This episode will leave you thinking about your own linguistic, raciolinguistic and word gap ideologies. A must listen for all speech and language pathologists, educators, linguists and all decision makers surrounding language policies in schools. Dr. Ian Cushing and Dr. Julia Snell share their wealth of knowledge on those topics, more particularly as it pertains to a recent article that was published online by the Cambridge University Press: The (white) ears of Ofsted: A raciolinguistic perspective on the listening practices of the schools inspectorate. A summary of that article can be found here on The Conversation webpage.

During the episode, I mention a previous episode where I interview Henry Emeka and CJ, creators and lead facilitators of the Noisy Classroom - Oracy in Nigeria. Here is the link to that episode.
I also make reference to a podcast episode with Julie Washington on the Science of Reading: The Podcast.
Twitter accounts:
Ian Cushing: @Ian_Cushing
Julia Snell: @SnellJulia

When I started this podcast back in 2019, I wasn’t entirely sure how it would unfold. I am thrilled with the outcome, with over 15 000 downloads, 46 episodes and guests from all over the world. Today I am releasing Season 4 with an episode on one of my favorite topics: bilingualism and multilingualism with Dr. Jasone Cenoz. Dr. Cenoz is a professor of education at the University of the Basque Country. Her research focuses on bilingualism and multilingualism in education and on pedagogical translanguaging.
 
Pedagogical translanguaging is “a theoretical and instructional approach that aims at improving language and content competences in school contexts by using resources from the learner's whole linguistic repertoire. Pedagogical translanguaging is learner-centred and endorses the support and development of all the languages used by learners. It fosters the development of metalinguistic awareness by softening of boundaries between languages when learning languages and content.” (Cenoz and Gorter, 2021).
 
Here are links to some of the resources discussed during the episode.
Cenoz and Gorter (2017): Minority Languages and Sustainable Translanguaging: Threat or Opportunity.
In this article, Dr. Cenoz and Dr. Gorter provide the following 5 guiding principles for sustainable translanguaging for regional minority languages:
1. Design functional breathing spaces for using the minority language
2. Develop the need to use the minority languages through translanguaging
3. Use emergent multilinguals’resources to reinforce all languages by developing metalinguistic awareness
4. Enhance language awareness
5. Link spontaneous translanguaging to pedagogical activities

Another fabulous resource gives a thorough explanation of pedagogical translanguaging, metalinguistic awareness, minority languages and much more.
Cenoz and Gorter (2021): Pedagogical Translanguaging
Watch the video abstract here: https://vimeo.com/623281123
 
Finally, this is a fantastic video that further explains pedagogical translanguaging called:
Let’s make the most of multilingualism

En français, vous pouvez trouvez un bref article qui porte sur le translangage en contexte minoritaire comme on le vit au Canada hors Québec sur le site de La Conversation.
(translation:  For the French listeners, you can find a short article on translanguaging in a minority context as experienced in Canada outside Quebec on the La Conversation website.)

Listeners can use the promo code PARLE in order to get a reduced rate at Medbridge, a continuing education platform for health care professionals, which includes educational resources for school-based speech-language pathologists. In fact, you can find 6 courses on second language acquisition.

​This episode is all about literacy and the Science of reading in schools with April Hackett and Julie McDermid, Canadian speech-language pathologists. April and Julie talk to us about the Science of reading and a wonderful resource that they have created as well as useful tips, resources and much much more. Be sure to check out the episode show notes at theparlepodcast.com for links to all of the fantastic resources discussed during the episode. If you are a teacher or a speech-language pathologist working with children, you won’t want to miss this episode.
 
Resource by April Hackett, Tiffany Kalsi and Julie McDermid: Focus on Phonemic Awareness
www.focusonphonemicawareness.ca
 
Their Facebook group: The Reading Brain: Thinking critically about reading instruction
https://www.facebook.com/groups/842135683198550

 Courses on the topic of Science of reading and literacy:
LETRS course:
https://www.voyagersopris.com/professional-development/letrs/overview?fbclid=IwAR3VcpYCMqlP9H9RdcQ3TGKe37jdNIGyG_TRRrb04T8vHAzIjLnw-y8KMmQ
 
Advanced Literacy Practice : www.osla.on.ca Link to register: https://www.osla.on.ca/event/ALP2022
 
