Speak Out August 2017

in practice

Lauren and Dayle visit communities in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula on a regular basis by ferry, plane, and helicopter.

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. Speech pathology, island style!

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 www.first5forever.org.au

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.

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August 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Speak Out