Laidley District State School offers a variety of support services:
A. Guidance Officer – (GO)
Our GO is at the school 2 days a week. She also services several of the smaller schools in the cluster. Her role varies according to identified needs and involves:
- working collaboratively with school-based personnel to assess and address the diverse needs of students. She is a part of our LNAP team who meet weekly.
- performing cognitive and other assessments on children who have been identified as having diverse learning needs, identifying factors that can be barriers to the learning and development of students. She is involved in the verification process of children with disabilities according to EQ criteria.
- Parent permission is required before the GO will work with or assess a child.
- working collaboratively with students and their families, Admin members, teachers, non-teaching professionals and in some instances departmental agencies and outside authorities.
- providing guidance and some counselling services to students and their families.
B. Speech-Language Pathologist- (SLP)
Our SLP is at our school 1 day a week. LDSS is her base school as she services a number of schools in the local cluster. The STLAN and the SLP negotiate the support program, based on the referral and prioritisation process that is in place. Parent permission must be obtained before the SLP can work with a child.
The support program provided to the school may include:
- Assessment and therapy - this can be individual and / or small group. Time frames of therapy vary according to need.
- Assessment Only' with a report for school and parents
- Verification of students who meet the Education Queensland criteria for the Impairment category of Speech-Language Impairment
- Screening of cohorts of children to inform teachers and parents of their learning needs so as to influence class based programs.
- Small group therapy - usually identified by screening
- Home based programs
- Programs and ideas for class teachers to provide language support within the classroom setting
- Professional development for schools
- Provision of programs and resources.
C. Support Teacher Literacy and Numeracy – (STLaN)
Our STLaN works at the school five days a week.
Intervention at our school is classroom based and we do not provide a withdrawal model of support. Intervention is delivered via a variety of models and includes:
- Explicit teaching which involves modelled, shared and individual teaching and learning, we have a focus on reading and number within the schools priority programs.
- Children with learning needs will often require differentiated learning and at times focussed small group/individual teaching sessions.
- Support can be provided by a variety of personnel – class teacher, teacher aide, SEP teacher, SEP teacher aide, STLaN (for specific classes), and at times volunteers.
- Before school reading programs are offered for children who have been identified with diverse learning needs.
- Support Provisions are documented and shared with parents.
- At our school the STLAN is also part of the Admin Team and consequently performs a variety of duties, both within and out of the classroom. These include:
- Working collaboratively with classroom teachers to provide programs of support for the diverse needs of children at our school.
- Work collaboratively with other specialists (e.g. guidance officers, speech language pathologists) to coordinate services which improve students’ learning.
- Providing support and advice on the teaching of students with learning disabilities.
- Chairing and managing the LNAP (Special Needs) meeting each week.
- Supporting the documentation of identified and implemented Support Provisions required to cater for the diverse needs of students.
- Regularly entering information and data on EQ's online computer based program with details about the diverse needs of children and the support they are receiving.
- Working within school teams to improve student achievement. Our STLaN works 4 mornings within designated and prioritised classrooms for the reading program. This is 1 hour per day per class.
- Maintain teaching expertise and knowledge of evidence based, effective teaching practices to improve student learning with a focus on literacy and numeracy.
- Support teachers in assessing and monitoring the progress of students underachieving in the literacy and numeracy demands of the Key Learning Areas.
D. LNAP team – (Learning Needs Action Plan Team) (aka Special Needs)
The LNAP team is responsible for determining actions and decisions around the needs of the diverse learners at our school. A meeting is held every Monday morning and this involves class teachers presenting the case of a child who may not be making expected gains in the classroom. The referral is about the ‘whole child’ so can include academic, social, emotional and behavioural concerns.
Parent permission is required for a child to be presented by the class teacher and the parent has an opportunity to document their concerns as well. They do not attend this meeting but are involved at other opportunities. A detailed referral from is required from teachers with data, evidence, anecdotes etc. around the concerns re this child. Members of this team include Principal/Deputy Principal, GO, SLP, HOSE and STLaN. The SLP and BST are invited to attend if relevant. There is a follow up process and review agenda around these referrals.
Communication between school and home is vitally important for this process to be successful.
Records of this referral, actions, communications and review processes are kept by the school and uploaded onto the EQ database. This will then be available in other EQ schools if the child transfers.
E. Special Education Program (SEP)
The SEP is inclusive and integrated. Children who are verified with a disability will spend their time in the regular classroom being supported in an inclusive setting. Planning and teaching is a collaborative process for the teachers involved. Some of the children with disabilities may be accessing curriculum at a different level to their class cohort and this is supervised and reviewed every 6 months by SEP and CT. Parent involvement is crucial if this is to occur.
At times, some children will be required to spend time in the SEP room for therapy and other interventions. This is done on a limited basis.
SEP teachers work mostly within the classroom setting, supporting children with verified disabilities. This can be done individually or small group. At times they also support non-verified children when they work in small group settings within the classroom.
There are 3 SEP teachers as well as the HOSE (Head of Special Education) who support this process. Support times and frequency in the classroom is decided according to the needs of the child and this is related to the adjustments required for the child to access the curriculum. Some children may be supported once a week for a limited time while others may be supported up to 3 times a week. These decisions are made by school personnel. Documentation of the support provided is kept.
SEP teacher aides are also used within the classroom setting to support the needs of these children. They are under the supervision of the HOSE.
The school also has a ECDP for pre Prep aged children.
F. Behaviour Support Teacher (BST)
The BST works with teachers and parents to improve the management of children presenting with difficult behaviours. The BST can assess the presenting behaviour of the child, and then put together a program with the class teacher’s input, and a behaviour management plan is written. This is on a prioritised needs basis and the BST is responsible for a number of schools in the cluster. A referral process is required for this to occur and parent permission is required.
G. Chaplain
We have a Chaplain at the school who supports the spiritual and emotional development of children. He is involved in the running of 2 Breakfast Club sessions as well as a Men’s Shed group. Children are supported by the Chaplain within the classroom and playground settings as their needs are identified by parents, teachers and other staff.
H . Visiting Psychologist
Artius Health and Butterfly Kids are part of our Well Being Framework for our students. LDSS now has these 2 counselling groups operating from our school on specific days. A referral from your GP is required before these services can be accessed. 6 visits are allowed through Medicare and then the Psychologist can request more if necessary. There may be a waiting list to access these services. These visits are confidential. The school is not responsible for this service, it is external to the school processes, the school provides the confidential space for the psychologist team.