It has been a real pleasure to spend time at Joondalup Education Support Centre again!  During my time at the school, the focus in the classrooms and in teacher sessions has been on comprehensive literacy instruction and on the importance of language and communication. 

Comprehensive literacy instruction is a balanced approach to literacy teaching and learning.  This approach recognises that there are a range of different learners in every classroom and that for every student to learn, we need to teach all the different skills involved in literacy.  For some students, developing their comprehension by building their knowledge of the world and their knowledge of texts is the most important part of literacy instruction.  For others, they need to most improve their phonics skills, or their fluency or their knowledge of sight words.  Comprehensive literacy instruction ensures that we teach all of the areas of literacy to make sure that each student gets the skills they need to make progress.

Across the week I have been able to work with teachers and education assistants in all classrooms.  It has been a pleasure to work within the classrooms, and the highlight for me, as always, has been seeing the progress the students have made.  Communication is also a priority for many of the students in the school and Joondalup ESC staff are working hard to support each student with their language and communication.  Many students have their own customised Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems, and staff work to model the use of these throughout the day so that each student has the best opportunity to develop.  Further work needs to happen in both areas, but particularly in the area of AAC where we need to move to increasingly complex systems to ensure each students’ communication continues to develop to support their learning.

Jane Farrall

Speech Pathologist and Special Educator

Literacy and Communication Consultant