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42 Speak Out June 2016
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.
.
Kathryn Maroney and Yvette Dempsey - Gold
Coast Regional Representatives with
support from Karyn Johns
Changing the Game of Literacy
on the Gold Coast