Children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN)

The Children’s Voices Centre champions children’s communication rights. We emphasise inclusivity, diversity, learning, and innovation, especially for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Communication disability is often invisible – impacting children’s friendships, education, participation and long-term occupational, educational and social outcomes.

There are many evidence-based ways to support children’s communication. Researchers at the Children’s Voices Centre have been at the forefront of generating large-scale, robust, impactful, international research. We collaborate with researchers and communication professionals (speech-language pathologists, linguists, audiologists, interpreters) across the world to generate solutions in over 100+ languages and dialects profiled on our Multilingual Children’s Speech website. We think about the impact of waiting for services, living in rural areas, the importance of belonging and participating, and the contributions all children make to society.

Our research focuses on speech and language, and supports children who have difficulty communicating in the areas of

  • Speech: speech sound disorder (SSD), articulation, phonology, intelligibility, childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), dysarthria, cleft lip and palate
  • Language: developmental language disorder (DLD), late talkers, expressive language, receptive language, vocabulary/semantics, grammar/morphology, sentences/syntax, discourse, narrative, conversation
  • Literacy: reading, writing, spelling
  • Fluency: stuttering, stammering
  • Voice: resonance, nasality, pitch, volume, quality
  • Hearing: conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, deafblindness
  • Communicating: social communication, autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
  • Complex communication needs: alternative and augmentative communication (AAC)

You can find more information about these aspects of communication from NSW Health, Speech Pathology Australia and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Group of children

Child wearing headphones

Child with a toy

Our books

Our professional resources

Sharynne McLeod with a child holding a poster

Waiting for speech pathology

We developed a website with NSW Health, families, and the public to provide tips on when a child needs a speech pathologist, what to do while waiting, and what to expect from services.

Our research projects

Tasmanian speech sound disorder prevalence and screening pathway project (TasSSD).

Funded by Catholic Education Tasmania to determine the most accurate, efficient, and pragmatic speech screening pathway to identify Kinder students who require an in-depth speech assessment with a speech pathologist (commencing in 2025).

Improving access to speech pathology services for rural children with speech, language and communication needs

Funded by a grant to the Charles Sturt University Rural Health Research Institute from the Commonwealth of Australia (Grant Activity 4-DGEJZ1O/4-CW7UT14) to equip rural speech-language pathologists to (a) understand the prevalence and service requirements of children from a rural Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and (b) work cross-culturally and cross-linguistically, especially in languages they do not speak.

VietSpeech: Vietnamese-Australian children's speech and language competency

Funded by the Australian Research Council (DP180102848) to support Vietnamese-Australian children and families to maintain their home language, enhance speech skills in Vietnamese and English and equip English-speaking professionals to support multilingual children’s speech.

Sound Start Study

Funded by the Australian Research Council (DP130102545) to investigate the speech skills of 4- to 5-year-old children and to determine the effectiveness of the innovative computer program, Phoneme Factory Sound Sorter (PFSS) as an intervention for preschool children with speech difficulties.

Sound Effects Study

Funded by the Australian Research Council (DP0773978) to investigate the prevalence of speech impairment in Australian preschool children, associated risk factors, impact of having a speech impairment on children's social, behavioural and academic skills, and service availability.

Waiting for speech pathology

Funded by a NSW Health Translational Research Grant to determine the effectiveness of advice (about speech and language stimulation) versus device (website) while children are waiting for speech pathology services. The website was developed with NSW Health, families, and the public to provide tips on when a child needs a speech-language pathologist, what to do while waiting, and what to expect from services. Awarded Charles Sturt University Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Through Partnership Award (2022) and NSW Health - Health Research and Innovation Award (2020).

Our research

Here is some of our research that supports children with speech, language and communication needs

