chairs as one of only 77 sessions (of 2,500) to be live-broadcast as part of the Virtual Program and described the Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Languages (SACHL).

• Children Draw Talking: Understanding Children’s Functioning with Arts-based Methods - with international colleagues, Professor McLeod is the organiser, moderator and presenter describing Charles Sturt’s Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery.

• Services for Children with Pacific Islander Heritage: Practices and Aspirations of Speech-Language Pathologists – with Charles Sturt doctoral candidate Ms Holly McAlister (pictured below with Professor McLeod) and supervisor Dr Suzanne C Hopf.

Professor McLeod was also invited to co-host a Research Roundtable titled ‘Engaging in International Research Collaborations’.

ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 234,000 members, certificate holders, and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology assistants; and students.

In the history of the award, there have only been 21 people/groups who have received the award.

“I was particularly thrilled to share the 2024 award with my colleagues from Turkiyë, Professor Ahmet Konrot, Professor İlknur Maviş and Professor Seyhun Topbaş. I have worked with Seyhun Topbaş since 1996,” Professor McLeod said.

In 2021 Professor McLeod was one of 11 colleagues to receive ASHA Honors and was the first ASHA International Affiliate to receive the award since it began in 1944.