Request for Services – New online form for 2025 will be available soon.
View and download the Outreach Summary Brochure 2024
For further information contact the Outreach Team by phone on (08) 9462 9580 or email enquiries to;
WestCoast.LDC.Outreachteam@education.wa.edu.au
Our Role
The West Coast Language Development Centre Outreach Service is a Department of Education support service. The service responds to the distinctive needs of public primary schools in the North Metro (coastal strip) Educational and Midwest Regions with a focus on improving speaking, listening (oral language) and early literacy learning for students with language difficulties, difference and disorders. The Outreach service implements an integrated model which aims to build capacity in schools by expanding knowledge and leadership skills of staff.
Our Support Officers can support your school by:
- Providing professional learning to educators and school leadership
- Assisting educators to develop and use teaching strategies and resources that assist children with language difficulties.
- Working collaboratively with educators to embed evidenced-based practices in oral language for children identified at risk with speech and language difficulties.
The team of Support Officers, Speech and Language (SOSLs) are based at the WCLDC East Hamersley campus and includes speech pathologists and teachers. Support Officers travel to our regional areas throughout the year, to work with schools who have requested support.
Schools within the WCLDC service area will be contacted by the Outreach service each year to offer support and professional learning. Participating schools will enter into a Service Agreement and commit to ongoing learning, via the agreement.
While all schools requesting a service will be allocated a Support Officer, to manage the workload in the context of the number of schools requesting new or ongoing support we prioritise schools (in terms of time availability) on the following basis:
Priority 1: Schools that have a focus on building and sharing in-school specialised leadership capacity focusing on language and early literacy with links to impact of disorder or disadvantage.
Priority 2: Schools requesting capacity building in language and early literacy teaching skills among early years’ educators without a focus on leadership.
Please note: We cannot assess individual children who require assistance with speech (i.e. articulation, or clear production of sounds when speaking). Children with speech difficulties will require referral to Health services or a private Speech Pathologist.