Annual Report 2017

Assoc Professor Janet Baker

Anne Huang

Leanne Sorbello

Ruth Hawtree

Dr Elise Baker

Assoc Professor Bronwyn Davidson

Assoc Professor Patricia Eadie

Dr Belinda Kenny

Association Awards and Member Recognition It was a year of achievements for a number of members of Speech Pathology Australia. Associate Professor Janet Baker was awarded Speech Pathology Australia Life Membership. Dr Elise Baker, Associate Professor Bronwyn Davidson, Associate Professor Patricia Eadie and Dr Belinda Kenny were awarded Speech Pathology Australia Fellowships. Ms Maureen Liddy and Ms Leanne Sorbello were presented with Service to the Association Awards. Ms Anne Huaug and Ms Ruth Hawtree were presented with Early Career Awards. Continuing Professional Development The Association offered a total of 80 face-to-face events in 2017. This included the Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, CPD workshops, Private Practice seminars, and Branch events, with a total of 3,700 event registrations. There were 61 Professional Development events offered in 2017, including 49 workshops. The average "quality of presentation" rating for Branch workshops was an exceptionally high 4.8 (out of a maximum 5). Dr Tanya Serry was the 2017 National Tour speaker and presented on "Speech Pathology in the literacy domain: From prevention to intervention". There were a total of 11 workshops held across every state and territory with the majority of these workshops being sold out. There was a total of 429 registrants across the 11 workshops. The range of areas covered in the Association’s online CPD Live program was extensive in 2017 and included clinical and non-clinical topics related to speech pathology practice. There were 12 webinars, including four that were free to Association members. One hundred and two items were hired from the Association’s CPD Events Library in 2017. National Conference The Speech Pathology Australia National Conference was held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney from 28 – 31 May 2017. More than 1124 delegates attended the conference, themed ‘WiFi’.

The conference was opened by the NSW Minister for Disability Services, Ray Williams, MP. Professor Emily Plowman started conference week presenting her Keynote Presentation: "Harnessing principles of plasticity in speech and swallowing rehabilitation". Dr Laura Justice followed with her Keynote Presentation: "Conceptualising 'Dose' in speech-language interventions: Current findings and future directions". The 2017 Elizabeth Usher Memorial Award Lecture was delivered by Dr Patricia McCabe. There were over 255

presentations (Oral, PePs, Seminars and Workshops)

delivered during the conference, along with an impressive array of ePosters on display. These were universally well received and represented a diverse range of clinical and research topics.

Australians living with communication disability In November 2017, the Association had its estimate of the number of Australians living with a communication disability endorsed. With the release of the new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publication, Australians Living with Communication Disability , came confirmation that 1.2 million Australians have a communication disability. The release of the new publication followed a prolonged and very active advocacy effort by the Association. The data for the publication is drawn from the ABS’s Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers . The ABS report outlines the impact of communication limitation on the development and wellbeing of Australians with communication disability. This includes statistics and information about the distribution, gender, age

and level of disability, unmet need for formal assistance, labour force participation, household income, social participation, and the impact of communication disability across the lifespan.

10 2017 ANNUAL REPORT Speech Pathology Australia