Intensive Support

Language Disorder Australia’s, Intensive Support program focuses on building capacity in school staff, such as teacher aides, school officers and teachers, to enable continued support for students with Language Disorder.

This service is currently available to support verified students (e.g. SLI, ASD, ID, SED etc.) who meet eligibility requirements. Eligibility is determined through information collected during the multidisciplinary consultation and assessed on an individual basis. Access to the intensive support program will also depend on the team’s availability and demand. Priority will be given to new schools that have not previously accessed the intensive support program.

The program focuses on capacity building in school staff to enable continued support for students with Language Disorder, during and following the completion of intensive support. Intensive Support is not one-to-one therapy, but rather a model that focuses on staff professional development to better support students with Language Disorder in classrooms. The supporting staff member must be currently working in the classroom with the identified student (e.g. teacher aide; classroom teacher; learning support teacher) in order to enable practise of strategies throughout the intensive support process.

The intensive support program consists of four 45-minute sessions delivered either face-to-face or via e-services. The goals for the sessions will be drawn from the multidisciplinary consultation in collaboration with school staff. The initial session focuses on refining the process to best meet the needs of the staff member in training and the student. Classroom teachers are encouraged to attend the first session, together with the staff member in training, to promote open dialogue and collaboration. The format of intensive support is as follows:

SessionAttendeesFocus
1
  • Staff member in training
  • Classroom teacher
  • Refine focus of priority areas for intensive support
  • Provide any required background knowledge of priority areas
  • Completion of pre-intensive support survey
2-4
  • Staff member in training
  •  Student
  • Explicit teaching of strategies to support student within each of the identified priority areas

E-services are primarily provided to regional and rural schools, where the team is unable to easily deliver face-to-face services. Schools are required to provide a computer or laptop with adequate internet connection to handle the software provided by School Support Services.

Following the completion of the intensive support program, the team will provide an Intensive Support Summary, outlining the student’s achievements and progress during the program, as well as future strategies, resources and recommendations for school staff.

 

Our Support Networks

Therapy support for children and young people with Language Disorder and other developmental and learning needs.

A full educational experience for children and young people with Language Disorder – from Prep to Year 12.

Enhancing outcomes for students with Language Disorder through consultation, capacity building through intensive support and professional learning for school staff.

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Support Developmental Language Disorder Day

on #DLDday, Friday October 14th, 2022

14 October is Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Awareness Day.
The 2022 DLDday theme is Growing with DLD, highlighting that DLD is a lifelong, permanent disability.

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