The art of doing more with what you've got: A Northern Territory guide to quality improvement.
Tracks
2
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Change management
Collaboration
Cultural responsiveness
Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
Evidence based practice
Language disorder (e.g. LD associated with...)
Quality improvement
| Saturday, June 14, 2025 |
| 2:30 PM - 2:40 PM |
Overview
Kyla Logan Whittard and Anna Pritchard
Details
⏫ Fireside chat
⏲️ 2.30pm - 3.30pm
⌛60-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Intermediate (Some previous learning/working knowledge of topic e.g. treated a few cases)
⏲️ 2.30pm - 3.30pm
⌛60-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Intermediate (Some previous learning/working knowledge of topic e.g. treated a few cases)
Presenter
Miss Kyla Logan Whittard
NT Health - Children's Development Team
The art of doing more with what you've got: A Northern Territory guide to quality improvement.
2:30 PM - 3:30 PMPresentation summary
An ongoing commitment to evidence-based practice is essential for high-quality care; however, real-world challenges can hinder its implementation (Speech Pathology Australia, 2021).
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) offers a framework for translating research into practice by engaging staff in collaborative reflection, using existing strengths, to integrate evidence in a way that is practical, flexible, and contextually relevant (Bushe, 2011; Richer et al., 2009; Cooperrider et al., 2008).
AI was implemented by NT community-based speech pathologists to facilitate the translation of research to the NT context in two quality improvement projects designed for long-term sustainable change.
This session explores AI for speech pathology. Participants will learn about and experience the four phases of AI —Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny— to illustrate how each phase fosters motivation and innovation through collaborative, reflective discussions. It will demonstrate how innovation can be achieved within the existing resources of a workplace.
The session will also reference the experiences, lessons and outcomes from two AI projects driven by NT clinical speech pathologists. It will do this by showing how each phase was used to translate Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and multilingual research and best practice principles into day-to-day work across NT urban, rural and remote areas, within the existing resources (Bishop et al., 2016; Bishop et al., 2017; The DLD Project, 2021; Speech Pathology Australia, 2016). Deliverables that reflect the shared vision of NT speech pathologists, ensuring practices remain flexible, culturally responsive, and in alignment with strategic direction will be shown.
AI proved to be an invaluable tool for translating research on DLD and multilingualism into practice, while respecting clinical expertise, client values/preferences as well as honouring and centring the cultural and linguistic diversity of the NT. This approach serves as a potential model for other workplaces with similar challenges for translating the evidence for long-term sustainable change.
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) offers a framework for translating research into practice by engaging staff in collaborative reflection, using existing strengths, to integrate evidence in a way that is practical, flexible, and contextually relevant (Bushe, 2011; Richer et al., 2009; Cooperrider et al., 2008).
AI was implemented by NT community-based speech pathologists to facilitate the translation of research to the NT context in two quality improvement projects designed for long-term sustainable change.
This session explores AI for speech pathology. Participants will learn about and experience the four phases of AI —Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny— to illustrate how each phase fosters motivation and innovation through collaborative, reflective discussions. It will demonstrate how innovation can be achieved within the existing resources of a workplace.
The session will also reference the experiences, lessons and outcomes from two AI projects driven by NT clinical speech pathologists. It will do this by showing how each phase was used to translate Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and multilingual research and best practice principles into day-to-day work across NT urban, rural and remote areas, within the existing resources (Bishop et al., 2016; Bishop et al., 2017; The DLD Project, 2021; Speech Pathology Australia, 2016). Deliverables that reflect the shared vision of NT speech pathologists, ensuring practices remain flexible, culturally responsive, and in alignment with strategic direction will be shown.
AI proved to be an invaluable tool for translating research on DLD and multilingualism into practice, while respecting clinical expertise, client values/preferences as well as honouring and centring the cultural and linguistic diversity of the NT. This approach serves as a potential model for other workplaces with similar challenges for translating the evidence for long-term sustainable change.
Refrences
Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & CATALISE consortium. (2016). CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study: Identifying language impairments in children. PLoS ONE, 11(7), e0158753. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158753
Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & CATALISE-2 consortium. (2017). Phase 2 of CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(10), 1068–1080. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12721
Bushe, G. R. (2011). Appreciative inquiry: Theory and critique. In D. Boje, B. Burnes, & J. Hassard (Eds.), The Routledge companion to organizational change (pp. 87–103). Routledge.
Cooperrider, D. L., & Srivastva, S. (1987). Appreciative inquiry in organizational life. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 1, 129–169.
Cooperrider, D. L., Whitney, D., & Stavros, J. (2008). Appreciative inquiry handbook: For leaders of change (2nd ed.). Crown Custom Publishing.
Merriel, A., Wilson, A., Decker, E., Hussein, J., Larkin, M., Barnard, K., O'Dair, M., Costello, A., Malata, A., & Coomarasamy, A. (2022). Systematic review and narrative synthesis of the impact of Appreciative Inquiry in healthcare. BMJ Open Quality, 11, e001911. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2022-001911
Northern Territory Health. (2016). Aboriginal cultural security framework 2016 to 2026. Aboriginal Health Policy.
