As 2025 comes to a close, so does Volume 46 of Seminars in Speech and Language (SSL), and marks the end of our third year as co-editors-in-chief for the journal. This volume has showcased many of the changes we have implemented as co-editors-in-chief over the past 3 years, including year-round consideration of open submissions and impactful topics for special forums curated by our editorial board members.

This volume has included a special three-part forum titled, Perceiving, Processing, and Producing African American English, which includes research articles and clinical seminars focusing on Multilingualism and the Child African Diaspora (Issue 2 this volume); Language, Literacy, and Identity: Clinical and Educational Perspectives on African American English in Child Development (Issue 3 this volume); and the Impact of language variation on the written and oral language in children who speak African American English (Issue 4 this volume). The forum was introduced by Megan-Brett Hamilton (2025) with a series of forewords that present the importance of the work represented in the manuscripts that follow. We are thankful for their contribution along with the hard work and dedication of the series guest editors, Dr. Karla Washington, University of Toronto, Dr. Julie Washington, University of California, Irvine, and Dr. Monique Mills, University of Houston, who is a member of our editorial board and spearheaded this series. We are very grateful to these individuals, the contributors, the reviewers, and the readers for their roles in this work.

The two issues of open submissions in this volume represent the variety and breadth of manuscripts we now consider for the journal and comprise issue 1 and this issue of Volume 46. It has traditionally been the case for issues including open submissions that we use the foreword to preview each paper, however, we are considering the option of using the foreword for a different purpose and want to hear from you, the readership of the journal, for how you might want to see the forewords used, so please send us an email with your thoughts. This issue includes five research articles representing different practice areas within the field of speech language pathology from different corners of the world including: voice disorders for educators in Kosovo, cross-linguistic adaptation to Malayalam for a measure of swallowing, developmental dysgraphia in German children, traumatic brain injury in China, and a study about speech language pathologists in the United States focused on experience with literacy services in schools. We hope you enjoy learning from these contributors from around the world about the variety of topics covered in the field.

At the 2025 annual convention of the American Speech Language Hearing Association, members of the editorial board presented a seminar about ideas for developing manuscripts, including ideas, tips, and tricks for being a productive writer. The seminar was well-received and provided an opportunity to connect with potential contributors and bring awareness of the types of articles the journal considers. We thank the editorial board members who contributed to this session, including Dr. Monique Mills, University of Houston, Dr. Toby Macrae, University of Canterbury, and Dr. Katie Strong, Central Michigan University. Along these same lines, we are currently seeking to add members to the editorial board for SSL, including both researchers and clinicians, with the requirement that editorial board members have experience either publishing or reviewing research articles. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Anthony Koutsoftas (Anthony.koutsoftas@shu.edu).

Finally, we want to inform you that Dr. Kaitlin Lansford will be stepping down as Co-Editor-in-Chief at the end of this year. In partnership with Dr. Koutsoftas and the editorial team at Thieme Publishers, she helped re-envision SSL as a primary source for the latest advances in speech-language pathology by accepting and publishing unsolicited manuscripts throughout the year, rather than collating them into a single annual issue. At the same time, she honored SSL's legacy of providing its readership with invited topical content curated by leading experts in the field. In 2023, Dr. Lansford invited Dr. Adrienne Hancock to guest-edit a special issue entitled “Innovations in Voice Care for Trans and Non-Binary People” (Issue 2). In 2024, she oversaw two special issues. The first, entitled “Intersectionality in Aphasia Services for Ethnosocially Diverse Adult Populations,” appeared in Issue 2 and was edited by Drs. Jose Centeno and Jacqueline Laures-Gore. In Issue 4, Dr. Heather Harris-Wright curated a moving and impactful special issue in honor of Dr. Audrey Holland, who served as the Editor-in-Chief at SSL for more than a decade. The SSL community, including the editorial board, contributors, reviewers, readers, and production team, is very grateful to Dr. Kaitlin Lansford for all her contributions as co-editor-in-chief over the past 3 years.

Article published online:
27 March 2026

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