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February 2017 Speak Out 39
Queensland
QLD 1650
members
as at November 2016
Branch News
The launch of Speech Pathology Australia’s
Clinical Guidelines for Speech Pathologists
Working in Literacy has prompted me to share
an exciting opportunity for speech language
pathology in the Queensland Department of
Education and Training (DET).
In January 2016, DET established the Reading
Centre, an initiative that champions reading
as an essential life skill and supports school
leaders, teachers and parents to inspire,
encourage and teach young Queenslanders
to read. The Reading Centre has a director
and manager, four reading coaches, and a
speech-language pathologist, who provide
specialist advice and professional learning
to build the capability of teachers to plan for
reading within the Australian curriculum and
implement evidence-based teaching practices,
and the confidence of parents to support their
child’s reading development both before and
throughout their schooling years.
As I read the Literacy Guidelines, I am affirmed
to see just how closely my work at the Reading
Centre reflects the Association’s guidelines.
At a system level and in my role as Senior
Advisor Speech Language Therapy, I deliver
evidence-based professional learning for school
leaders, SLPs and class teachers on the integral
relationship between oral language and literacy.
For parents and educators of pre-schoolers,
Reading Centre’s professional learning that I
have delivered has targeted the promotion of
spoken language and emergent literacy skills
and the early identification of children at-risk for
difficulties learning to read. For teachers and
school leaders, the focus has been the language
basis of reading comprehension and how to
use conceptual frameworks to identify children
at risk of or, experiencing difficulties learning to
read, plan intervention that targets underlying
causal factors and delivered at all levels within
a response to intervention (RTI) model, and
monitor progress using a dynamic assessment
approach.
In addition, my role advocates for SLPs as
a member of a multidisciplinary team in the
differential diagnosis of dyslexia, including advice
on assessment protocols, and contributing
profession-specific input to the development of
evidence-based intervention practices.
The SLP position at the Reading Centre provides
a platform for continued advocacy for the role
of SLPs in the literacy domain, an opportunity
to influence the teaching of reading in state
schools, and to demonstrate how an integrated
service delivery model where teachers and SLPs
work collaboratively can best support students
to achieve reading competency and educational
outcomes.
Jennifer Peach
Senior Advisor – Speech Language Therapy
Metropolitan Region and Reading Centre
Leading the way in Literacy!