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BRANCH news Victoria

Celebrating communication across the Victorian Branch

It has been a busy couple of months for the Victorian Branch, with many events held and attended. At the end of August we celebrated Speech Pathology Week and ICP2014, and what better way to do it than a little trivia at Bridie O’Reilly’s in Brunswick . We had an amazing turnout of 120 people – speechies and non-speechies – who all came to test their general knowledge and celebrate communication. The bonus round of speech pathology questions was unexpectedly challenging and the night was won by the “Fricatively Speaking” team. Celebrations continued with a photo booth and Instagram competition ( #spatrivia2014 ). Check out some of the snaps below.

speech pathology department, based within the Neurosciences Unit and led by Dr Adam Vogel, had three presenters: • Meghan Keage, PhD Candidate: Swallowing function in Friedreich’s ataxia (Oral Presentation) • Johanna Tan, PhD Candidate: Lexical tone acquisition in cochlear implant users (Oral Presentation) • Matthew Poole, PhD Candidate: successful presentations, and special congratulations to Meghan who won the Speech Pathology Australia prize for best presentation. On 24 October, the University of Melbourne final year Master of Speech Pathology students enjoyed a Wine and Cheese Night supported by the Victorian Branch and the University of Melbourne. Communication impairment in young onset dementias (Poster) Congratulations to Meghan, Johanna and Matthew for their

The Victorian Branch also participated in the Pregnancy, Baby and Children’s Expo , held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre from 24–26 October. The event was a great success, with feedback from our volunteers reporting lots of interest from a wide range of consumers including parents, teachers, healthcare workers, and prospective students. The free raffle to win the shortlisted books from the 2014 Book of the Year awards was also a great hit! The aim of the SPA stand ( pictured below ) was to provide information to the public about the role of speech pathology, how to contact a speech pathologist, and to direct people towards information on the SPA website. We also distributed pamphlets regarding expected developmental norms for

babies through to school-aged children. SPA would like to extend a big thank you to our enthusiastic student and professional volunteers who helped out on the stand and contributed to the success of the event! Keep your eyes out for the 2015 Pregnancy Baby & Children’s Expo next year. But the year hasn’t ended and we still have a couple of events left on the Agenda. We hope the final year La Trobe students enjoy their professional day on 5 December with wine and cheese provided by Speech Pathology Australia and we look forward to celebrating the year at the Victorian Branch AGM on 26 November.

A great time was had by all and we’re looking forward to the next one! A big thank you to the Member Engagement committee, with a special mention for Amanda Simionato and Erin de Winter and their amazing efforts in putting the night together. On the 9 October we were excited to hear about some new research our PhD students are involved in at the University of Melbourne School of Health Sciences Research Colloquium . This is an annual event that gives graduate research students an opportunity to showcase their hard work. Four departments participated in the colloquium including nursing, social work, physiotherapy, and audiology and speech pathology. The audiology and

It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate final classes and upcoming graduation with fellow students and academic staff ( pictured above ). Students also appreciated learning more about becoming professional members of Speech Pathology Australia, continuing professional development, supervision and mentoring from the guest speaker, Victorian Branch President, Jessica Andrianakis. Thank you to the Victorian SPA Branch for sponsoring the event, which was very much appreciated and enjoyed by the University of Melbourne Speech Pathology class of 2014.

Alice Crook, Jessica Andrianakis, Leah Paice and Paige Marshall Victorian Branch

26 Speak Out December 2014

Speech Pathology Australia