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A first ever mobile speech therapy service for the Illawarra, funded by the Greater Charitable Foundation, will provide disadvantaged kids aged four and under with communication skills vital to their future.
The early intervention service involves the employment of a mobile speech therapist and will start early next year. By providing programs in groups at 10 pre-schools each year, the therapist will be able to provide services for up to 750 children over a three year period.
KidzWish Foundation general manager Simon Davie said that a child’s inability to communicate effectively has been linked with developmental delay and behavioural issues that subsequently affect families, schools and communities.
Mr Davie said that the service will go some way to addressing a critical and detrimental shortage of speech therapy service in the region. There are only two public area health clinics providing paediatric outpatient speech pathology services between Kiama and Helensburgh. Waiting times at these clinics are up to three years.
He said the unique program targets those who need it most. It tackles the key issues for effective service delivery – access to services, early intervention, and the involvement of parents and teachers.
“We know examples of pre-schools where 80% of children require speech therapy and 90% of those children’s parents are without transport, so we are taking the service to the kids,” Mr Davie said.
“By involving parents and teachers at the pre-schools we can ensure a continual, consistent and long lasting focus on speech improvement even after the speech therapist moves to another pre-school,” he said.
Greater Charitable Foundation CEO Anne Long said that the program addressed a significant issue vital to the Foundation’s mission of improving life outcomes for families and communities in the long term.
“Children with communication disorders are often socially disadvantaged and without treatment can find it more difficult to get a job,” Ms Long said.
The $515,000 in funding over three years is being provided from the inaugural funding round of the newly established Foundation. Other charity partner programs to be supported by the Foundation will be announced next month. The Foundation is funded out of the profits of the Greater Building Society.
Greater Building Society CEO Don Magin said staff from the Greater Building Society’s seven Illawarra and South Coast branches will be able to volunteer to assist in the delivery of the program. He said that the Foundation funding is in addition to support provided to KidzWish by the Greater Building Society as a gold sponsor. |
