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Tim Kittel

@tim-kittel.bsky.social
441 followers 371 following 86 posts

Speech Pathologist and University Lecturer at Flinders University, in South Australia. The ridiculous amount of converse trainers and references that I make to 80s and 90s music leads me to suspect that this middle aged era of mine is not going to go well.

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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
We are very sorry about that programme. We see what’s going on there and it’s really not okay. We did however invent Dannii Minogue to try and rebalance the score card.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
As always, you’re amazing Bowen! These are much better than the photo on the Australian Biography page.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Another random question - are there any photographs existing of the pioneer speech pathologist Elizabeth (Betty) Usher? She’s a legendary figure in our profession’s history but I’ve only ever seen the one photograph of her. It would be great to have something to share with students before IWD2026…
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Putting this out to the universe…. Does anyone know of an app or program that successfully uses the Pomodoro technique?
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Bluesky has just asked me to verify my age through a face scan. The circle whirled with a message saying”estimating age”. I sort of wish it had taken at least a full circle to think about it.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
This is incredibly important research and the findings should influence educational policy makers’ decisions in the pedagogy and learning outcomes for FLO classes.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
In South Australian English, the word “dancing” doesn’t rhyme with “romancing”. This is not a problem ordinarily but it does mean that I can never belt out The Nolans’ hit “I’m in the mood for dancing” at a karaoke bar.
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Reposted by Tim Kittel
Flinders University @flindersuniversity.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Many mobile apps claiming to support early reading skills in children fail to deliver actual educational benefit, with positive app store reviews seemingly driven by aesthetics and functionality, a new Flinders analysis has found. Read more 🔗 bit.ly/3KkS7pc
An image of researcher Dr Lisa Furlong.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
I have a strong suspicion my bathroom scales are not doing Evidence Based Practice.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Ok. I’ve done this 52 times now and it doesn’t get any easier. Why is OCTOber the tenth month? I feel that my generation let the world down on climate change and ignoring an opportunity to sort out the months of the year to give them some semantic dignity.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
At what point did we suddenly get bombarded with requests to review products we buy online? I’ve just been sent a third reminder to “review” a polo shirt I bought a month ago. So tempted to write “After six days it sprung to life and ate several cats in the neighbourhood”.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Ha ha ha. It’s not brilliant across the board. “I should be so lucky” is an anthem for stalkers…
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
They say as you get older, the more fixed in your mindset you become. But this morning I woke up and realised that “What do I have to do?” is an even better Kylie song than “Better the Devil you know”. Admittedly both are REALLY bad pieces of mental health advice.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Ah gotcha. Just anecdotally, I think a lot of children, particularly bright ones, “gamify” life. I’ve worked with children who seem compelled to jump and touch the top of the doorframe when leaving every room, or who report they sprint for the bed after flicking off the light - to beat “monsters”
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Is one such example the “jinx” rule, which can silence another child until their name is said? It happens when two children say the same word or phrase accidentally. Alternatively shouting “shotgun” to reserve the front passenger seat in a car?
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
I’m watching the 2025 Alien series. Call me old school, but I do feel that if we could just call Sigourney Weaver in, she could dust all of this off by around the 53 minute mark.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
While I generally love anything Italian, the inventor of the Venetian blinds is my arch nemesis. I have never lowered Venetian blinds in less than 15 minutes, and by the end I resemble Animal from the Muppets.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
I have a genuine mistrust of anyone who would choose to write with a ballpoint pen over a felt tip pen.
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Dr Beth @drbeth.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Eurgh, there was a "do I need to use the mic?" guy. Everyone said it was fine, but I took too long to process the question (bc that's harder for me without the mic) so didn't have a chance to object before he launched into the talk. Seriously folks, just always use the mic. #Metascience2025
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Nichola Shelton @nichola-slp.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Always great to see work focused on adolescents. This paper looks at SLPs’ approach to communication assessment of adolescents who have mental health concerns. #SLPeeps
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Despite talking to my students about clinician led and standardised assessments, the terminology of “formal” and “informal” assessments comes back into their submissions. It’s interwoven into both speech pathology and teaching discourse. Is it as prevalent in other professions?
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
To be totally honest, I feel like an Anzac Muffin would be delicious, and I would totally break my no-carb rule for one. Maybe we should think bigger, DVA.
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Tricia McCabe @tricmc.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Delighted that from March 2026 children with #ssd (including #CAS) #stuttering or #cleft will get an extended Australian Medicare benefit - an additional (?) 20 sessions and 8 assessment sessions. Not enough by a long shot but an excellent start. Well done Speech Pathology Australia!
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
It’s almost been forty years now and Koo Dé Tah’s “Too Young for Promises” is still stuck in my head. Oh the irony.
The 7inch cover for Too Young for Promises, by Koo Dé Tah. A woman with striking hair and 80s makeup looks to the left of the cover with an emotionless expression.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
I totally agree! I'm a 50 year old man who wants his own Hank doll. And that's not even in my top ten of flaws.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
I hope that's useful! There are a few others I also use, but these are the ones that I've found most draw in a range of clients. I'm a big fan of language sampling through wordless picture books, and I just wish I had used all my samples to create a criterion referenced clinician assessment!
