LANGUAGEDEVELOPMENTCENTRE

2018REFERRALGUIDELINES

REFERRAL ELIGIBILITY

Areferral eligibility criterionis relevantfor appropriateplacementwithinaLanguageDevelopmentCentre (LDC). Thefollowingcriterianeedto beconsideredwhenmakinga referral:

1. Thechildmusthaveasignificant primarylanguage disability inoneor morelanguageareas.

2. Thechildneedstodemonstrateevidenceoflearning potential within the average or above average range (as measured with a non-verbally administered tool).

Pre Primary – Year 1Referrals:

•AcurrentcognitiveassessmentisessentialforPrePrimarytoYear1referralsforplacementin2018by a School Psychologist or Private Psychologist.

Kindergarten referrals:

•Adevelopmental assessmentishighlyrecommendedforreferralsintoKindergarten.However,itisnot mandatory(forexample,ifservicesarenotavailable).AGriffith’s assessmentadministeredbya paediatricianormedicalofficerisasuitableassessment. Iftheassessmenthasnotbeenconductedin full,pleaseencloseall availableinformation andcompletedsubtests. If possible,a reportisto beattached. Someinformationaboutthecognitiveabilities/learningpotential ofthechildren wouldbeusefultothe placementcommittee.

•IfanASQ(AgesandStagesQuestionnaire)hasbeencompletedwiththeparent/spleaseincludethis information.

3. Thechildneedstodemonstratesoundadaptivebehaviourskills,substantiatedbyobserveddescriptive evidence ofthechild’sbehaviour in his/her currenteducational placementor in his/her home.

•ForKindergartenapplicants,theParent/CarerQuestionnairesshouldbecompletedbytheSpeech Pathologist andparent/s togetherto gainatruepicture ofthechild.Ifthechildattendsachildcarecentre, achildcareworker is tocompletethis questionnairein additiontotheparent’s copy.

•For PrePrimary to Year 1 applicants the child’s classroom teacher should complete the relevant questionnaireto provideinformation about thechild’sindependenceskills,social-emotionaldevelopment, attention,sensory-motor skills, oral languageandreadiness &conceptual/academic skills intheclassroom.

TIMELINES

Referralsinto PrePrimaryand Year 1:duedate–Friday 8th September2017 (Term 3,Week 8)

Referralsinto Kindergarten:duedate–Wednesday 20thSeptember 2017 (Term 3,Week10))

NOLATE REFERRALSWILLBE ACCEPTED

REFERRALINTAKE

All fourLDCs(NorthEast,WestCoast,South-East,Fremantle) and Peel LDS acceptKindergarten, Pre Primary and Year1referrals.

Pleaseensurethateach applicant only appliesforone yearlevel.Ifparents and referringagentswish to requestachild repeata year level a discussion with theLDC Principal must be arranged prior tocompletingtheyear-specific referral documentation.

Ifyouhaveany queries regardingthereferral processor youwouldliketodiscussthereferral ofspecific children pleasefeel freetocontactyour localLDCandspeakwiththePrincipal orSpeech Pathologists.

Referrals for 2018maybe completed submittedelectronically via email to the relevant Centre. If using this option please use the PDF forms (includingSpeech PathologyReferralReports,CALDquestionnaires and teacher/carer questionnaires)and attach them to an email along with additional attachments(e.g.score forms,behaviourquestionnairesetc.). Alternativelyahard copymaybesubmitted through thepost/delivery.

CONTACT DETAILS:

LDC / Principal/s / SpeechPathologist/semail addressto send
e-referralsto / Phone
North East LDC / Rosemary
Simpson / AnnaTaylor
() / 92755511
West Coast LDC / Shelley Blakers / Julia Cronje /Sarah Morrey/Polly Prior
() / 9401 5433
SouthEast LDC / RonnieO’Neil / CecileFerreira
() / 92773200
Fremantle LDC / Wendy Strang / Rachael Bongiascia
() / 93318602
Peel LDS / FionaForbes & Shelley Collins / Tanya RoseDominique Sullivan
() / 95939030

RESPONSIBILITIES

SpeechPathologist:

•Completionoftheappropriate SpeechPathologyLDC Referral ReportForm andassociatedassessment.

