Speech Pathology News: Welcome from the Speech Team

Fremantle LDC

Welcome to Term One 2022! It has been lovely to welcome back many familiar faces and also get to know many new students and families. Last week the speech pathology team spent time in each class observing and interacting with students. We enjoyed hearing about exciting holiday activities and observing the use of language in a variety of contexts.

This week the team has begun completing our more formalised assessments program alongside the teachers. This assessment varies from year group to year group, but all focus on identifying how well students understand what they hear (receptive language) and put ideas into sentences (expressive language). This helps us build a profile of each student’s strengths and weaknesses. We then look at individual language areas (sound awareness, sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary) and how these are applied to tasks such as storytelling. The information gathered in this process is used in establishing the oral language goals for students’ Individualised Education Plans (IEP) and the class oral language programs. Teachers will share this information with you when they share the IEP later in the term.

The speech pathology team for this year is as follows:

  • Rachael Edwards – 2 days a week at the Willagee Site
  • Megan Griffiths – 5 days a week between the Bull Creek and Willagee Sites
  • Jasmyn Hall – 3 days over 5 at the Beeliar and Willagee Sites
  • Mikayla Orzanski – 3 days aver 4 days at the Willagee and Beeliar Sites
  • Elly Busby – 2 days at the Willagee Site

For those of you who were with us last year you may observe a few changes in the list.  In term 4 last year we said good bye to Nicole Chambers but we were delighted to welcome back Rachael Edwards from her maternity leave. We have also temporarily said good-bye to Sarah Ferdinand, who has also taken leave for this year, but we look forward to welcoming her back in the future.

The speech pathology team is looking forward to working with you and your child to support your child’s oral language needs.

The Fremantle LDC Speech Pathology Team