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Finally, Trainstop by Barbara Lehman is about a girl who catches a train and finds herself helping a group of small dolls rescue a fellow doll from a tree. Or is it just a dream? This one is great for inferencing, as you go back and find clues that you didn't notice the first time around.
An image from the book Trainstop by Barbara Lehman. A girl in a striped top watches a train pulling up at an underground station.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Hank Finds an Egg by Rebecca Dudley is just a beautiful story about Hank, who tries his hardest to reunite an egg with its nest but he just can't find a way to get it back up the tree. This one is fantastic for younger clients and will give you verbs and common nouns.
An image from Hank finds an Egg by Rebecca Dudley. Hank, a felt monkey rests by a tree, looking a nest with three eggs and a mother bird tending to it.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Journey by Aaron Becker has a similar premise, regarding a girl who finds a crayon that is magical and she uses it to enter a mythical kingdom with evil samurai figures menacing a town. This one comes in a trilogy (Journey, Quest, Return), so I use it in dynamic assessments. For older clients.
An image from the wordless picture book by Aaron Becker. A girl is flying over a castle and its ground, sitting on a red magical carpet.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
I use many wordless picture books. Will give you some of my favourites. 'Chalk' by Bill Thomson is my absolute favourite. It is about a group of children who find a magical bag of chalk and everything that they draw comes to life. And then one of them draws a T-Rex. Great for problem solving qns.
An image from the picture book Chalk by Bill Thomson. It shows a Trex menacing a group of children in a playground.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Every university cohort should have cake on entry. Happy 50th cohort of speech pathology @flindersuniversity.bsky.social !
23 cupcakes in a box, labelled “50 years of speech pathology”
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
I don’t use the bus story. Isn’t that the tale of a bus who wants to go off the road but is punished for it? It is the ultimate story of repression. No one should transcribe it. No one!
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Flinders University @flindersuniversity.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Hello 👋 Welcome to the official Flinders University account. Follow along for the latest news, research and updates about Flinders University! 🗞️ news.flinders.edu.au
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Super glad you asked www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Public/Publi...
speechpathologyaustralia.org.au
Swallowing Awareness Day
Like breathing, swallowing is essential to everyday life. Humans swallow at between 500-700 times a day, around three times an hour during sleep, once per minute while awake and even more during meals...
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
When the US leaves the World Health Organization, I hope that they immediately rebrand as the “World Health Organisation”. Having the z-spelling up on WHO hand washing guidelines drove me crazy during the pandemic. The world may end, but it will leave with a more aesthetic spelling.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Amazing! Emailed to work to read for later. It’s incredibly important that clinicians have some idea of what indicators to watch for, and to highlight them in reports
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Totally agree. I’m all for a very quick means of a language sample being turned into data, and maybe some suggested trends, which is what a computer program can do. An artificial intelligence will offer an interpretation, which is full of the sorts of bias that clinical reasoning tells us to avoid
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Tricia McCabe @tricmc.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
My gripe, if I have one, is 'uni didn't teach us X' which should be (a) I don't remember learning this and (b) I learnt how to acquire this area of practice
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Tricia McCabe @tricmc.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Yes and knowing our own scope of practice is both narrower and wider than when we graduated is key to ethical practice
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
3/3 I work in the area of adolescent language disorder and autism, and that’s due to all the upskilling from my undergraduate degree. BUT, I do agree that we have an urgent role in the area and universities can and should review content around literacy development
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
2/3 the brilliance of SLP is the scope of practice and therefore not every range can be taught to the level where graduates feel that they have mastered something. I feel I’d be very dangerous if I was let loose doing swallowing on a hospital ward tomorrow morning
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
To be fair I need to read this article in full tomorrow, but my first thoughts are about how much transferability is taught in all SLP courses; what constitutes core training, and what indicates extended scope and therefore the need for independent study. 1/3
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
It has only just occurred to me that during the pandemic I could have used the word “sequestered” much more than I did.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Phew! Glad I’m using it in a similar manner!
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
But yes, I suppose I go with production of the most sophisticated structure, and then travel both back and forward on the spreadsheet to ensure comprehension and production
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
I must admit I use it more for production than comprehension. Clinically, I tend to have a structuralist approach to language, focusing on word, then phrase, sentence & discourse, and sort of merge concepts of receptive & expressive language into one. Unless there is a significant gap between each.
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
PS. Apologies for the additional adverbial phrase on the board, I think I was trying to probe for that during the session depicted!
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
I often use it in therapy using a dynamic assessment approach. At times clients will spontaneously generate a more complex sentence so I will go back and ensure that less complex structures are understood. #DevLangDis
A list of adjectives such as “green”’or “hungry” written on a whiteboardA list of sentences following a syntactic structure of (noun) (copula) (verb) (noun) (prepositional phrase) on a whiteboard
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Tim Kittel @tim-kittel.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
I know it’s a very small problem, but I really needed a purple drawing pin and I have just spent the past half hour throwing things out of my desk drawers in the hunt for one, with all the fury of Daenerys Targaryen searching for her lost dragons.
Daenerys Targaryen with a very shouty face on screaming “where are my dragons?”
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Georgina Smith @smithge.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Without firm clear announcements on policy we can't speculate - but the message is getting clearer. A rare and often severe speech-sound disorder that invariably impacts multiple domains of a child's development will not be funded by NDIS.
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