Annual Report 2017

Hon. Raymond Williams MP, NSW Minister for Disability Services, opening the SPA National Conference on 29 May in Sydney.

Senator Carol Brown, Senator Rachel Siewert (Chair), SPA National President Gaenor Dixon and SPA Senior Advisor Ethics and Professional Issues Trish Johnson.

Peak Body Representation Speech Pathology Australia has maintained representation throughout 2017 on the following bodies: • Allied Health Professions Australia • Consumers Health Forum • Department of Veterans’ Affairs Health Consultative Forum • Mental Health Australia • National Aged Care Alliance • National Alliance of Self Regulating Health Professions • National Primary Healthcare Partnership • National Rural Health Alliance • Professions Australia. Working Groups and Task Forces • ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers Working Group (SDAC) • ASD Diagnosis Guidelines Steering Committee • Australian Stroke Coalition • Choking deaths from food among adults in residential aged care – Expert Review Panel • Communication Access Alliance • International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative Australian Steering Committee • Federal Department of Health Aged Care Standards Technical Advisory Group • Federal Department of Health & National Aged Care Alliance Care at Home Reform Advisory Group • National Aged Care Alliance Internal Working Group - Equity of Access and Outcomes • National Aged Care Alliance Ageing and Disability Interface Group • NDIS & Hanen in Early Childhood Stakeholder Group • National Early Language and Literacy Coalition • Restrictive Practice in Education (Victoria) Student Communication Stakeholder Group • Victorian Allied Health Workforce Project • Victorian Curriculum & Assessment Authority (VCAA) Special Provision Review Advisory Group • Victorian Department of Education Working party regarding educational resource for assessment of children with complex communication needs

• Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Learning Difficulties and Dyslexia Stakeholder Reference Group. Communication Access Alliance During Speech Pathology Week in 2017, the Association hosted a Communication Accessible Communities Forum. The broad purpose of the forum was to discuss forming an ongoing collaborative, with the initial aim of developing a national consensus on what is meant by communication access and building a clear advocacy position. A further aim was to develop national standards in the area of communication access, which can be promoted to government and the wider Australian community. The forum agreed to establish a standing committee and to rename the collaborative the Communication Access Alliance. The Alliance has had a series of discussions with Standards Australia about commencing the project of developing communication access standards. Communication Milestones Kit . The Kit was an initiative of Speech Pathology Australia Queensland Branch Advocacy Portfolio and was designed with help from the Association’s National Office. The kit provides information for parents and carers about the role of speech pathologists, and assists parents and carers to find a speech pathologist if they are unsure about whether their child is having difficulty with his or her speech, language and communication. The kit is a series of A4-sized downloadable information sheets and an A3- sized poster. These outline the talking and understanding milestones for children aged 1-5 years. The kit has been a resounding At 2 years children can usually... • follow simple two part instructions (e.g.,‘giveme the ball and the car’) • respond to simplewh-questions,such as ‘what’ and ‘where’ Communication milestones Understanding and speaking “between the flags” At 12 months children can usually... • understand about 10words • respond to their name • recognise greetings and gestures, such as ‘hi’ and ‘bye-bye’ Children learn to communicate by interactingwith early childhood educators, family,and friends. Communication Milestones In November 2017 the Association released the

At 18 months children can usually... • understand up to 50words and some short phrases • follow simple instructions (e.g., ‘throw the ball’) • point to familiar objectswhen named • point to some pictures in familiar books. • say 6 to 20 singlewords – some easier to understand than others,but becoming more consistent • copy lots ofwords and noises • name a few body parts • use objects in pretend play (e.g.,hold toy phone to their ear and say ‘hello?’). At 4 years children can usually... • answermost questions about daily tasks • understandmostwh-questions, including those about a story they have recently heard • understand some numbers • show an awareness that some words start or finishwith the same sounds. • usewords,such as ‘and’,‘but’ and ‘because’, tomake longer sentences • describe recent events,such as morning routines • ask lots of questions • use personal pronouns (e.g., he/she,me/you) and negations (e.g.,don’t/can’t) • count to five and name a few colours.

