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PLD’s Alignment to the Australian National Curriculum
How does PLD align to the Australian National Curriculum?
In the attached download we have outlined where PLD applies to each year level, the content code and descriptor and the related PLD programs.
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PLDโs Alignment with the Early Years Learning Framework
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PLD's Decodable Reading Books Alignment with the Australian Curriculum
Supporting the Understanding of Questions
Year Level: Early Years, Foundation, Year 1 & 2, Years 3 to 6
A fact sheet listingย observations that indicate a child is experiencing difficulties withย oral news telling and narrative retelling whichย mayย constitute a potential referral to a Speech Pathologist.
When asking a child questions itโs important to support and teach them what the question means and how you want them to answer it. If a child has difficulty understanding a question:
- Repeat the question using visual cues to support (eg: pictures and gestures)
- Rephrase the question or askย it in a different way
- Give two alternative for the child to choose between
- Model the correct answer
When to refer to a Speech Pathologist?
The production of news and narratives is more cognitively and linguistically demanding than participation in a conversation. In a conversation, speakers have support of partners to organise and maintain the discourse. When newstelling and narrating, speakers MUST independently organize and maintain extended discourse.
Observations Which Constitute A Potential Speech Pathology Referral
- A child needs continual support to structure the news and/or story.
- Child finds the task cognitively demanding.
- A childโs speech is hesitant, filled with pauses and incomplete sentences. (The child may show visible frustration from limited expressive language ability.)
- A child fails to provide the listener with specific information. (E.g. forgetting to explain the people or characters actions.)
- A child has difficultly sequencing or ordering events correctly.
- A child does not specifically name characters or people (and instead uses general terms of reference such as it, he, they โฆ).
- A childโs vocabulary lacks variety or when the child is unable to apply appropriate vocabulary.
- Towards the end of pre-primary a child overuses โandโ and โand thenโ to join sentences. A child should also be using more complex joining words such as next, last, so, but, โฆ
- Grammatical and tense errors are present in the childโs language.
- Use this form for your observations for a Speech Pathologist referral.
Children with language delays will frequently suffer from anxiety when presented with written tasks.
To maximise a studentโs written output and to minimise the anxiety experienced in the writing process students with language delays typically require:
- Planning sheets to assist in the generation and structuring of their ideas/thoughts.
- Additional planning time to generate and structure their ideas/thoughts.
- Adult support to orally generate and structure ideas/thoughts. Sentence starters and target vocabulary words can be supplied to assist the process.
- Reduced expectations due to the fatigue and anxiety experienced (e.g. students could be asked to complete the introduction, problem, characterโs thoughts/feelings and plan instead of a full narrative.)
- Written tasks should ideally be completed in stages. (E.g. โToday we will plan and write the introduction and the problem in a story and tomorrow we will add the characterโs thoughts/feelings and plan.)
The issue of spelling in the context of written tasks.
It is important to keep in mind that students with language delays will rarely be able to focus on the language (i.e. generation and organisation of ideas) and spelling demands of writing simultaneously. To overcome this, it is suggested that students progress through the following stages:
- Stage 1: Plan and structure ideas orally.
- Stage 2: Complete the written task.
- Stage 3: Finalise the written piece by editing.
Editing is best facilitated when students are trained to write on one line and miss one or two lines so that there is visual space to make changes and improvements to their original writing attempt.
Books: PLDโs books may be used by the authorised purchaser within their classroom, however there are restrictions regarding modifying, copying or sharing. Full details can be found here.
eBooks: eBooks will be stamped with the name and email address of the purchaser and may only be used by the authorised purchaser (an individual user) within their classroom. eBooks may NOT be shared with other users or stored on a shared drive/portal/server/LMS. Learn more here.
School Licences: A School Licence allows access to a resource to be shared with an unlimited number of employees who are employed by the โAuthorised purchaserโ. These resources can be accessed by multiple users simultaneously and can be printed (subject to restrictions) or displayed by employees of the โAuthorised purchaserโ within their classroom. Learn more here.
Downloadable resources & screening tools: These resources can be viewed, downloaded, printed and shared providing the resources are not modified in any way. Learn more here.
Breaches of Australian Copyright Law are taken seriously and may result in legal action being taken. Full copyright information can be found. Learn more here.