12 Speak Out
August 2014
Speech Pathology Australia
agm overview and awards
Elinor Wray
Instituted in 1981 to honour the founder of the speech
pathology profession in Australia, the Elinor Wray Award
is granted for outstanding contribution to the profession.
The contribution of the nominee is clinical or project
oriented and encompasses: innovations in diagnostic,
assessment or treatment procedures; promotion of
speech pathology to the government, the community or
other professionals; and research or student training.
The Board was pleased to recognise an outstanding
recipient of this award in Professor Linda Worrall.
Linda Worrall
Linda is a founding proponent of the
functional approach to assessment and
treatment for individuals with neurogenic
communication disorders. The aim of
her work is to develop a portfolio of
functional communication assessments
and interventions for a range of health care settings. Linda’s
work also evaluated the effectiveness of various forms of
intervention stemming from the functional assessment. This
led to the publication of The Functional Communication
Therapy Planner (1999) which translated her PhD results into
an assessment process for therapy planning process that is
still being used today throughout the world.
Having led the writing of the most downloaded paper in the
journal
Aphasiology
, this led to the basis of a successful
NHMRC Clinical Centre of Research Excellence in Aphasia
Rehabilitation, a five-year $2.5 million research program. This
centre comprises researchers, students and a community of
practice which consists of over 200 clinicians. The community
of practice is a collaborative enterprise whereby clinicians
engage with the process of developing the Australian Aphasia
Rehabilitation Pathway (AARP). The AARP is a person-centred,
outcome-focused and evidence-based pathway which is freely
accessible online for clinicians, people with aphasia and their
families. The AARP documents evidence-based best practice
recommendations, research, clinical tools and resources for
clinicians, consumers, students and researchers who seek
information regarding the assessment and management of
aphasia in the community.
Linda’s work has had a profound effect on the work in
clinical practice and research. She has also facilitated health
promotion practices, supervised students and postdoctoral
researchers, and provided leadership to the profession.
Fellowship
Fellowship of Speech Pathology Australia is a public
professional honour awarded to a person with
considerable experience, responsibility and standing
within the speech pathology profession. The Board
was pleased to recognise four outstanding recipients
for this award.
Associate Professor Sue McAllister
Associate Professor Sue McAllister
has brought about positive innovation
and change in the speech pathology
profession. She has shown outstanding
leadership in the development and
implementation of curriculum and
assessment of students’ professional practice in the
workplace, in a range of allied health disciplines.
Sue has contributed to Speech Pathology Australia throughout
her career. Her research and development of applications of
competency based student performance assessment have
made major contributions to Speech Pathology Australia’s
process for the accreditation of education providers. Sue
played a major leadership role in the development and
implementation of COMPASS
®
, COMPASS
®
Online and
COMPASS
®
2.
Throughout the development of COMPASS
®
and its
associated projects and clinical/academic interfaces, Sue has
maintained the importance of nesting these developments
firmly within the professional association rather than with
a publisher or university. The result of her commitment to
the work and role of the Association in establishing and
maintaining professional standards has been the creation
and maintenance of a very high degree of consensus and
cooperation amongst competing stakeholders.
Sue has provided consultancies to other professional
associations, both within and across professions, and
nationally and internationally. This provides evidence of her
standing in the health professions and has also established
recognition of the Association’s role in relation to competency
based education for clinical practice.
In addition to supervising multiple higher degree students,
Sue is an external examiner for honours research from a
university. Sue has published three book chapters, 13 refereed
papers, four refereed conference papers, 11 commissioned
reports and has presented 37 conference papers since 2002.
Sue is recognised as being a highly worthy candidate for
transfer to Fellowship.
Debra Phyland
Debra Phyland is a passionate and
committed speech pathologist who
has made a significant and well-
recognised contribution to the field
of speech pathology. Debra is a
quintessential clinician but also a true
scientist practitioner.
Debra has made a significant contribution to the Association
over the years, including having authored many Clinical
Guidelines (Position Papers) and has been an active member
of the Victorian Branch, providing representation on several
Portfolios. She has also acted as a media spokesperson in her
area of expertise.
