Rate My Professor Tricia McCabe

Professor Tricia McCabe is Professor of Speech Pathology and Head of Discipline in the Sydney School of Health Sciences within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Speech Pathology (Honours), PhD (1994), Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), and Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist (CPSP), all associated with the University of Sydney. Her research specializations centre on enhancing diagnosis and interventions for moderate to severe speech impairments in children and adults, with a primary focus on childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), phonological disorders, dysarthria, and application of motor learning principles and biofeedback technologies such as ultrasound. McCabe developed the Rapid Syllable Transition (ReST) treatment, validated through randomized controlled trials, including a 2015 study comparing ReST to the Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme-Third Edition, which demonstrated ReST's superiority in improving speech accuracy and prosody. Additional RCTs support its efficacy in face-to-face and telehealth formats. She has authored 75 peer-reviewed journal articles, with highly cited works including 'Differential diagnosis of children with suspected childhood apraxia of speech' (2015, 286 citations), 'A systematic review of treatment outcomes for children with childhood apraxia of speech' (2014, 236 citations), 'A treatment for dysprosody in childhood apraxia of speech' (2010, 224 citations), and the aforementioned RCT (189 citations). Her scholarship has garnered over 4,700 citations.

Throughout her career, McCabe has secured $3.6 million in research funding, including from The Ian Potter Foundation in 2017 for a free online clinician training program in ReST to broaden access globally. She supervises PhD, research Masters, and Honours students in speech pathology, contributes to teaching in the discipline, and maintains a small private practice offering assessments and treatment for speech disorders. Professional appointments include roles at South Western Sydney Local Health District since 2018, past Fellowship at Murdoch Children's Research Institute (2013-2017), and consultancy for Speech Pathology Australia (2012-2013). She serves on the Professional Advisory Council of Apraxia Kids, the Board of SpeechBITE for evidence-based practice dissemination, and delivered the Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture. As Chief Investigator on projects like the Dynamic Theory RCT, her work advances clinical innovation and service delivery in speech pathology.