This poster showswhen,and how children develop communication skills.Early childhood educators and speech pathologists can support children to build their communication and keep them developing“between the flags”. We canwork together to: • find outwhich children are understanding and speaking “between the flags” • create communication-supporting learning spaces • help childrenwith a range of communication needs. Speech pathologists can also provide therapy to help childrenwith: • understanding and using pictures,symbols,signs,gestures, Please speak to parents about their child’s communication as soon as you have any concerns.Get advice from Speech PathologyAustralia by phoning 1300 368 835. Work togetherwith a speech pathologist in your area. You can contact speech pathologists: • through local community health centres and not-for-profit organisations • by calling or emailing private practices. Try searching for speech pathology services online,or at www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au (click on ‘Find a Speech Pathologist’). Language and cultural differences Children from different backgrounds, includingAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds,may usewords differently when learning English.Thismay not be a problem. Always encourage families to use the language(s) at home that they are comfortable speaking. Childrenwho are learning English needmeaningful language experiences through stories,music,nursery rhymes,play and LOTS of repetition. If you’re unsure about their progress, checkwith a speech pathologist. speech sounds,words and sentences • taking turns andmaking eye contact • building skills for later reading and spelling • stuttering,voice and feeding difficulties. Don’t “wait and see”

Get face-to-face withme whenwe communicate.

• point to several body parts and pictures in bookswhen named • understandwhen an object is ‘in’ and ‘on’ something. • saymore than 50 singlewords • put twowords together (e.g.,‘bye teddy’, ‘no ball’) • use their tone of voice to ask a question (e.g.,‘teddy go?’) • say ‘no’when they do notwant something • usemost vowel sounds and a variety of consonants (m,n,p,b,k,g,h,w, t,d) • start to use ‘mine’ and ‘my’.

• recognise a few familiar people and objects (e.g.,mummy,blankie, teddy) • make eye contact. • start to use sounds,gestures,and say a fewwords • continue to babble • copy different sounds and noises.

success and has proved to very popular with record numbers of downloads from the Association’s website.

When you talk tome,WAIT forme to respond before you saymore.

understanding

understanding

understanding

..

speaking

speaking

speaking

At 3 years children can usually... • followmore complex two part instructions (e.g.,giveme the teddy and throw the ball) • understand simplewh-questions,such as ‘what’,‘where’ and ‘who’ • understand the conceptsof ‘same’ and ‘different’ • sort items into groupswhen asked (e.g., toys vs food) • recognise some basic colours. • say four to fivewords in a sentence • use a variety ofwords for names, actions, locations and descriptions • ask questions using ‘what’,‘where’ and ‘who’ • talk about something in the past, butmay use ‘-ed’ a lot (e.g.,‘he goed there’) • have a conversation,butmay not take turns or stay on topic.

At 5 years children can usually...

No need to always read the whole book. Talk about pictures that interestme.

• follow three part instructions (e.g.,put on your shoes,get your backpack and line up outside) • understand time relatedwords (e.g., ‘before’,‘after’,‘now’ and ‘later’) • start thinking about themeaning ofwords when learning • understand instructionswithout stopping to listen • begin to recognise some letters,sounds and numbers. • usewell formed sentences to be understood bymost people • take turns in increasingly longer conversations • tell simple,short storieswith a beginning, middle and end • use past and future verbs correctly (e.g., ‘went’,‘will go’) • usemost speech sounds,but stillmay have difficultieswith ‘s’,‘r’,‘l’ and ‘th’.

Figure out what Iwant to say,and put it intowords for me.

understanding

understanding

understanding

speaking

speaking

speaking

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

To download this poster as handy information sheets visitwww.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/milestones

8 2017 ANNUAL REPORT Speech Pathology Australia