English
Specialist Programs
I Get It! The road to comprehension
The I Get It! Comprehension Program is a package that unpacks comprehension systematically. Each chapter focuses on a critical skill or strategy and has an icon to represent these, e.g. a lock and key represents problem/solution. The icons are visual reminders to help the student’s working memory. Each comprehension strategy is taught as a routine, starting with very hands-on lessons then progressing through to literature and literacy. The package has been designed for teacher ease of use with many lessons, posters and activities available for each strategy.
I Tell It! Unpacking narrative and expository language/texts
The I Tell It! resource focuses on the processes and strategies that teachers can use to teach oral and written narrative with links to expository structures. It includes icons that can be used to support the learning of the overall structure and development of all text types (fiction and non-fiction). It covers critical developmental pathways, assessment and targeted strategies with associated resources. The book includes sections on how to make interventions work through scaffolding, guided implementation of strategies and repeated practice.
Braidy Tool
“Telling stories puts a tremendous load on working memory because students must engage in several activities simultaneously. When children tell a story, they must keep in mind the overall gist of the story they are telling while simultaneously organising each utterance, linking the utterances together in a temporal/causal sequence, and making certain that all utterances link to the theme and overall organisation of the story…” Carol Westby, PhD, CCC-SLP
Students with DLD are especially at risk in this area. To help with this load the WCLDC uses a program called ‘Braidy’ in Kindergarten and Pre-Primary. ‘Braidy’ is a creative, kinaesthetic and multi-sensory tool to introduce and target narrative instruction, using specific story grammar icons and a Story Braid doll (Braidy). The ‘Braidy’ doll has 3D representations of the icons on its body. Children can see, touch and move these icons to cue them for questions about stories, help them to recognise text structures and support them to include these components in their own narratives.
The icons represent the essential components of a complete story episode which are: Character, Setting, Initiating Event (Kick-Off), Internal Response (feelings/emotions), Plan, Attempts, Direct Consequence(s) and Resolution. They serve as a visual reminder for students to include critical story elements in their oral and written stories.
For Year 1 students, teachers use the WCLDC designed narrative icons depicted in the I Tell It! documents.
Literature Based Units (LBU)
A Literature Based Unit is a way of systematically unpacking stories and linking this to carefully selected activities that target specific language skills to assist our students to understand the language in books. Teachers have been developing units of learning (LBUs) around books for many years to improve student’s language skills so that they have the ability to participate in, and profit from, oral and written tasks.
Health and Phys. Ed.
I Do It! social skills program
The ‘I Do It!’ program creates a fictional environment or virtual world called ‘I Do It!’ park where there are many places designed for learning the social and self-management skills we need for school and to enhance day to day interactions.
Through the interactive nature of the program children can develop and/or feel more positive and successful about themselves, which in turn helps them to improve or make gains academically, behaviourally, and socially, leading to them to being more well-adjusted adults.
Mathematics
At the West Coast Language Development Centre, Maths is an important part of the program. Teachers follow the WA Curriculum, adapted to individual student needs, to plan student learning programs in Maths. Programs are evidence-based and a focus is on teaching the critical skills to enable children to become successful lifelong mathematical learners.
Areas in Maths include number, patterning, measurement and geometry. Students learn key language, understandings and skills through explicit teaching and the use of hands-on materials. Children with developmental language disorder are likely to find the language demands of many maths tasks challenging. Staff teach key mathematical vocabulary to support students to become competent users of the language of maths.
Maths resources are used to meet the needs of each child. Classrooms contain a number of resources, many of which are developed by Dr Paul Swan. These include manipulatives, board games, dice, cards, puzzles and barrier games.
https://drpaulswan.com.au/shop
There is the opportunity for parent involvement and learning through an annual Maths classroom learning journey. Parents are invited into their child’s classroom for a session to participate in a range of Maths tasks with their child. The learning journeys enable the parents to gain an understanding of important Maths concepts and skills that are targeted at the LDC, and types of activities that help children develop these.