ALT Child Language Teaching and Therapy is an international peer reviewed journal which aims to be the leading inter-disciplinary journal in the field of intervention and management of children’s speech, language, and communication needs. The journal publishes original research and review articles of high practical relevance, and which emphasise inter- disciplinary collaboration between education and therapies. The readership of the journal consists of academics and practitioners across the disciplines of education, speech and language therapy, psychology, and linguistics. Child Language Teaching and Therapy is inviting authors to submit to a special issue titled: Listening to children with diverse communication abilities. This special issue supports children’s communication rights and expands on the Child Language Teaching and Therapy summer lecture titled “Do we really listen to children?” presented by Prof. Sharynne McLeod.

ALT For this special issue, the editors invite papers that explore: • Innovations in the identification and support of children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) as a result of listening to and learning from children and young people. • Methods to support children’s voice and to assist others to listen by considering space, voice, audience, and influence (see Lundy, 2007). • Moving beyond tokenistic inclusion to supporting children’s engagement in research processes where children are lead researchers, or collaborators and co-designers of the research (see Hart, 1992; 2008; Shier, 2019). • Diverse languages, cultures, modes of communication (sign language, AAC), ages (including infants and toddlers), geographies, abilities, and types of speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN). Theoretical, methodological, systematic review and empirical papers are all invited for consideration across the disciplines of education, speech and language therapy, psy

ALT References • Hart, R. A. (1992). Children’s participation: From tokenism to citizenship. United Nations Children’s Fund International Child Development Centre. • Hart, R. A. (2008). Stepping back from ‘the ladder’: Reflections on a model of participatory work with children. In A. Reid, B. B. Jensen, J. Nikel, & V. Simovska (Eds.), Participation and learning: Perspectives on education and the environment, health and sustainability (pp. 19-31). Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4020-6416-6 • Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’ is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British Education Research Journal, 33, 927–942. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920701657033 • Mahony, L., McLeod, S., Salamon, A., & Dwyer, J. (Eds.). (2024). Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-56484-0 • McCormack, J., McLeod, S., Harrison, L. J., & Holliday, E. L. (2022).