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42

Speak Out

June 2016

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Branch

News

Queensland

QLD 1474

Members

as at April 2016

Gold Coast Speech

Pathologist Karyn Johns,

presented at a Gold Coast wide literacy forum

in March, hosted by City of Gold Coast Library

Services on the Read and Grow Program. Karyn,

who won the SPA Elinor Wray Award in 2015, and

her colleagues at SPEECH Pty Ltd are dedicated

to supporting the development of language,

literacy and social skills within the community and

through partnerships with organisations such as

Communities for Children Initiative in the Northern

Gold Coast (C4C).

The Read and Grow Program, a parent child

interaction program aimed at developing quality

story sharing, is just one example of the work that

Karyn, her team and community partners are doing

to change the statistics of children growing up

with literacy, language and social skill difficulties

on the Gold Coast. Hundreds of families attend

Read and Grow storytelling interactions each

week and almost 2000 community members have

attended the Read and Grow training sessions

(half day) over the last few years offered for free to

the community up to six times per year for many

years. A number of key agencies now embed the

program in their work, such as Bushkids; Cerebral

Palsy League and Northern rivers/Tweed Library

services.

The Literacy forum was part of the First 5 Forever

Program, funded by the Queensland State

Government. Representatives from community

and education services all over the Gold Coast

attended the forum and participated in a workshop

that focused on identifying ways in which literacy

and oral language outcomes can be improved for

children across the Gold Coast.

Speech pathologists have the knowledge and skills

to support massive change within the community.

Karyn has felt the responsibility of bringing her

skill set beyond the clinic room and out into the

community to support change for people with

communication difficulties on a whole community

level. She is an exceptional advocate for the

speech pathology profession and people effected

by communication difficulties. The Gold Coast

community is privileged to have Karyn in their

corner!

To contact Karyn and her team and for more

information about the Read and Grow program,

visit the SPEECH Pty Ltd website www.

speechforkids.com.au

.

Kathryn Maroney and Yvette Dempsey - Gold

Coast Regional Representatives with

support from Karyn Johns

Changing the Game of Literacy

on the Gold Coast