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About the Authors and Contributors

Authors

Frances Cochrane

Dr Frances Cochrane is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP) and Member of Speech Pathology Australia (MSPA).  She is a senior lecturer and course coordinator of the Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) at James Cook University, Australia.  Fran also was in an Educational Designer (Lead) role at JCU within the Directorate of Learning, Teaching and Student Engagement from 2020 – 2022.

Louise Brown

Louise Brown is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP) and Member of Speech Pathology Australia (MSPA).  She is a senior lecturer and Head of Speech Pathology at James Cook University, Australia.  Louise is a Life Member of Speech Pathology Australia. She is currently a director of Trinh Foundation Australia, the mission of which is to help the people of Vietnam in the development of Speech Therapy as a profession in their country.

Deborah Denman

Dr Deborah Denman is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP) and Member of Speech Pathology Australia (MSPA).  She is a lecturer with expertise in the areas of paediatric speech, language, literacy, and Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) at James Cook University, Australia.  She has over 20 years of clinical expertise working as a speech pathologist in Queensland state schools.

Roger NEwman

Roger Newman is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP) and Member of Speech Pathology Australia (MSPA).  He is a lecturer and the Practice Education Coordinator at James Cook University, Australia. with expertise in the areas of  practice education, dysphagia and videofluroscopic swallowing study (VFSS).

Sophie Vigor

Sophie Vigor is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP) and Member of Speech Pathology Australia (MSPA).  She is a lecturer and the Lead Practice Educator at James Cook University, Australia.

 

 Student Contributors

Chelsea Scalia

At the time of contributing to this OER, Chelsea was in her first year of studying Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) at James Cook University. Chelsea is from Ayr, a small remote town approximately one hour from Townsville, Queensland.  Chelsea reported, “I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this project, aiming to help future students gain a better understanding of first-year topics”.

Ben Walker

At the time of contributing to this OER, Ben was in his first year of studying Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) at James Cook University.  Ben is from Townsville, Queensland, and in his spare time enjoys playing golf, cricket and Australian Football.

 

Technical and Editorial Support

Alice Luetchford

Alice is the Open Education Librarian for James Cook University Library, assisting in the discovery, adaptation, publishing, description, licensing, and reuse of Open Education Resources.

Sharon Bryan

Sharon is the Digital Literacies and Learning Librarian for James Cook University Library, assisting in the discovery, adaptation, publishing, description, licensing, and reuse of Open Education Resources.

Christia Heath

Christia is an Open Education Content Librarian for James Cook University Library, assisting in the discovery, adaptation, publishing, description, licensing, and reuse of Open Education Resources.

 

Contribution to cover design

We would like to extend our thanks to Tracy van Reyk (JCU Speech Pathology Alumni) and Christia Heath for contributing to the design of the cover.

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Introduction to Speech Pathology Practice: Foundational Concepts for Australian First-year Students Copyright © 2025 by Frances Cochrane, Louise Brown, Deborah Denman, Roger Newman and Sophie Vigor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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