Rachel Wastell Speech Pathology

24/05/2025

What a great selection curated by The Kids' Bookshop! There are a few of these on the shelves at RWSP.

04/03/2025

This is great to help explain and reassure our young ones about severe weather events. Take a look:

Storybooks, videos and resources to help young children and their families cope with cyclones.

26/10/2023

For all teacher friends and colleagues- this will be definitely worth 90 minutes of your time.

Teachers are invited to attend a FREE online workshop on Monday 30 October 2023 at 7:30pm (AEDT). Come along to learn about identifying DLD, evidence based principles for supporting students and collaborating with key stakeholders.

This workshop will be run by Shaun Ziegenfusz, speech pathologist, business owner and Lecturer. As part of his PhD studies, Shaun has developed a guide for supporting students with DLD, which he will be piloting in the workshop. This workshop and associated evaluation are part of a PhD research study. We kindly ask that participants be mindful of maintaining their own privacy and the privacy of other participants. This project has ethical approval from Griffith University Ethics Committee (approval number 2023/741).

Register here: https://bit.ly/DLDEd-Workshop

You will be asked to complete a brief online survey before and after the workshop about your knowledge, attitudes and practices about supporting students with DLD, as well as the validity of the guide. You will receive a certificate of completion after submitting the post-workshop survey.

12/12/2022

Yes! Even more reason to get into a graphic novel.

19/11/2022

Hill Learning Center is thrilled to have launched an updated version of the popular “Science of Reading Short Course.” The Science of Reading Short Course is...

10/10/2022

4️⃣ Days to Go | Countdown to 2022!

Here are some great tips from Ellen, a young woman with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) on how best to connect with people who have a communication disability.

The DO's

✅ Get to know me as a person, I am more than just my DLD

✅ Involve me but then give me time to respond and actually listen

✅ Keep it simple - the less spoken words the better

✅ Include everyone - you don't need to speak to join in

The DONT's

❌ Assume because I am quiet I have nothing to say

❌ Talk about me instead of to me

❌ Be afraid of silence - I need thinking and processing time

❌ Forget about me - I think more than I speak and I still have eyes and ears

❌ Watch me as I am thinking; it's too much pressure

❌ Lose your patience- I am trying my best

❌ Forget your actions also tell a story - I've spent a lifetime people watching

❌ Be afraid of trying - it will show you care - one size does not fit all and it's better to have done something rather than nothing

❌ Underestimate me - challenge me - I may surprise you!

❌ Give up on me

Thank you so much Ellen for helping us begin to understand what it is like to have DLD. Discover more of Ellen's amazing DLD insights at her website: https://sites.google.com/view/thisisdld

06/10/2022

🎈October is Dyslexia Awareness Month | Did you know Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) often co-occur? Tune in to The Talking DLD Podcast with special guest Dr. Tiffany P. Hogan to learn more ==> https://thedldproject.com/language-screening-and-early-identification-of-dld/

❤️ Dyslexia is a serious difficulty with reading and spelling words. Children with dyslexia have trouble reading and spelling even when they’ve had opportunities to learn and have tried very hard to learn.

❤️ Dyslexia is a type of learning disorder – that is, a specific, serious and ongoing problem in a particular area of learning. It’s also sometimes called a specific learning disorder.

❤️ Dyslexia is not a problem with intelligence. People with dyslexia are just as smart as other people, but their brains process language differently.

❤️ Dyslexia is a lifelong condition.

❤️ Talk with your child’s teacher if you’re concerned about your child’s reading and spelling.

Source: raisingchildren.net.au

01/10/2022

Today marks the start of Dyslexia Awareness Month so each day we will dispel a popular myth around dyslexia/reading impairment.

FACT: Without intervention, children who are poor readers at the end of first grade almost never acquire average-level reading skills by the end of elementary school (Francis et al., 1996; Juel, 1988; Shaywitz et al., 1999; Torgesen and Burgess, 1998).

https://www.gaablab.com/dyslexia-myths

26/07/2022

It was a pleasure to have an assistance dog-in-training work with his young human in clinic today. Good dog, Bailey! Thanks to Both Ends of the Leash for such great support!

30/04/2022

How is Developmental Language Disorder different from Autism Spectrum Disorder (and Other Neurodevelopmental Conditions)? "Neurodevelopmental conditions" is a name doctors and scientists give to differences from the expected brain and behavior development during childhood. There are many ways that b...

28/03/2022

Haley Tancredi has released some preliminary research findings. Worth a read.

In this blog, PhD candidate Haley Tancredi shares early findings from her doctoral research, which is being conducted as part of the Accessible Assessment ARC...

16/01/2022

Little steps…

Reminder 🌟👇