School Services
OUR PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION SERVICES
We’ve been working in schools and kindergartens across Melbourne and regional Victoria since 2008. We take pride in providing professional, experienced, and excellent services to every education centre we work with.
Since 2008, our School Services Program has continued to grow to meet demand. We now support over 45 schools and kindergartens across Victoria.
Our services include:
We are proud to provide our school based services, and have been supporting some schools across Melbourne since 2008.
A practical and effective alternative. Our service assists schools and kindergartens to support their staff and students without the complexities of recruitment, employment, training, and resource allocation.
Our commitment goes beyond just delivering therapy programs. Over years of working with education teams, we’ve designed sustainable service delivery models and work to support educators to refine processes and implement robust reporting systems. We foster strong, positive collaborations between our dedicated Allied Health professionals and teaching staff to maximise the impact of our time on school or kindergarten sites.
We understand the importance of building meaningful relationships. Our team of passionate, engaged, and personable professionals brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to school support teams. We broaden the capacity of teaching teams through classroom support, professional development, and ongoing engagement in student assessments and therapy.
Competitive and flexible pricing. We cultivate long-term relationships with the schools and kindergartens we work with. We offer flexibility in our pricing and service structures to ensure that each education centre and their students have access to the care they need.
We work as a team with educators and teaching teams to understand and meet the needs of each student. We build capacity, knowledge and skills in each learning environment, and support each student to belong, participate and experience success.
Our Mix and Match Service Options
Assessments
We attend your site to administer assessments such as cognitive assessments, language evaluations, sensory profiles and funding applications.
Schools or kindergartens can request “Assessment Only” days, without the need to commit to ongoing therapy.
We can assist with school entry screenings: short assessments, perfect for little ones getting ready for kindergarten and prep, giving them the support they need to prepare them for school and plan their academic year.
Evidence-based Intervention Programs
Our therapy programs are evidence-based, crafted by our team of dedicated Speech Pathologists and Occupational Therapists. We offer fun, friendly and professional assistance to children and teaching staff across various areas, including:
- Speech Clarity and Language Development
- Grammar and Narrative
- Literacy and Reading Skills
- Stuttering or Voice Quality
- Listening, Auditory Processing, or Hearing Loss Management
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Handwriting
- Fine and Gross Motor Skills
- Attention, Organisation and Planning Strategies
- Social Skills and Making Friends
- School Readiness
- Classroom based, 1:1 sessions and small group programs
With a professional approach, excellent communication and a collaborative and positive attitude, our therapists ensure teaching teams are informed and equipped to support the needs of each student.
Therapy Aides
We provide training to centre-based Learning Support Officers or Teacher Aides, helping them to support children effectively in the classroom setting.
We design individual programs for aides to target individual or small group therapy goals.
Alternatively, we can supply an Allied Health Assistant (AHA) to deliver programs.
Our AHAs are either undergraduate students preparing for employment, or hold a Cert III in Allied Health Assistant training.
We employ our AHAs long term, so that each AHA is able to build their skills and offer a range of therapy supports during their employment with us.
AHA programs run on a term-by-term structure:
- Therapist assesses student and sets goals NOTE TO BYRON CAN YOU GET THIS TEXT ONTO A CIRCULAR FLOWING DIAGRAM?
- Therapist designs program
- Therapist trains AHA
- AHA delivers therapy program 1-3x per week.
- Therapist reviews program and progress
Using AHAs as part of the therapy budget allows schools or kindergartens to offer students a more intensive therapy program, or specific focus on skills. AHAs offer a cost effective way to deliver therapy programs, allowing more sessions to support each student’s goals.
Professional Development
Our team delivers engaging, practical presentations from experienced clinicians, mixing evidence and theoretical perspectives with tailored guidance and strategies.
Many educators plan our training into their annual Professional Development program on different topics each term. We offer sessions on a variety of topics requested by teaching teams, or can suggest topics based on the needs of current students or therapy caseloads.
Kindergartens accessing Victorian Government Readiness Funding can access our education and staff training sessions alongside classroom-based supports to build educator skills and knowledge in a year-long program, or session by session for specific topics.
Education and Resources
Community Education sessions are one of our favourite ways to engage with our community. We tailor sessions for parents, communities or teaching staff.
We are always interested in working in our local community to offer information sessions on all aspects of child development and learning, including early language development, toilet training or getting ready for school.
One-off education sessions are available for centres that don’t currently engage DWSP for ongoing services, on topics including school readiness, emotional regulation, resilience or literacy development. We design and distribute a range of custom resources created to support clients’ needs and education settings, including song boards, visual schedules and language resource boards.
Reach out for a chat about what your school, kindergarten or community centre is looking for. We’re always happy to help!