Research is grounded in the ‘hundred languages of children’ philosophy, recognising the myriad of ways children express themselves and interact with their world. Solutions are generated by children during creative educational and research opportunities. We prioritise children and families experiencing participation barriers (including children with disabilities and those with diverse geographical, linguistic, cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds).

Communication is a human right for all. Aligning with the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child we attend to the “voice” of children. We creatively engage in child-friendly arts-based methods to provide children with the “right to freedom of expression… regardless of frontiers” as outlined in Article 13.

• We like to be fun, joyful, inclusive, quirky, messy, and different.
• We aim to enhance all children’s participation within democratic processes in their families, schools, communities, and society.
• We create opportunities to support children to have a say and to assist others to listen.
• We think about children’s decision-making power and control during research. Are children consulted, collaborators, or directors in the research process? (Shier’s Pathways to Participation, 2019)

More than 200 drawings, creations and photos from children across the world show us:

• WHAT children do when they play
• WHO children play with
• WHERE children play
• HOW children feel about playing
• WHY children think playing is good for the world.

The Children Draw Playing Global Online Gallery was created for the Early Childhood Voices 2024 Conference.

The drawings and answers from 200 children from 24 countries show us:

• WHO children talk to
• WHAT children talk about
• WHERE children talk
• HOW children feel about talking

• Sound Effects Study Drawing Protocol (McCormack et al., 2022)
• Children Draw Talking Online Drawing Protocol (McLeod et al., 2023)
• Drawing student-teacher relationship quality (Murray et al., 2022)
• My ears to listen so I can hear (Dealtry & McFarlane, 2024)
• Speech Participation and Activity Assessment of Children (SPAA-C) (McLeod, 2004)
• Babycam (Sumsion et al., 2014)
• Looking and listening in (Sumsion & Goodfellow, 2012)

We love learning from children. Here are some of the ways we have listened to children

• 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.
• Dealtry, L., & McFarland, L. (2024). "My ears to listen so I can hear": A holistic self-report tool of children's listening in preschool. In L. Mahony, S. McLeod, A. Salamon & J. Dwyer (Eds.). Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_8
• Holliday, E. L., Harrison, L. J., & McLeod, S. (2009). Listening to children with communication impairment talking through their drawings. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 7(3), 244–263. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718x09336969
• Hopf, S. C., McLeod, S., & McDonagh, S. H. (2017). Fiji school children’s multilingual language choices when talking with friends. In Friendship and peer culture in multilingual settings. Sociological studies of children and youth (Vol. 22, pp. 55–88). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120160000021005
• Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., & Dwyer, J. (2024). Why the voices of young children matter. In L. Mahony, S. McLeod, A. Salamon, & J. Dwyer (Eds.), Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals (pp. 3-16). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_1
• McCormack, J., McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., & Holliday, E. L. (2022). Drawing talking: Listening to children with speech sound disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(3), 713-731. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00140
• McFarland, L., & Dealtry, L. (2017). Hearing in the early childhood setting: Children’s perspectives. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 42(2), 105 – 113. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.23965/AJEC.42.2.13
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.08.006
• McLeod, S., Elwick, S., & Stratigos, T. (2014). What infants talk about: Comparing parents’ and carers’ insights. In L. J. Harrison & J. Sumsion (Eds.), Lived spaces of infant-toddler education and care: Exploring diverse perspectives on theory, research, practice and policy (pp. 173–185). Springer.
• McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Cumming, T., & Downey, B. (2024). Refusing to silence early childhood voices: The establishment of the Early Childhood Voices Conference. In L. Mahony, S. McLeod, A. Salamon, & J. Dwyer (Eds.), Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals (pp. 251-269). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_18
• 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., Verdon, S., & Theobald, M. (2015). Becoming bilingual: Children’s insights about making friends in bilingual settings. International Journal of Early Childhood, 47(3), 385–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-015-0148-7
• McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Davies, J., Dealtry, L., Delli-Pizzi, L., Downey, B., Elwick, S., Hopf, S. C., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Murray, E., Sikder, S., Rahman, A., Tran, V. H., & Zischke, C. (2023). Children draw talking around the world. [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Charles Sturt University, Australia.
• Murray, E., Harrison, L. J., & Trapolini, T. (2022). Children’s drawings of student-teacher relationship quality: Examining change over the first year of school. Early Child Development and Care. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2022.2046566
• Press, F., Bradley, B. S., Goodfellow, J., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Sumsion, J., Elwick, S., & Stratigos, T. (2011). Listening to infants about what life is like in childcare: A mosaic approach. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 241–250). J&R Press.
• Sumsion, J., Harrison, L. J., Press, F., McLeod, S., Goodfellow, J., & Bradley, B. S. (2011). Researching infants' experiences of early childhood education and care. In D. Harcourt, B. Perry, & T. Waller (Eds.), Researching young children's perspectives: Debating the ethics and dilemmas of educational research with children (pp. 113–127). Routledge.
• Washington, K. N., Karem, R. W., Macaluso, C., Schwartz, C., & McLeod, S. (2024). Jamaican children’s drawings of talking in Jamaican Creole and English. In L. Mahony, S. McLeod, A. Salamon, & J. Dwyer (Eds.), Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals (pp. 117-133). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0_9
• Sumsion, J., Bradley, B., Stratigos, T., & Elwick, S. (2014). 'Baby cam' and participatory research with infants: A case study of critical reflexivity. In M. Fleer & A. E. Ridgway (Eds.), Visual methodologies and digital tools for researching with young children: Transforming visuality (pp. 169–191). Springer-Verlag. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-01469-2_10
• Sumsion, J., & Goodfellow, J. (2012). ‘Looking and listening-in’: A methodological approach to generating insights into infants' experiences of early childhood education and care settings. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 20(3), 313–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293x.2012.704758

Opportunity 1. Children's Experiences of Health

We are building evidence on the experiences and perspectives of children and young people with disabilities on health and access to healthcare services.

Contact Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod (smcleod@csu.edu.au) to collaborate with us

Opportunity 2. Child Language Teaching and Therapy Special Issue

Sharynne McLeod and Holly McAlister are the guest editors of a special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy titled “Listening to children with diverse communication abilities” to be published in 2026.

The Child Language Teaching and Therapy 2024 Summer Lecture entitled 'Do we really listen to children?' by Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod is available on YouTube

More information

Contact Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod (smcleod@csu.edu.au) and Holly McAlister (hmcalister@csu.edu.au)