Speech Therapy Crisis in Northern Beaches Children who need speech pathology from northern beaches community health services currently face a six to eight month wait for support. The names of hundreds of 3 to 5 year olds are currently on community health waitlists with little hope of seeing a speech pathologist until February 2015. This is having a major effect on children who are preparing to start school and preschool as well as those who have disabilities like autism and developmental delays. In response to this health and therapy crisis, a local paediatric health clinic has stepped in to help. Kids First Children’s Services in Brookvale has added more speech pathologists to its staff and formed a mobile speech therapy team that is providing free practical advice to parents and teachers in local preschools. Kids First Speech Pathologist Rachel Daruty says that the team visits preschools to offer parents and teachers and opportunity to ask questions and seek advice about their child’s speech and language development. “When we visit preschools, parents and teachers frequently ask our Mobile Q & A team about the sounds and words that children should be able to say.” According to Rachel, many parents don’t realise that a typically developing two year old should be able to say the p, b, m, d, h, n sounds with ease. “Some sounds are later to develop and so we tell parents that between the ages of 3 and 5, it’s common for preschool children to have difficulty with “r”, saying “wed” for red, “v” saying “berry” for very, and “th” saying “fank you” for thank you.” Rachel’s colleague, speech pathologist Maja Zubic, says that the Mobile Q & A Team is helping parents to spot warning signs that could indicate that their child has a speech or language problem. “If a child is four and still cannot pronounce their m, n, h, w, p, b, t, d, k, g, ng, f, y, s, z, ch, j, sh and l sounds correctly, this is something that needs to be checked by a professional.’ “When we visit preschools, we are able to explain the link between a child’s articulation and their later ability to learn to read and spell correctly” “Acting early can save a great deal of stress for kids and worry for parents.” This month, Kids First is also offering a free speech therapy screening to Northern Beaches pre-schoolers aged 3 to 5 when they book before 29 August. For information about Kids First’s mobile Q & team or free a screening for your pre-schooler, call (02) 9938 5419 or visit kids-first.au/free-speech.html for more information.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 23:33:08 +0000
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