•CompletionoftheParent/Carerquestionnairetogether withtheparents for Kindergartenapplications.

School Psychologist:

•Psychometric assessment.

•Behaviour checklist.

•Ensure that teacher has completed the teacher questionnaire and forward that information with the assessmentsfor PP-1applications.

LDCs:

•Distributeupdated referral forms toreferringSpeechPathologists intheir catchment areas.

•Answer queries from referringSpeechPathologists regardingtheLDC referral process.

•InformreferringSpeechPathologistsofwhichchildrenhavebeenofferedaplaceintheLDCassoonas possible.

THESPEECHPATHOLOGYREFERRALREPORTS

There arethreeSpeechPathologyReferral Reports forLanguageDevelopmentCentre Placement:

•Kindergarten - tobe usedtorefer childrenfor placementinto Kindergartenin2018

•Pre Primary- tobeusedto refer current Kindergartenagedchildrenforplacementin Pre-Primary in2018

•Year1–tobeusedtoassess current Pre-Primary childrenforplacementintoYear1in2018.

PLEASE DONOT USEOUT OF DATEFORMSFOR REFERRALASTHESEHAVECHANGED.

CURRENT REFERRAL FORMS HAVE BEEN CLEARLYMARKEDWITH2018LDC APPLICATION

SPEECH PATHOLOGYREFERRALREPORTFORMAT

Thedata sheet isnowthe first pageof each SpeechPathologyReferralReport.

This includesstudent’sdemographic details andinformationregardingthereferees.

Pleaseprovidedetailsof other agenciesinvolved with the child (if known) and a casesummary.

Thesummaryis helpfultothe placementcommitteeasit presents an overall picture ofthechild. Itmay include:

•Whether thechild’s language difficultiesarewithinthereceptive and/orexpressivedomainandwhether theypresentwithadditionalspeechand/orfluency difficulties.

•Theseverity ofthechild’s languageand/or speechimpairment.For example –severe, moderate, mild, age- appropriate.

•Any specific informationregardingthechild’s strengthsandweaknesses indifferentlanguage areas (e.g. comprehension,semantics,syntax,narrative,phonological awareness orpragmatics).

•Theimpactofthechild’s languagedifficulties inthehome or educational environment(e.g.peer interactions,ability toaccess thecurriculum)

•Itis atthis pointthatanyinformationthatwouldshow thataplacementinaLDCwouldbethebestmanagementoptionavailabletothechildshouldbeincluded.

Please also provide information relating to families’ transport requirements to get students to and from school if they are successful applicants.

This information helps inform school planning and appropriate site placement if students are successful applicants. This information is not binding and does not limit families’ transport options. Upon enrolment if successful,families wanting to make use of the school bus service will need to apply for this service.

StandardisedAssessments:

Kindergarten/Pre-PrimaryAssessment: theCELF- Preschool-2

Year1Assessment: theCELF-Preschool-2(ifthechildis 6.0yrs)

OR

theCELF-4(ifthechildis6.0yrs)

OR

theCELF-5(ifthechildis6.0yrs)

AdministrationofthefollowingsubtestsisrequiredtocalculatetheCoreLanguage,ReceptiveLanguage,

andExpressiveLanguage Scores:

CELF-P2:SentenceStructure,WordStructure,ExpressiveVocabulary,Concepts &FollowingDirections,Recalling Sentences andBasicConcepts.Children5years andoldercompleteWordClasses-ReceptiveExpressive instead ofBasic Concepts.

CELF-4:Concepts &FollowingDirections,Word Structure,RecallingSentences,FormulatingSentences,Sentence

StructureandWordClasses ReceptiveExpressive.

CELF-5:Sentence Comprehension, Following Directions, Word Structure, Word Classes, Formulated Sentences, Recalling Sentences.

