ACQ Vol 13 No1 2011

Language disorders

Fremantle Language Development Centre’s Top 10 resources Lara Lambert, Mary Bishop, and Wendy Strang

F remantle Language Development Centre is a school for children with specific language impairment in Western Australia. It provides specialised speech, language, and academic intervention in small groups for students from kindergarten to year 3. We work within a collaborative model of service that includes teachers, education assistants, speech pathologists, and school psychologists. 1. Mr Good Guess Inferencing Pack

3. Therapy Friends: Classroom Tools Kit The Therapy Friends: Classroom Tools Kit includes a manual and CD containing engaging and effective behaviour management resources for young children (early childhood and early primary). These include listening posters, reinforcement charts, social stories and activities. It is available through Spectronics. The price is A$159 (http:// www.spectronicsinoz.com). 4. Braidy the Storybraid teacher demonstration doll

From left to right: Mary Bishop (school principal), Wendy Strang (school deputy principal) and Lara Lambert (senior speech pathologist)

This resource promotes the use of visual clues and the drawing of inferences. Visual distractors are included and the children are encouraged to be detectives! It was devised by Catherine Redmayne, illustrated by Helen Rippon and published by Black Sheep Press, who recommend it for 6 to 11 year olds. The price is £35 (http://www.blacksheeppress. co.uk). 2. Speech Bubbles set of busy illustrations of everyday activities

The “Braidy the Storybraid” teacher demonstration doll supports students with narrative difficulties to discover and remember to include the parts of the story, each of which is represented by visual icons. The Braidy manual supports a developmental approach to introducing narrative. Mind Wing Concepts Inc. (USA) suggest an age range of kindergarten to year 2. The price is US$175.95 (http://www. mindwingconcepts.com).

This is another favourite from Black Sheep Press. The children are stimulated to adopt another’s perspective, to discuss characters’ feelings and to predict what they could be thinking or saying. The age range suggested by the publishers is again 6 to 11 years. The price is £15 (http:// www.blacksheeppress.co.uk).

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ACQ Volume 13, Number 1 2011

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au