• Wednesday 17 August 2022
• 8:30am – 4:30pm AEST (QLD, Australia)
• Online Workshop
• Clinicians & Educators

The Linking Language with Secondary School Learning (LINK-S) Program is an evidence-based professionally collaborative approach to supporting secondary school students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and other language-based learning difficulties.

This Response to Intervention Tier 1 model of service delivery aims to create ‘language-friendly’ secondary school classrooms, by coaching teachers and supporting clinicians in ways to modify the oral and written instructional language used in their regular classroom teaching practices. The program has been successfully implemented in many schools across Australia, with speech pathologists reporting positive feedback from classroom and learning support teachers, and positive results in students’ classroom engagement and academic progress.

Reference:  Starling, J., Munro, N., Togher, L., & Arciuli, J. (2012).  Training secondary school teachers in instructional language modification techniques to support adolscents with language impairment: A randomised controlled trial. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 43, 474-495. View Abstract click here.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Following completion of the workshop clinicians and educators will:

• Gain a broad understanding of the collaborative model of service delivery in secondary school environments, with the evidence underpinning such approaches.
• Be familiar with the main areas covered in the LINK-S Program: Teachers’ oral and written instructional language, and direct vocabulary instruction.
• Be aware of how the program can be implemented in schools, with a range of case histories.

FACILITATOR

Dr Julia Starling is a Sydney-based speech-language pathologist who has extensive clinical and research experience with populations of children, adolescents and young adults with language and literacy disorders. Her personal and professional life has spanned many decades, countries and cultures. Julia has worked with community health multidisciplinary teams, with remote outreach organisations, with mental health services and as a university clinical educator and lecturer.

Currently, Julia maintains her private caseload of school-aged children and adolescents, regularly lectures and presents seminars and workshops, and continues an active involvement in research projects. She was the 2014 Speech Pathology Australia National Tour speaker. Additionally, Julia is President of the Learning Difficulties Coalition of NSW.

PARTICIPANTS

This workshop has been developed for clinicians and educators. However, students with knowledge of, and experience in working with, DLD populations may also consider attending.

LINK-S PROGRAM MANUAL

Access to the LINK-S Program Manual ($145 AUD) is highly recommended to maximise on this learning opportunity. You may already have access to a copy through your workplace. If not, Julia has kindly provided a 20% discount code which you will be provided with via email. All orders should be placed after 30th July and by no later than 8 August 2022 to ensure they are received by the workshop date.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

This workshop will be hosted online using Zoom.  Details will be emailed to participants in the days prior to the workshop. To enable time for the facilitator and participants to connect, this workshop will be capped at 40 participants. Please book as soon as you’ve decided to attend to avoid missing out! Please email connect@TheDLDProject.com with any questions regarding the registration process.