TheCELF-P2 or CELF-4assessmentsmay be loaned for the purposeofLDC referral.Some Centres may have the CELF-5 available for loan. Therewill be afee chargedtocoverthecost ofthetestform/sthatyourequire.Pleasecontactyour nearest LDCto negotiateloanof thetest/s. Weask thatyoureturntheassessment onthe agreeddatetoenable otherSpeechPathologists access tothe assessment/satthis busytime.

RenfrewAction PictureTest:

RenfrewActionPictureTest(RAPT)remains essentialforallreferrals.Pleaseprovidethechild’sresponsestothe

10stimuluspictures.Scoring ofthis assessment isoptional.

Bus Story:

TheBusStory also remains essentialforPre-PrimaryandYear1referrals.Pleasewritethechild’sutterancesverbatim. Scoringof this narrative assessmentis optional.Cliniciansarestillrequiredtoscorethe BlankQuestionsrelatedto theBus Story (for Pre-PrimaryandYear 1referrals).

Information on children from culturally and linguisticallydiversebackgrounds:

WeacknowledgethecollaborationbetweenDrCoriWilliams,LDCSpeechPathologistsandHealthDepartment SpeechPathologistswho devisedthisAppendixin2010.TheCALDformshouldbecompletedtoprovideevidence thatalanguage disorder/delayexists,ratherthanalanguagedifference,forchildrenwhospeak orhave been exposedtolanguage/s otherthan English.Ifrelevant,please attachthis questionnaireregardingchildrenfrom culturally andlinguistically diverse backgrounds (2pages) totheback ofthe SpeechPathologyReferral Report.

For example,evidencefor alanguage disorder/delay may include:

-difficulties thatare evidentacross multiplelanguages.

-siblings that displaystronger languageskills across languages(if applicable).

-younger siblings thatshowstronger languageskills thanthechildwithalanguagedisorder/delay (ifapplicable).

-parental concernaboutthechild’s skills intheir primarylanguage.

ExtraOptionalInformation:

Pleasefindachecklistof skillsattheendoftheSpeechPathologyreferralreport.This providesanopportunityto includeinformationnotalwaysreflectedinstandardisedlanguageassessments.Pleaseselectyes/variable/ noor another descriptor asstated,basedonyourclinicaljudgmentsandpleasedon’thesitatetocommentalongsideif necessary.Whencompletingthischecklistpleasereflectonthechild’sskillsinrelationtotheperformanceyou would expectofanage matchedchildwhodisplaysa‘normal’ patternandsequence oflanguagedevelopment.

Incaseswhenachild’s functional language performanceis lower thanwhattheir languageindexes ontheCELF-P2 orCELF-4suggest,orwhenachildperformsexceptionallylowontheCELF, it isrecommendedthatreferring clinicians providearepresentativelanguagesample.

Asampleofatleast25ofthechild’s utterances is recommended. Pleaseinclude bothsides oftheconversation and describethecontextoftheinteraction.Pleasemakenoteofanynon-verbal communication(e.g.gestures)andanycontextual support provided.Ifthechildis unintelligiblepleasemakecomments regardingtheir communicativeintent.

Clinicians may includeadescription ofobservations inplaceofafull transcriptionwhencompletingalanguage sample.

If youhave anyotheravailabledataonthechild’sperformanceonstandardisedorinformallanguage measuresor anypast reportsdocumentingthechild’sprogresspleaseattachthistothebackof theLDC SpeechPathologyReferralReport/scaninandattachwhenemailingtheSpeechPathologyReferral ReportCALDquestionnaire(if applicable).Reportsfromotherprofessionals(e.g.occupationaltherapist, audiologist etc.) mayalsobe attached.

STUDENTS ON TEMPORARY RESIDENCE VISAS

In some circumstances, students from overseas on specified temporary residence visas may be required to pay tuition fees to attend a Language Development Centre. Families of fee paying students are encouraged to contact the LDC prior to an application being submitted. For more information please refer to the Department of Education Enrolment of Students from Overseas Schedule document.

Thank you fortaking thetimeto read thisdocument.