Podcasts:
Alex Cross episode about the relationship between language and math: https://www.theparlepodcast.com/the-parleacute-podcast/episode-2-is-it-language-is-it-math-or-is-it-both-with-alex-cross.html
 
Science of Reading, The Podcast: https://amplify.com/science-of-reading-the-podcast/
 
Teaching, Reading & Learning: The Podcast: https://www.thereadingleague.org/teaching-reading-and-learning-the-podcast/
 
Websites:
 
Simple View of Reading: Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network. PaTTAN snippet :
https://youtu.be/xV89e_IR7qw (5 min)
 
Ontario Human Rights Commission Right to Read: public inquiry into human rights issues affecting students with reading disabilities: http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/right-read-public-inquiry-on-reading-disabilities
 
The reading league decodable text sources:
https://www.thereadingleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Decodables-Update-September-2020.pdf
 
The Kastner Collection: Open Mic A Grass Roots Movement: How Three Speech Language Pathologist are Changing Reading Instruction in their School District: https://wakelet.com/wake/myVDp_1Vz6QT5yWe5t-8a
 
Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists Resources:
 
Promo code: PODCAST for Oral Language at Your Fingertips. Order here:
https://www.osla.on.ca/store/ListProducts.aspx?catid=705856
 
Advanced Literacy Practice : www.osla.on.ca Link to register: https://www.osla.on.ca/event/ALP2022
 
OSLA School services presentation and Guide regarding The Right to Read
 
Right to Read (En):
 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Oz7l7ziCkwrLP1jBt7n3ZLQvViCYR73EQGfIU3SxGyQ/edit?usp=sharing
Droit de Lire (Fr):
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MC0t30hJHEJNKHz-qxsi-Hsp9hEn67xNCFI1ryvjDng/edit?usp=sharing
Presentation Guide (En):
 https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.osla.on.ca/resource/resmgr/documents/school_services_presentation.pdf
Presentation Guide (Fr):
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.osla.on.ca/resource/resmgr/documents/fr_school_services_presentat.pdf
  
Upcoming conference:
The Reading League virtual conference: A Grassroots Movement:
How 3 Speech-Language Pathologists are changing Reading Instruction in Their School Board https://www.thereadingleague.org/conference/?utm_source=The+Reading+League+Membership&utm_campaign=4f452a6b50-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0c1a78d340-4f452a6b50-376685166&ct=t()&mc_cid=4f452a6b50&mc_eid=c5c3a1d701
October 13 2021
 
Useful textbooks to get you started:
 
Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties
Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension a Handbook
The Knowledge Gap; The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System and How to Fix it
Uncovering the Logic of Reading
Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers

Dr. Nafeesa Jalal is the Founder of N. Jalal Global Consulting, a boutique firm which
specializes in supporting organizations on matters of diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-
racism. She brings 14 years of experience and a deep passion for DEI.  She joins us today in her capacity as a DEI professional.
 
As healthcare providers who often work with vulnerable populations, it is important for us to recognize that we have the responsibility to offer our services in an inclusive and equitable way.
 
Throughout this episode, we talk about unconscious bias, what it is and why it’s important for healthcare workers to understand. Everyone has bias. It is therefore imperative that we understand and recognize our biases. How do we make sure that our bias doesn’t interfere with the services that we as healthcare professionals provide?
 
The human body transmits 11 million bits of information at any given time. However, our conscious  mind is only able to process 50 bits of information/sec. Therefore, our brain must take shortcuts… how does information we have stored in our brains affect how we perceive the world around us? Listen to find out more
 
Here are links to two websites that we mention.
 
Human Library Organization: https://humanlibrary.org/
 
“We must speak up when we see injustices in our profession and in our world” (Dr. Jalal)
 
To learn more about Dr. Jalal’s firm, click on her website.
 
www.nafeesajalal.com

Photo source: ​https://www.instagram.com/p/CL6gWyOhV1y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This episode is very fitting given that June is Effective Communications Month. Join me as I interview Henry Emeka and CJ, creators and lead facilitators of the Noisy Classroom - Oracy. Both Henry and CJ work with children in Nigeria, Africa to help them improve their communication skills. Traditionally, Nigerian children are taught to modify their native accent in order to sound more American or British. However, the philosophy behind the Noisy Classroom - oracy initiative is to move away from accent modification and to focus more on communication skills and styles in order to improve intelligibility and self-expression. They also talk about how they help children transform their thoughts into expressions. This is done using the following three components:

1) Vocabulary Development
2) Speech-Language Development
3) Social Communication Development

"As much as we respect and love our culture, there are some aspects that we have to do away with."

