November 6, 2012

Successful grant application: A sound start

Today we learned that our recent Australian Research Council Discovery Grant application has been funded for 2013-2015. There were several other grants awarded to colleagues in the Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network, RIPPLE, and Charles Sturt University. This years' success rate was: 21.37% so we are thrilled to have been amongst the successful applications.

Here are the details of our successful grant:
TITLE: A sound start: Innovative technology to promote speech and pre-literacy skills in at-risk preschoolers (DP130102545).
INVESTIGATORS: Sharynne McLeod (Charles Sturt University), Elise Baker (The University of Sydney), Jane McCormack (Charles Sturt University), Yvonne Wren, Sue Roulstone (University of West of England, UK)
SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSAL: Speech impairment affects one in five Australian preschoolers. If the problem persists into the school years between 30% to 77% of these children will have reading difficulties. Without specialist services, these children face increased risk of life-long social, educational, vocational limitations. Three challenges exist: identification of preschoolers most at risk, development of strategies for targeting both speech and pre-literacy skills, and provision of appropriate specialist services. This project will determine if an innovative computer-based service, delivered within preschools, can address these challenges by promoting age-appropriate speech and pre-literacy skills in children with identified risk of reading difficulties.

The news arrived while Elise Baker was visiting me, and we were overwhelmed by the number of congratulatory emails and phonecalls that arrived from colleagues. We fitted in a celebratory lunch with Professor Jennifer Sumsion (who was a chief investigator on another successful application) and Professor Linda Harrison and Associate Professor Fran Press who found out about their promotions at the same time.
L-R: Julie Martello, Fran Press, Elise Baker, Jennifer Sumsion, Linda Harrison, Sharynne McLeod