Spotlight on WISH staff  

Each fortnight, I have been featuring one of our staff members within the WISH team, so our families can get to know who is supporting the students at Robertson State School.   

This fortnight, we meet our Chappy – Greg!    

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CRU Inclusive Education Workshop for South East Region families – June 11th 

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OWL Program – Supporting Children through family separation 

OWL is a group program for children with separated parents providing  a safe space to develop emotional literacy through creative therapy, and  opportunities to interact with other children in similar situations.  

The Program is a practical child-centred art and leisure therapy group allowing children to creatively express themselves through art, drama, and metaphors.  

It is suitable for children who are aged 7 – 12 years old; are adjusting to some of the difficulties of separation; have been told or will shortly be told of their parents’ separation or who have been impacted by parental conflict. Children have the opportunity to; 

• explore grief and loss experienced in response to family separation 
• identify safe coping strategies for their own self-care 
• process their experiences of living in two houses 
• identify the differences between child and adult responsibilities and acknowledge the rights of being a child 
• Celebrate their learnings and progress throughout the program. 

A parent's information session runs at the same time as the first group session. The session helps parents to understand what Owl Kids is about, what the children might be bringing home, and how each parent can support them. 

An alternate session offers the other parent the opportunity to attend at a different time in the same week.  The final session is a presentation for the parents to attend (separately), showcasing the children's progress and work through the program. 

Parents and children are each required to attend separate intake sessions before enrolments can be finalised.  

For Information, expression of interest, dates and registration for our 2025 group programme please click on the link to our booking portal: https://www.trybooking.com/DASPX  

Until next fortnight,  

Amanda Slinger  

HOSES  

Speech Language News

Has reading becoming more challenging for your child as they move into upper primary years? One possible reason could be difficulties with language comprehension, an essential skill for reading success.

As students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, new challenges can arise. In this article, we will delve deeper into how language comprehension plays a crucial role in both phases of reading development.  

Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001):

To effectively comprehend written texts, students have to acquire specific skills and knowledge. A helpful way to visualise this is through The Reading Rope, formally known as Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001). This framework offers a helpful way to understand the diverse elements necessary for proficient, fluent reading. The rope comprises of various strands, each representing different facets of reading. It weaves together two main strands:

• Word Recognition (knowing letter-sounds and reading fluently)
• Language Comprehension (understanding vocabulary and sentence structure).

Each strand contains smaller "threads" that become more tightly woven as students develop their reading abilities. Together, these strands form a strong "rope" that supports fluent, confident reading.

Word Recognition (Blue and Green Strands):

The blue and green strands from Scarborough’s Reading Rope symbolise word recognition skills, which are a fundamental to the process of “learning to read”. These skills commence in early education and progress through primary school, becoming more intricate every year.

They form the foundation of the initial reading phase, aiming to automate these skills to enhance reading fluency – the ability to read swiftly and accurately.

Difficulties with word recognition can manifest as:

• Trouble recalling sight words or trying to sound out familiar words
• Mispronunciation or incorrect sound-letter matching
• Difficulty blending sounds into whole words

Word Decoding Alone Isn’t Enough:

Word decoding is the ability to sound out and read words by matching letters to sounds. While it’s an essential part of early reading, decoding alone doesn’t guarantee understanding.

For example, consider this sentence with made-up words:

“The plob was zet so he koided with the vop”.

A child may be able to decode this sentence correctly, but it won’t make sense without understanding what the words mean. This highlights the need for both word recognition and language comprehension in reading.

Language Comprehension (Red and Orange Strands):

The red and orange strands in the Reading Rope represent the skills needed to understand what is being read. These include vocabulary knowledge, grammar, background knowledge, and the ability to make inferences and connect ideas.

Let’s replace the nonsense sentence with a meaningful one: “The cat was sad, so he played with the dog.”

Now, comprehension strategies such as using background knowledge and vocabulary can help a child make sense of the sentence.

Signs of language comprehension difficulties may include:

• Trouble understanding how word endings change meaning (e.g., run vs. running)
• Difficulty answering questions about what they've read
• Misunderstanding text due to unfamiliar vocabulary

Reading and the Curriculum:

In the early schooling years (Prep, Grade 1, and Grade 2), the Australian curriculum focuses on imparting foundational reading skills. This includes letter recognition, phonics, sight words, and understanding sentence structure and text types.

As student’s progress into middle primary years (Grade 3 and Grade 4), emphasis shifts from learning to read to reading for learning. Children are expected to utilise their foundational skills to comprehend and learn from texts.

Moving into upper primary (Grade 5 and Grade 6) and high school, students encounter increasingly complex texts, requiring enhanced comprehension and critical thinking abilities.

If your child is finding reading more difficult as they move through primary school, they may benefit from extra support in developing their language comprehension skills.

Warm regards and until next time, 

Morgan Johnson  

Speech-Language Pathologist  

Robertson State School (Wednesdays & Thursdays)