As we reach the end of February, the year seems to be rolling ahead swiftly. It’s hard to believe how quickly 2024 is passing by! We’re already halfway through the first term of school, and our clinic is operating at full throttle. We hope you’re feeling back in the swing of things as we dive into the new year.
A reminder that our holiday groups will be on these Easter school holidays. Call the clinic on 9398 3020 to register your child.
In this month’s newsletter, find out about the three charities we support at Eastside Speech Solutions. Continue reading to learn about the Phonics approach to literacy.
Our Toy of the Month for February is Lego! Continue reading to find out how we use Lego in the clinic to work towards our client’s communication goals. Plus we have two new members joining our team this month. Meet Joanna and Lisa, our two new incredible Speech Pathologists here at Eastside.
Introducing our Eastside Charities
At Eastside Speech Solutions, we have carefully selected three charities to support as part of our commitment to giving back to the community. These charities include 3d Toy Shop, The Indigenous Literacy Foundation, and Foodbank, each making significant contributions in their respective areas. We have decided to donate to one of these charities for each new client at the clinic. Learn more about each charity below:
3D Toy Shop
3d Toy Shop, as evident from its website, aims to bring joy and comfort to children by providing them with high-quality, educational toys. They believe in the power of play to foster creativity, learning, and emotional development among children of all backgrounds.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation focuses on improving literacy rates and educational outcomes among Indigenous Australian communities. Through their programs, they provide access to culturally appropriate books and literacy resources, empowering Indigenous children and adults to develop strong literacy skills and embrace their cultural heritage.
Foodbank
Foodbank play a crucial role in addressing food insecurity by collecting surplus food and distributing it to Australians in need. Operating across various states, including NSW-ACT, Foodbank ensures that individuals and families facing hunger have access to nutritious meals and essential food items.
The Power of Phonics: A Key Approach to Achieving Reading Proficiency
In a world where literacy is the cornerstone of education and success, the ability to read proficiently is crucial. Recently, the Grattan Institute in Australia set an ambitious target: aiming for 90 per cent of children to be reading proficiently in the long term. Achieving this goal requires a multifaceted approach, with one crucial element being the utilization of phonics as the primary method for teaching reading.
Phonics is a method of teaching reading and spelling that emphasizes the relationship between sounds and their corresponding letters or groups of letters in the alphabet. Instead of relying solely on memorization or guessing, phonics equips children with the tools to decode words independently. This systematic approach lays a strong foundation for reading comprehension and fluency, enabling students to tackle increasingly complex texts with confidence. Click here to read more.
Toy of the Month: Lego
Who doesn’t love playing with Lego? Here are some ways you can build speech, language and social skills using Lego:
- Descriptive language (e.g. colours, shapes, sizes)
- Social skills: cooperative play, sharing ideas, taking turns, problem-solving, imaginative play and story retelling
- Requesting: Can I have
- Sounds such as ‘l’ → ‘lego’, ‘I like lego’; ‘sh’ → ‘shop’, ‘shape’, ‘push’
- Sequencing (e.g. what do we put on ‘first’, ‘next’ and ‘last’?)
Following and giving directions: “Before you put the blue piece, put the green piece”; “Put the blue piece after you put the yellow piece”
Click here to find Lego Sets online.
Meet a team member: Lisa
Lisa loves journeying with children, families, and adults as they develop skills enabling them to communicate as clearly and effectively as possible. She is passionate about facilitating parent-child interactions, literacy development, clear pronunciation of words and sentences and strengthening the communication skills individuals need for their daily interactions.
Lisa has experience working with children and young people with a diversity of skills and challenges. This includes speech difficulties, Autism Spectrum Disorder, developmental delays, language impairment, learning difficulties, dyslexia, and stuttering. Lisa has worked extensively within a multidisciplinary team and is skilled at integrating a person’s sensory, attention and self-regulation skills into therapy sessions.
Meet a team member: Joanna
Joanna is a caring and passionate speech pathologist who enjoys working with both children and adults. As part of her holistic, client-centred therapy approach, she is enthusiastic about including parents, teachers, carers, partners and other professionals to set functional goals and to help her clients meet them in an effective and meaningful way.
Joanna has experience assessing and treating children, adolescents and adults with speech, language, literacy, accent modification and social communication difficulties. She also has experience working with individuals with disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Intellectual Disability, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Click here to meet more of our team members.