Speak Out February 2019

Celebrating the highlights of 2018

It was another year of stunning achievements for Speech Pathology Australia and its membership. Join us as we celebrate the achievements of members, the Association and industry partners.

Record-breaking membership At the close of 2018, the membership of Speech Pathology Australia was 9176, up from 8409 at the same time in 2017. Digital world What a year digitally! By the end of 2018, the Association had 10,136 followers for its Twitter handle, @speechpathaus, and 19,497 likes on its Facebook page. Add to this the 4326 followers on the Association’s Instagram account. The Association also supports 17 membership Facebook groups or communities. Book of the Year (December 2018) Five books and their author/illustrators were celebrated as part of the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year 2018 awards, held at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. Over 200 books were nominated in 2018 – another record year! And Morris Gleitzman, a previous Book of the Year winner, was inducted into the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Hall of Fame. Professional development

during the Association's 2019 National Conference, that will fortuitously take place during Reconciliation Week.

NASRHP full membership In 2018, Speech Pathology Australia secured full membership with the National Alliance of Self Regulating Health Professional (NASRHP). Full membership of NASRHP is an acknowledgement that the Association’s self-regulation processes met the high standards set by NASRHP, which also mirror the standards of registration boards. A speech pathology first

In June 2018, Professor Leanne Togher became the first allied health researcher and speech pathology recipient of the Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship-Clinical. Professor Togher was one of 20 of Australia’s finest health and medical researchers, honoured at the National Health and Medical Research Council’s annual Research Excellence Awards. Clinical Education in Australia (August 2018) In 2017, Speech Pathology Australia commissioned a national report to provide an overview of current speech pathology clinical education in Australia. Released in 2018, Clinical Education in Australia: Building a profession for the future provides information about best practice and new and innovative recommendations for future developments in clinical education. Dr Sally Hewett and Ms Joanne Walters were the project leads. Online campaign awards The Association’s online campaign for Speech Pathology Week in 2017 won the Victorian State Award for the Social and Digital Campaign category at the Public Relations Institute of Australia Awards announced in 2018. The Association’s campaign was nominated by Pesel and Carr, the public relations company that the Association collaborated with for the campaign. The awards recognise the strength of using video storytelling to spread the word on communication access. Juvenile Justice Video launched The launch in September of the Association’s youth justice video, Communication: Unlocking the potential of young people in custody, provided a tremendous opportunity to raise awareness of the communication needs of young people who come into contact with the justice system. The new video was formally launched in the offices of the New South Wales Department of Justice. The event was formally opened by the Association’s National President, Gaenor Dixon, and was attended by a range of key stakeholders, including Professor Pamela Snow; the Association’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gail Mulcair; Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Alastair McEwin; and Mike Wheaton, Acting Director of Policy and Practice, NSW Juvenile Justice.

Dr Natalie Munro presented a sell out 2018 Speech Pathology Australia National Tour, around two workshops: Preschool and Early School-age Language Update: Assessment and Intervention Intensity and Pragmatic language assessment and intervention: A contemporary approach (with Associate

Professor Reinie Cordier). National Conference

Dr Natalie Munro

The Speech Pathology Australia National Conference was held in Adelaide in May at the Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia, and drew over 800 delegates from across Australia and

the world. Awards In 2018, the Association awarded Life

Membership to Dr Roslyn Neilson. Fellowship of Speech Pathology Australia was awarded to Ms Alison Smith and Ms Helen Smith. The Service to the Association Award was granted to Ms Robyn Stephen. Dr Caroline Bowen AM In the Australia Day awards in January 2018,

Dr Roslyn Neilson

Dr Caroline Bowen was made a Member of the Honorary Division of the Order of Australia. Dr Bowen has the distinction of being the only Australian to be awarded Fellowship/Life Membership of Speech Pathology Australia, American Speech-Language- Hearing Association, and the Royal College of Speech Language Therapists. Reconciliation Action Plan Arising from the adoption of the Speech Pathology Australia Strategic Plan 2017-2019, in late 2017 the Association established a Reconciliation Action Plan Committee to draft the Association’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Through the course of 2018 the committee undertook the task of drafting and liaising with key stakeholders about the plan’s contents, including conducting a survey of Association’s membership and a forum at the National Conference. The aim is for the plan to be launched

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February 2019 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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