Pert, S., & Bradley, B. (2018, May). Clinical guidelines for speech and language therapists: Bilingualism: Working with bilingual clients/patients with speech, language and communication needs. Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. https://www.rcslt.org/clinical_resources/bilingualism/bilingualism_overview
Richer, M.-C., Ritchie, J., & Marchionni, C. (2009). "If we can't do more, let's do it differently!": Using appreciative inquiry to promote innovative ideas for better health care work environments. Journal of Nursing Management, 17(8), 947–955. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2009.01022.x
Speech Pathology Australia. (n.d.). Developmental language disorder (DLD) policy brief for members. Speech Pathology Australia.
Speech Pathology Australia. (2016). Working in a culturally and linguistically diverse society – Clinical guideline. https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Working-in-a-culturally-and-linguistically-diverse-society-Clinical-Guideline
Speech Pathology Australia. (2021). Evidence-based practice for speech pathology in Australia: Position statement. The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited.
The DLD Project. (2021, February 21). Diagnosing developmental language disorder (DLD) with confidence [Training workshop].
Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & CATALISE-2 consortium. (2017). Phase 2 of CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(10), 1068–1080. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12721
Bushe, G. R. (2011). Appreciative inquiry: Theory and critique. In D. Boje, B. Burnes, & J. Hassard (Eds.), The Routledge companion to organizational change (pp. 87–103). Routledge.
Cooperrider, D. L., & Srivastva, S. (1987). Appreciative inquiry in organizational life. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 1, 129–169.
Cooperrider, D. L., Whitney, D., & Stavros, J. (2008). Appreciative inquiry handbook: For leaders of change (2nd ed.). Crown Custom Publishing.
Merriel, A., Wilson, A., Decker, E., Hussein, J., Larkin, M., Barnard, K., O'Dair, M., Costello, A., Malata, A., & Coomarasamy, A. (2022). Systematic review and narrative synthesis of the impact of Appreciative Inquiry in healthcare. BMJ Open Quality, 11, e001911. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2022-001911
Northern Territory Health. (2016). Aboriginal cultural security framework 2016 to 2026. Aboriginal Health Policy.
Pert, S., & Bradley, B. (2018, May). Clinical guidelines for speech and language therapists: Bilingualism: Working with bilingual clients/patients with speech, language and communication needs. Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. https://www.rcslt.org/clinical_resources/bilingualism/bilingualism_overview
Richer, M.-C., Ritchie, J., & Marchionni, C. (2009). "If we can't do more, let's do it differently!": Using appreciative inquiry to promote innovative ideas for better health care work environments. Journal of Nursing Management, 17(8), 947–955. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2009.01022.x
Speech Pathology Australia. (n.d.). Developmental language disorder (DLD) policy brief for members. Speech Pathology Australia.
Speech Pathology Australia. (2016). Working in a culturally and linguistically diverse society – Clinical guideline. https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Working-in-a-culturally-and-linguistically-diverse-society-Clinical-Guideline
Speech Pathology Australia. (2021). Evidence-based practice for speech pathology in Australia: Position statement. The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited.
The DLD Project. (2021, February 21). Diagnosing developmental language disorder (DLD) with confidence [Training workshop].
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Kyla is a Balanda (non-indigenous) clinical speech pathologist working and learning on Larrakia Country - Darwin, NT. She is originally from New South Wales and has a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours). She found so much joy during her remote student placements and since then Kyla has worked across the Northern Territory in government, private and NGO sectors for the last six years. Kyla is passionate about working with culturally and linguistically diverse families and strives to uplift and celebrate all languages spoken by her clients. Kyla is still learning from others in leadership and quality improvement spaces, and to help with this in 2024, she decided to be part of the NT Executive Branch and Speech Pathology Australia’s Education Focus Group.
Anna Pritchard
NT Health
The art of doing more with what you've got: A Northern Territory guide to quality improvement.
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM**********
Anna is a Balanda (non-indigenous) clinical speech pathologist working in Darwin, NT. She is originally from Brisbane and has a Bachelor of Science (Psyc), Master of Speech Pathology and a Bachelor of Health and Human Services (Leadership) Professional Honours. She has worked with children, young people and families for over 10 years in government, private, NGO and education sectors. She has worked in QLD, ACT and WA as well as the USA, however Anna fell in love with the Pilbara red dirt and found her passion for rural and remote work. She adores the NT and the team she works in. Anna is also co-chair of the SPA NT Branch, a member of the SPA Mental Health and Trauma Advisory Group, on the SPPIN steering committee, an adjunct lecturer for UniSQ and is ASHA CCC-SLP. Anna is also a novice face painter and a mediocre (but enthusiastic) B grade volleyballer.
The information contained in this program is current at of the time of publishing but is subject to changes made without notice.
Disclaimer: © (2024) The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. All rights reserved.
Important Notice, please read: The views expressed in this presentation and reproduced in these materials are not necessarily the views of, or endorsed by, The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited ("the Association"). The Association makes no warranty or representation in relation to the content, currency or accuracy of any of the materials comprised in this presentation. The Association expressly disclaims any and all liability (including liability for negligence) in respect of use of these materials and the information contained within them. The Association recommends you seek independent professional advice prior to making any decision involving matters outlined in this presentation including in any of the materials referred to or otherwise incorporated into this presentation.
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