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EARLIER THIS YEAR three speech pathologists representing
health, education and libraries met up on Thursday Island
(otherwise known as TI) in the Torres Strait to talk all things family
literacy.
One was Kylie Webb, Consultant Speech Pathologist for State
Library of Queensland’s First 5 Forever initiative. After a long
journey involving two planes, a taxi, a bus, a ferry and then a
walk (great for transport vocabulary!), Kylie and a colleague from
the library’s Indigenous Library Service delivered a professional
development workshop titled Island Style.
It was Kylie’s first visit to TI, but her two “speechie” colleagues,
Lauren Reardon, Senior Speech Pathologist at Queensland
Health, and Dayle Bates, Speech Language Pathologist at
Education Queensland, call the Torres Strait home.
The workshop participants came from a range of organisations
who work with families and children aged 0-to-5. It focused on the
importance of the first five years, language and emergent literacy
strategies for fives and under, and included community action
planning on how to get the family literacy message out to local
communities. The workshop included staff from Ngulaig Meta (the
Torres Shire Council Library), Torres Strait Island Regional Council
and Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council. The participants
made their own movie to share what they had learned with
their community. View the video via this link – www.youtube/
njZEV2sJnZQ and see Lauren, Dayle and their colleagues in
action.
While primary prevention is incredibly important, Lauren’s role has
both an acute and early intervention focus. She provides services
to adult and paediatric inpatients/outpatients across Queensland
Health’s 22 Torres Strait Island and Northern Peninsula facilities.
According to Lauren no two days are the same and she is
passionate about providing early intervention services and
supporting children and their families to ensure a strong school
transition.
Dayle works with staff and families to support identified students
at 20 school campuses across the Torres Strait and Northern
Peninsula area. She is also involved in the promotion of oral
language development through professional development for
school staff and the implementation of whole-school programs.
Lauren and Dayle visit communities in the Torres Strait and
Northern Peninsula on a regular basis by ferry, plane, and
helicopter. Both Lauren and Dayle provide culturally safe and
appropriate services by working with local health and education
staff to ensure services meet community need.
Lauren, Dayle and Kylie all have unique roles within the speech
pathology profession. Combining their skills and expertise and
encouraging everyone to work together, children’s early language
and literacy has been placed firmly on the agenda in the Torres
Strait.
First 5 Forever is a Queensland family literacy initiative delivered
by public libraries with the primary aim of providing strong literacy
foundations for all Queensland children aged 0–5 years.
You can find out more about First 5 Forever via the First 5 Forever
website
30 Speak Out August 2017
Speech pathology,
island style!
Above: Dayle Bates, Kylie Webb and Lauren Reardon on
Floral Friday on Thursday Island.
At top: Helicopter views of Warraber Island - a regular sight
in the day in the life of an island based speech pathologist.
Lauren and
Dayle visit
communities
in the Torres
Strait and
Northern
Peninsula on
a regular basis
by ferry, plane,
and helicopter.
in practice