Speak Out August 2016 Low Res

9 / 40

August 2016 Speak Out 9
Suze has been a highly active member
of Speech Pathology Australia and in the
profession of speech pathology since
1986, having been awarded Fellowship in
2008.
Suze is passionate about making a
difference to both her clients and the
profession, she has worked across a range
of settings in Western Australia including
working in teaching hospitals, schools,
private practice and at a university.
During the eighties and nineties while
working at a language development centre,
Suze was instrumental in promoting
best practice, establishing a series of
professional development workshops
for clinicians by clinicians. These shared
workshops fostered a collaborative
relationship among paediatric speech
pathologists working in Perth.
Suze has always been passionate about
providing evidence based, theoretically
driven intervention to her clients, even
before these terms were in common
usage. For example when confronted
with a large caseload of children with
significant language impairment within a
school setting in the late eighties, Suze set
to work within a collaborative consultation
model to develop a new service delivery
model. This resulted in an article published
in ACQ in the early 1990s. This work,
and the resulting article had a significant
impact on service delivery in Western
Australia. During this time Suze was also
mentoring speech pathologists working
with similar populations, in both country
and metropolitan areas.
Based on her body of work, she has
developed a number of protocols to assess
discourse in the paediatric population. Two
of these, Peter and the Cat and Squirrel
story, are commercially available in hard
copy and as APPs and used by speech
pathologists throughout Australia and
internationally.
Suze has acted as a mentor to many
speech pathologists in Western Australia
and nationally, on both a formal and
informal basis for a number of years. This
has included mentoring people with limited
experience as well as acting as a mentor
and sounding board for colleagues with
many years experience. She currently acts
as a formal mentor to speech pathologists
working in schools for children with a
language learning impairment, and speech
pathologists working in the justice system.
Suze has significant editorial experience,
having served as Co-editor of ACQ and on
several editorial Boards.
In May 2006, Suze was appointed to a
senior member position on the Speech
Pathology Australia Ethics Board – a
consultative board to the Speech
Pathology Australia Board of Directors.
She was subsequently appointed to the
position of Chair of the Association’s Ethics
Board in May 2010, and to date has served
two full, three year terms as Chair and was
recently appointed for a third term.
Suze demonstrates a commitment to
promotion of proactive ethical practice
for speech pathologists, through her
leadership on the Ethics Board.
Significant achievements have been made
by the Ethics Board during Suze’s tenure
as Chair. The hard copy Ethics Education
Package was updated and re-published
in 2014, and is in the process of further
development. Suze is one of two Ethics
Board members who have undertaken
work to create two online ‘modules’,
which will present the educational material
in an interactive online format, as a
contemporary resource.
Suze has made significant contributions
to ethics education within the profession.
She is a regular contributor to the Ethics
column in JCPSLP, and previously ACQ,
she teaches the application of the Speech
Pathology Australia ‘Code of Ethics’
within clinical education, and provides
professional development activities
on ethical decision making to speech
pathologists in Western Australia, as well
within the annual Ethics Workshop at the
National Conference.
The Association benefits substantially
from the time and consideration Suze
shows in her support and contribution
to Speech Pathology Australia’s ethics,
professional practice and policy and
advocacy projects. Suze is generous with
her time and knowledge, strives to ensure
she is available to provide timely support
and advice and assists in the application
of the Code of Ethics to support members
with their ethical reasoning in challenging
situations.
Suze has always
been passionate
about providing
evidence based,
theoretically driven
intervention to her
clients, even before
these terms were in
common usage.
Association news
Dr Suze Leitão
life member