Language and Literacy Support through Outreach services

The innovative Lift Off with Language program, modelled by a speech pathologist, helps develop early literacy skills in young children. Through classroom based activities, teacher skills are enhanced. Parent support and parent education are vital elements.

Lift Off with Language can be tailored to meet the needs of individual schools and is currently being run in a number of schools in metropolitan Melbourne.

The program is focused on early intervention for children with learning disabilities, targeting phonemic awareness- one of the predictors for early reading success and a key indicator of whether learning disorders are present or may develop. It also puts an emphasis on tailored individual assessment and treatment.

Lift Off With Language is an early intervention program particularly suited to Prep and early grade students. A modified version- Kinder Lift Off- helps develop pre literacy skills in children who are at kindergarten.

Direct classroom instruction is implemented by a speech pathologist as the facilitator co-teaching with the classroom teacher. Teachers are provided with support and training to meet the literacy needs of their young students. Parents are involved in the program as well through information sessions and meetings to discuss how they can best support their children at home. Lift Off With Language also allows small group sessions for students with additional phonemic awareness needs who may require additional support.

Outcomes from the program are very positive with almost all children involved showing a significant improvement in their reading and spelling.

Some example graphs showing the remarkable gains children make after being a part of Lift Off With Language; Pre and post test results.

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