14 Speak Out
August 2014
Speech Pathology Australia
Community Contribution Award
The Community Contribution Award is granted by the
Association to recognise external representatives and
agencies who have made a significant and valuable
contribution to speech pathology. The award is open to
any agency or individual outside of speech pathology
that has contributed to the promotion of the profession.
This year the award is presented to Dr Arthur Rallis.
Dr Arthur Rallis
Dr Arthur Rallis is a qualified solicitor
who is currently the principal of his
own legal and consulting practice in
Melbourne. Arthur’s practice focuses on
matters related to the health industry.
He also holds a dual qualification of
a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the
University of Melbourne which gives him some unique insights
in to the nature of health care services provided by speech
pathologists.
Arthur is nominated for this award in recognition of his
significant and valuable contribution to the practice and
profession of speech pathology over a long period of time.
Whilst Arthur is a paid consultant, it is recognised that he
contributes extensive expertise and effort in developing robust
and trusting relationships with speech pathology staff and
volunteers in order to assist in the development of sound,
rational and fair actions that benefit the organisation, members
and consumers. Arthur has a longstanding interest and
affection for the profession of speech pathology, and this high
regard and respect for the profession is reflected in the time
he invests to fully research issues and allow for constructive
discussion about options and outcomes. His background in
medicine results in a broad knowledge and understanding
of health professions and the services they provide. Arthur
enjoys his working relationship with us.
Arthur’s professional behaviour mirrors the values
underpinning our Code of Ethics (Integrity, Professionalism,
Respect and Care, Quality Standards and Continuing
Competence). He is empathic in manner and shows a genuine
concern for achieving best practice outcomes for all parties,
while making sure that Speech Pathology Australia applies due
diligence to its procedures and processes in the management
and investigation of alleged breaches of the Code of Ethics
and complaints.
Arthur is generous with his time and knowledge. The work that
Arthur provides, which is mainly ‘behind the scenes’ support,
has made an ongoing and valuable contribution to the
profession as a whole over a significant time period. His work
influences the services we provide to both the profession and
the public as consumers of our work, and allows us to be more
confident about the legal underpinnings and natural justice
behind our interpretation of our Code of Ethics as it guides our
professional practice.
Each year
, a prize is awarded to an article published
in the
Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language
Pathology
(
JCPSLP
) in the preceding 12 months, which
is judged by the
JCPSLP
Editorial Committee to be of
highest research merit. This year, the prize was awarded
to Toni Seiler, Suze Leitão and Mara Blosfelds for their
paper titled, “
The effectiveness of a computer-supported
intervention targeting orthographic processing and
phonological recoding for children with impaired word
identification: A preliminary study
”.
Their paper reported on a study investigating the
effectiveness of a computer-supported intervention
for three children with persistent word identification
impairment. All participants made clinically significant
gains in accuracy of nonword reading from pre- to post-
intervention, and demonstrated mixed results with word
and nonword reading efficiency. Further studies are being
conducted to explore the effectiveness of the program with
a larger number of participants.
The editors of
JCPSLP
, the editorial committee and
publication team congratulate Toni and colleagues on their
research and the award, which is based on four criteria:
evidence base, clinical relevance, novel contribution, and
writing style and readability.
The prize was again sponsored by the Australian Council
for Educational Research (ACER), and presented at the
AGM on the first night of the SPA National Conference.
We thank ACER for their ongoing support of the award.
Anna Copley
and
Jane McCormack
Co-Editors, JCPSLP
JCPSLP
Editor's Prize
awarded at SPA AGM
JCPSLP
editor Jane McCormack (far left) and ACER representative Julia Inglis
(far right) presented the Editor’s Prize to authors Toni Seiler and Suze Leitão
at the 2014 SPA AGM.
agm overview and awards
