Speak Out April 2018

Communications Milestones project update

Background and aims The Communication Milestones resource began as an idea voted on by attendees of the Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) Queensland Branch Advocacy Workshop in February 2016. Children spend many of their waking hours learning to communicate in early childhood education settings. Early childhood educators (ECEs) and speech pathologists play a crucial collaborative role in keeping children’s communication development “between the flags” to ensure optimal communication outcomes. Thus, the project aimed to provide ECEs with: • communication milestones information for children 0–5 years of age, • strategies to support children’s communication, • information regarding the role of speech pathologists in communication development, • how to find a speech pathologist in their local community. The resource needed to be visually appealing with a user-friendly writing style and format. Thus, the resource took on multiple formats, including: • A1 sized poster, • self-contained A4 sections for each age group between 0 and 5 years to allow ECEs to use these individual sections as fact sheets for parents, • an online toolkit containing printable versions of the above. Process 1. A working group was created within the Queensland Advocacy Portfolio. Meetings were held at approximately monthly intervals via the videoconferencing platform ‘GoToMeeting’, with occasional face-to-face meetings for those residing in Queensland’s south east. 2. The project commenced with a needs analysis. Existing resources commensurate with the project’s aims were sought and reviewed to identify gaps. 3. There was unanimous agreement that the poster should be a uniquely Australian resource, with "an extra touch of Queensland" to reflect the group’s origin. The concept of "communicating between the flags" (that is, the flags of surf lifesavers) became the resource’s theme.

4. Extensive drafting and redrafting occurred throughout 2017. Developmental milestones were cross-referenced from the current literature and resources from reputable organisations. Strategies to assist ECEs with supporting children’s communication were added, along with an important note on the impact of cultural and linguistic differences on children’s communication. 5. A design brief was submitted to SPA National Office. Rebecca Faltyn, SPA’s previous graphic designer and Assistant Manager of Communication and Marketing, was instrumental in moving the project from concept to creation. 6. A pre-distribution SurveyMonkey was sent through various networks to gain external perspective on the content and design of the resource in draft form. The survey provided valuable feedback that led to many more redrafts until the resource was finalised in its current form: informative, eye- catching and unique! Distribution A mailing list of all long daycare centres in Queensland was compiled using data from the National Registers of the Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority, as well as the MyChild.gov.au service registry. With generous monetary contributions from the Queensland Branch and National Office, A1 sized posters (accompanied by a letter of introduction) were printed and mailed to approximately 1500 Queensland early childhood education centres in November 2017. National Office assisted the working group to create an online toolkit of resources which was uploaded to the SPA website: www. speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/milestones. The online toolkit was promoted on numerous social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In response to the overwhelming positive feedback to the resource, National Office ran a reprint of the posters, which were included in the mail out for the December 2017 edition of Speak Out . Extra posters were mailed to early childhood education centres that requested additional copies. Evaluation An informal email survey was conducted in January 2018 to gauge ECEs’ responses to the poster. The email was delivered to 1,398 of centre email addresses. Due to time restrictions, 27 completed

WardaAbrahams

StephanieHarris

Queensland Branch Advocacy Portfolio members

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April 2018 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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