Early intervention screening is a vital service for young children that can help to identify any health, developmental or other problems that may affect their growth, learning and development.
It can be difficult for parents and/or carers to detect when a child may be struggling with hearing, vision, dental or other developmental areas. Children may not be able to communicate their troubles or may not realise that there is a problem.
Once a problem has been detected, children can be linked to specialised services and receive the support they need before they go to school.
With a gap in affordable, easily accessible services that are culturally sensitive for Aboriginal families and children, our experienced Early Childhood team partnered with a number of services to deliver an Aboriginal Early Childhood Developmental Outreach Day providing a dental clinic, as well as hearing, vision and developmental screening last Thursday 22nd March. These developmental outreach days are run twice a year, with the next day to be held Thursday 4th Oct 2018.
With a significant turnout on the day, 15 children accessed the dental clinic and 7 children accessed hearing and/or vision screening. Families had the opportunity to engage with other service providers such as Lifestart and Northcott, as well as being provided with information on immunisation.
There was over 60 parents, carers, educators and children in attendance. Not only did the children access important screening services, the day was also filled with many fun activities including Tumbletown and arts & crafts to keep them busy while they waited for their appointments.
Early Intervention Screening is so important to make sure that our children get the best start possible.
Our Early Childhood team will also be running an 8-week, School Readiness Program for Aboriginal Children going to school in 2019 starting Thursday 10th May.
For more information click here.
Check out photos from the day below:
Links to Partners
StEPS (Statewide Eyesight Preschooler Screening)