Welcome back to term 4. We hope everyone was able to enjoy some extra quality language building activities with family over the break.
Term 4 is a busy term for the speech pathology team. We focus on preparing for those students who are transitioning to other schools at the end of the year, as well as beginning to prepare to welcome our new students and families for next year.
This week we are also excited to be celebrate DLD Day on Friday 15th of October. RADLD stands for Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorders. DLD is diagnosed when children have difficulty acquiring their own language for no obvious reason. This results in children who have difficulty understanding what people say to them, and struggle to articulate their ideas and feelings. DLD is not well known, but on average it affects 2 children in every mainstream class of 30 children. It can severely hinder academic performance. You may already be familiar with the term because many students at Fremantle LDC have this diagnosis. DLD or RADLD day is about raising awareness in the wider community and ensure all students, not just those at the LDC, can receive support and understanding.
This year the staff at each of our sites are running various activities to promote awareness within our mainstream school sites. This will include holding morning teas and information talks for staff, distributing lolly bags and information packs, as well as displaying posters around the various sites. As parents, you play an active role in raising awareness as you advocate for your child in the wider community.
If you would like more information about DLD or information to share with friends, family and the wider community the RADLD website is very useful: https://radld.org/