Free speech pathologist sessions improving literacy rates in Logan

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Academics say there's an urgent need to address the basics of language-like speech with recent national testing showing a third of Australian school kids aren't meet literacy expectations. Speech pathologists could be the key to improvement, and one program in south-east Queensland is leading the way.

Transcript

00:00It's a small word, but a big win for Isla. The five year old was a late talker, so she

00:13needs weekly appointments with a speech pathologist. So does her little sister Sammy. You're looking

00:18at about $80 per session I think it was. So if I had both the girls in it would be $160

00:24a week roughly, maybe more. But it comes as no cost to the Austin family thanks to a government

00:30funded speech pathologist at their local community centre. It's been great because otherwise

00:35it would have just put a huge dent in our budget. You do. I come into the playgroup and I basically

00:41just start mingling. The idea is, and it's a soft entry approach, is to make the parents

00:46feel comfortable and just have a chat to them. It's a remedy for those worried about their

00:50child's speech development. I've been working with children for 35 years and every year

00:55this year I've noticed more parents are more concerned. They tackle the building blocks of

01:01sounds, words and reading before the little ones head off to school. Oral language development

01:07is the foundation of all the other literacies that follow. Annual NAPLAN testing results show

01:12one in three Australian students are not able to read or write properly. But academics say early

01:18access to speech pathologists free of barriers like cost could be key to improving literacy rates.

01:25We know that if we wait until they get to school to develop these scaffolding practices around oral

01:31language and book reading that we've actually missed a golden opportunity. Opening the door to improved

01:39literacy!

01:54Afternoon NAPLAN سنчella, go to the U.S. Department of State,

01:57the University of District of Chicago, go to the U.S. Department of State of Education,

01:59the University of Denver, go to the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Missouri,

02:01go to www.napLAN.gov, go to the University of Pennsylvania.

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