How Speech Pathology can help your child get ‘Prep Ready’.
It’s the time of year when we start to hear the term “Prep Readiness” thrown around, but not often alongside Speech Pathology.
Getting your child ‘prep ready’ – what does this mean? Generally, it relates to helping the child develop skills, which may be relied upon as they start to enter school.
Many of you may have already had your prep interviews, and be starting to plan the journey. Now is a great time to ‘check in’ with a Speech Pathologist, or Occupational Therapist to ensure your child has all the skills they need to take the first steps at school!
It’s fairly common for parents to take along their children for a dental check up, or a check up with the podiatrist to make sure the school shoes fit! However we find many families aren’t sure about how Speech Pathology, or Occupational Therapy can benefit their child prior to school entry. Our Parent Information Day this Saturday 30th June at 2pm, is the perfect time to find out more!
Oral language skills (speaking and listening), speech clarity & phonological awareness skills, fine & gross motor skills, and the ability to regulate and manage our bodies are all well known to contribute to academic success.
Research shows that 7-10% of children experience difficulties with language skills, and up to 5% of children are still experiencing difficulties at school entry. Speech pathologists can help!
Occupational therapists work with children and their parents to develop fine motor skills (handwriting, drawing & cutting), gross motor coordination (running, kicking, climbing), sensory management and planning and organisation skills (like sitting at the table top to do tasks).
These coming holidays, Cooee will again be offering our holiday groups. Run by speech pathologists and occupational therapists, they will be the first opportunity to give your child a jump-start on their prep readiness. Our speech pathologists and occupational therapists have spent many weeks carefully designing the groups to provide our children with a holistic boost in the skills needed to support academic and social success in their prep year.
Our groups will specifically focus upon:
- Whole body listening
- Drawing (fine motor skills)
- Personal narratives
- Narrative comprehension
- Emergent literacy
- Best speech practices
These groups will also provide parents with the opportunity to receive individual feedback, to learn more about your child’s progress and what areas may need extra support ahead of their prep year.
Contact the clinic today (on 3265-4495) to secure your child’s position in our upcoming groups. To gain more information about the groups, and to learn more about how to best ready your child for prep, mark our upcoming Parent Workshop in your calendar! Scheduled to occur this coming Saturday the 30th of June at 2pm, our speech pathologists and occupational therapists will be ready to answer any questions that you may have!