Infancy, Toddlers, Early Childhood, Primary School, Adolescence, Childhood Development, Education and Social Skills, Child Health and Wellbeing
8 Hours (across 2 Fridays) Face-to-face training in Preston – Carers need to attend both days to complete the course.
Date: Friday 17 and Friday 24 July
Time: 10am – 2pm (Lunch included)
Location: VACCA (Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency) 340 Bell Street, Preston VIC 3072
*Please allocate time for travel and finding a car park. Darebin Arts Centre is a 5min walk from the office on Bell Street and offers free all-day parking.
Presenter: Joanna Chalkley, Key Word Sign Victoria
Key Word Sign (KWS) is the use of sign and natural gesture to support communication and language development to support children with communication difficulties and who may be at risk of learning difficulties. KWS is useful for children and young people with developmental delays, autism, or other communication challenges. It is a well-known strategy that carers can use across all settings such as homes, daycare and schools.
Carers will learn:
- How KWS can improve interactions with children and young people who have difficulties understanding and using speech to express themselves
- A vocabulary of 60-80 interactive signs
- How to choose which signs to teach
- How to incorporate and use KWS at home and in the community
Each participant will receive a copy of “Getting Started with Key Word Sign”. Everyone who successfully completes the workshop will receive a Certificate of Attendance.
The training is engaging, interactive and hands-on. Key Word Sign Victoria presenters have delivered this training both online and in person to a variety of organisations and community groups, individuals including carers, and to educational organisations. The presenter Joanna Chalkley is a speech pathologist, with over 30 years’ experience, working with children and their carers. In her work she uses key word sign as an essential tool to support children with communication difficulties and developmental delays. Since completing her Key Word Sign presenter training in 2013 Joanna has presented the Basic Key Word Sign workshop to participants from a range of backgrounds. Joanna enjoys sharing her knowledge about key word sign and the content of the workshop is aimed to be as interactive and practical as possible.
Please note the session will be capped at 15 participants.
The session is designed for kinship, foster and permanent carers.
