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Speak Out
October 2013
Speech Pathology Australia
NT’s SPWeek
S
peech Pathology
Week was another
busy week for speech
pathologists in the Northern
Territory.
Starting a week early, the
NT Branch hosted a stand
at the Darwin and Alice
Springs Careers Expo.
While many students
thought we were dentists
at first, the stand gave us
a great opportunity to
share what speech
pathology is and all the
amazing things about
choosing a career in
speech pathology.
Year 10, 11 and 12 students
were particularly interested
in the tastes of thickened
fluids and we found this
a good way to start the
conversation about speech
pathology.
We launched SPWeek
with a stall at the largest
shopping centre in Darwin.
While this had its challenges
(in that people were wary
of us trying to sell things or
that we were politicians),
we were able to talk to
members of the public
about communication in
both adults and children.
This included answering
questions from concerned
parents as well as
connecting people to other
services such as aphasia
groups.
We again displayed our
banner on a busy Darwin
road, this time opposite the
Mindil Markets and on show
to many locals and tourists
visiting the iconic Darwin
Markets.
The week closed with
two local speech
pathologists, Amy and
Margeux, running a Singing
Group at the local library
to spread the word about
communication and how
parents can start the
conversation with their
children. This was very useful
as we were able to answer
questions and provide
information to parents who
had concerns, such as the
effect of prematurity on their
child’s development. The
feedback was all positive
with parents wishing they
could attend something
similar more often.
A big thanks to all members
who volunteered their
time to assist with all the
activities we managed to
accomplish over the week.
Hopefully we have started
the conversation around the
NT and this will continue
as we look forward to the
International Communication
Project 2014.
Melissa Lovell
NT Branch President
Raising awareness about speech pathology in the Northern Territory
From left: Melissa Lovell and Ashley Harling at the Darwin Careers Expo; Pari Kulkarni, Amy Southwood and Penny Mogg
held a speech pathology stall at Darwin
’
s largest shopping centre..
Melissa Ridd and Amy Southwood displayed a banner near Darwin’s Mindil Markets to raise public awareness about speech
pathology during SPWeek.