Speak Out OCTOBER 2021 DIGITAL EDITION

Association NEWS

Staff and clients at The Hub Integrated Child Development Services in Mandurah WA, got into the spirit of Speech Pathology Week.

Out & about for SP Week SP Week at The HUB WA

We were fortunate not to have very many COVID restrictions in WA at the time of SP Week, and were very happy to be able to provide some lovely experiences for our clients and staff to celebrate the week. Our reception area was decorated, with speech and thought bubbles, with cheeky comments and jokes, on our reception area COVID barriers. We had communication colouring in pages, handmade bookmarks around literacy and communication themes, information sheets, pens and magnets available for those visiting the clinic. Our families and clients provided speech and thought bubbles to create artwork, write a story, or make a comment. These speech and thought bubbles were then displayed in reception throughout the week. We also had "magnetic poetry" available for people to access in reception, which resulted in lots of wonderful interaction amongst families, and some humorous results! Our reception television screen displayed a range of speech, language, and literacy facts, and our Facebook Page made use of the media information provided by SPA. Each of the clinic rooms had a rebus puzzle on the door, and staff and clients spent the week trying to solve each

puzzle (staff received prizes for returning their completed answer sheets!) and the answers to these puzzles will be displayed in the coming weeks for all to see. We were amazed by the creative responses some of these puzzles provoked! On Wednesday, our speech staff provided the rest of the clinic staff with a lovely lunch and were available to answer questions and to demonstrate some of our AAC and therapy materials. Because our clinic is usually so busy, this was a wonderful opportunity for our speech staff to liaise with the other disciplines in a relaxed atmosphere (special thank you to our practice manager, who made it possible for even reception to participate!) We are really pleased with this, our inaugural Speech Pathology Week event, and are already planning what we can do for next year! We hope that next year provides a safer environment for practices across the country to engage in more interactive events! Kara Breitenbach The Hub Integrated Child Development Services, Mandurah Western Australia

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October 2021 | Speak Out