  • Blake, H. L., & McLeod, S. (2019). Speech-language pathologists’ support for multilingual speakers’ English intelligibility and participation informed by the ICF. Journal of Communication Disorders, 77, 56-70. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2018.12.003
  • Clark, E. L., Easton, C., & Verdon, S. (2021). The impact of linguistic bias upon speech-language pathologists’ attitudes towards non-standard dialects of English. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 35(6), 542-559. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2020.1803405
  • Cronin, A., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2020). Holistic communication assessment for young children with cleft palate using the ICF-CY. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51(4), 914-938. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-19-00122
  • 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, 91, 106102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106102
  • Crowe, K., Marschark, M., & McLeod, S. (2019). Measuring intelligibility in signed languages. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 33(10-11), 991-1008. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2019.1600169
  • Crowe, K., Másdóttir, T., & Volhardt, M. D. S. (2023). Maximise your impact: Sustainable Development Goals-Focussed content in communication intervention and teaching. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(1), 188-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2022.2153165
  • Hopf, S. C., Crowe, K., Verdon, S., Blake, H. L., & McLeod, S. (2021). Advancing workplace diversity through the Culturally Responsive Teamwork Framework. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 30(5), 1949-1961. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00380
  • 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
  • Ireland, M. C., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2024). Eligibility determinations for speech and language services in United States public schools: Experiences and tensions. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 55(1), 181-198. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_LSHSS-23-00039
  • Margetson, K., McLeod, S., Verdon, S. & Tran, V. H. (2023). Transcribing multilingual children’s and adults’ speech. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 37(4-6), 415-435. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2022.2051073
  • Marshall, J., Wylie, K., McLeod, S., McAllister, L., Barrett, H., Owusu, N. A., Hettiarachchi, S., & Atherton, M. (2024). Communication disability in low and middle-income countries: A call to action. BMJ Global Health, 9(7), e015289. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2024-015289
  • McAlister, H., Hopf, S. C., & McLeod, S. (2023). Effect of dialect on identification and severity of speech sound disorder in Fijian children. Speech, Language and Hearing, 26(1), 48-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2022.2052506
  • McCormack, J., McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2019). What do children with speech sound disorders think about their talking? Seminars in Speech and Language, 40(2),94-104. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-1677760.
  • McGill, N., Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). “Many wasted months”: Stakeholders’ perspectives about waiting for speech-language pathology services. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22(3), 313-326. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2020.1747541
  • McGill, N., McLeod, S., Crowe, K., Wang, C., & Hopf, S. C. (2021). Waiting lists and prioritization of children for services: Speech-language pathologists' perspectives. Journal of Communication Disorders, 91, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106099
  • McGill, N., Verdon, S., Curtin, M., Crockett, J., Parnell, T., & Hodgins, G. (2023). The impact of climate-related disasters on children’s communication and wellbeing: Addressing Sustainable Development Goals. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(1), 20-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2022.2156613
  • McLeod, S. (2020). Intelligibility in Context Scale: Cross-linguistic use, validity, and reliability. Speech, Language and Hearing, 23, 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2020.1718837
  • McLeod, S., Blake, H. L., & Margetson, K. (2024). Enhancing children’s speech using international evidence-based resources. Revista Portuguesa de Terapia da Fala [Portuguese Journal of Speech and Language Therapy], 17, 9-13. https://doi.org/17.21281/rptf.2024.08.03
  • 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
  • McLeod, S., Davis, E., Rohr, K., McGill, N., Miller, K., Roberts, A., Thornton, S., Ahio, N., & Ivory, N. (2020). Waiting for speech-language pathology services: A randomised controlled trial comparing therapy, advice and device. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22(3), 372–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2020.1731600
  • McLeod, S., Kelly, G., Ahmed, B., & Ballard, K. J. (2023). Equitable access to speech practice for rural Australian children using the SayBananas! mobile game. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 25(3), 388-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2023.2205057
  • McLeod, S., McCormack, J., & Blake, H. L. (2022). Communication, participation and cohort studies. In J. Law, S. Reilly & C. McKean (Eds.). Language development: Individual differences in a social context. (pp. 351-375). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Crowe, K. (2023). SDG18: Communication for all – Including people with a communication disability, children, and people who do not speak dominant languages. In J. Servaes & M. J. Yusha’u (Eds.), SDG18 Communication for all, Volume 2: Regional perspectives and special cases (pp. 175–199). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19459-7_7
  • McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Margetson, K., Tran, V. H., Wang, C., Phạm, B., To, L., & Huynh, K. (2023). Multilingual speech acquisition by Vietnamese-English–speaking children and adult family members. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(7), 2184-2229. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_JSLHR-21-00669
  • McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Tran, V. H., Margetson, K., & Wang, C. (2022). SuperSpeech: Multilingual speech and language maintenance intervention for Vietnamese-Australian children and families via telepractice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(3), 675-697. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00146
  • Phạm, B. & McLeod, S. (2019). Vietnamese-speaking children’s acquisition of consonants, semivowels, vowels, and tones in Northern Viet Nam. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(8), 2645-2670. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-S-17-0405
  • Phạm, B., McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Margetson, K., & Tran, V. H. (2023). Supporting the communication of underserved children in Viet Nam. In S. Levey & P. Enderby (Eds.), (pp. 73-83). J&R Press.
  • 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, 58(9), 1178-1189. https://doi.org/10.1177/1055665620985747
  • To, C. K. S., McLeod, S., Sam, K. L. & Law, T.  (2022). Predicting who will normalize without intervention for speech sound disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65(5), 1724-1741. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-21-00444
  • Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & McDonald, S. (2014). A geographical analysis of speech-language pathology services to support multilingual children. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16(3), 304–316. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2013.868036

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Our work

Publications and grants