"Children need to start advocating for their own ideas."

Check out their Instagram Page to find out more.

Most people have heard about lasting symptoms of COVID-19 months after the initial symptoms have subsided. Very few of us have heard about the impact of COVID-19 on swallowing. In this episode, I interview Avital Winer, speech and language pathologist and acting profession leader of speech-language pathology and audiology at the Ottawa Hospital, who explains to us how COVID-19 can impact one's swallowing ability and the many challenges that speech-language pathologists must face when caring for their patients. During the episode, we talk about a recent news article that was published, featuring the role of speech-language pathologists in the hospital setting as it pertains to COVID-19: "The speech pathologists helping COVID-19 patients learn how to swallow and speak again". Although speech-language pathologists have always been involved in the care of patients with swallowing difficulties (dysphagia), their role has not always been well understood by other healthcare professionals and the public. The pandemic has shed some light on the importance of the speech-language pathologists as frontline workers who have the training, the knowledge and the expertise to assess and treat patients who may be at risk of developing or who have swallowing difficulties.

The Langmore et al. (2002) study: Predictors of Aspiration Pneumonia in Nursing Home Residents is mentioned during this episode. The abstract can be found here.

If you aren't familiar with the Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing, you can find more information about it here.

In this short episode, I comment on the situation at Laurentian University in the context of the restructuring process under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The French Studies Department has been abolished. This has a direct impact on the communication of francophone speakers in the region. The impact on our minority language community is significant.  The vitality of languages relies on post-secondary institutions, among other things. Please share widely. As a minority, we need help from our majority language speaker counterparts to make a difference.

Laura Wolford, PhD is a speech and language pathologist, an education researcher, a professor and the founder of The Language for Sex. I love, love, love this episode. We talk about how uncomfortable so many of us are when it comes to talking about sex and intimacy. Society has molded us into believing that sex is a topic that should be avoided, yet we expect teenagers and young adults to know how to give consent and how to obtain it. Children typically learn to say no or that sex is bad. However, they don't always learn how to communicate about sex, consent and intimacy. What about adults who have suffered a brain injury or a stroke that has left them with a communication disorder? How has this impacted their sex life. Sexual rights are human rights, yet we don't often talk about them. Join Laura and I in a very interesting conversation about intimacy and communication across the lifespan.

During the podcast, I make reference to the tea analogy to getting consent video. You can find it here.

Laura has a wonderful book list on her website available here.

I'm thrilled to release this episode on Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, "a free book gifting program devoted to inspiring a love of reading in the hearts of children everywhere. Each month, enrolled children receive a high quality, age appropriate book in the mail, free of charge. Children receive books from birth to age five."

Join me as I interview three guests on the topic: Jeanne Smitiuch, Regional Director for the Dollywood Foundation of Canada; Chaya Kulkarni, BAA, M.Ed. Ed D, Director of Infant Mental Health Promotion (IMHP) at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and Angela M. Neglia, Speech-Language pathologist for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and in private practice.

Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has mailed over 48 million books worldwide and 1.5 million in Canada alone.

Here are some of my guests' favorite resources:

• Chaya talks about the Llama Llama books series. They can be found on the Penguin Random House Canada Website.

• Angela talks about Maya's Book Nook: "It is our goal to share books where young children of color can see themselves, and the stories they relate to, represented within the pages. Book reviews and resources will incorporate language-focused strategies that may be used by parents, educators, and speech-language pathologists. A strong language foundation is one of the pillars to future academic success. We’d like to support you in building that foundation, one book at a time.", by Lakeisha Johnson, PhD, CCC-SLP 
• Jeanne talks about:
  • the Jim Trelease Read aloud handbook website where you can find great resources about the importance of reading to young children
  • the Enchanted Hour book "A Wall Street Journal writer’s conversation-changing look at how reading aloud makes adults and children smarter, happier, healthier, more successful and more closely attached, even as technology pulls in the other direction."
  • The Canadian Children's Literacy Foundation, an organization that strives "to enable Canada’s children to become the most literate in the world. We promote and develop literacy initiatives, champion literacy partners across Canada, and empower people to build literacy skills in their homes and communities."

​