In 2023, the Queensland government launched a new funding program to support kindergarten services. The program provides funding for community kindergartens and long day care services with the goal of improving early learning outcomes for up to 13,500 children each year.
Speech Pathologists are one of the many professional disciplines that can offer clinical insight and professional development to early childhood educators to improve outcomes for children in their care.
Keep on reading to find out how Queensland Speech Pathologists can provide support to kindergartens taking part in the Kindy uplift program.
What is the Kindy Uplift program?
As mentioned, Kindy uplift is a funding program organised and distributed by the Queensland government here in Australia. The program is designed to provide much-needed funding to community kindergartens and long day care services so that they can invest in professional development and resources to better support the children in their care.
The goal of the program is to improve early learning outcomes for up to 13,500 children each year. To achieve this goal, five priority areas have been identified that funding recipients are encouraged to invest in to improve their early learning outcomes.
The five Kindy uplift priority areas are:
- Social and emotional capability
- Physicality
- Thinking and responding
- Oral language and communication
- Access and inclusion
You can learn more about the uplift priority areas here.
How Can Speech Pathologists Help with Kindy Uplift?
Speech Pathologists are Allied Health Professionals that support people of all ages with communication and swallowing difficulties. When it comes to supporting little ones in the kindergarten age range, there’s a lot that we can do to help! Here’s an overview of the Kindy uplift program priority areas that align with the expertise and support that Speech Pathologists can provide.
Social and emotional capability
The first priority area of the Kindy uplift program is the social and emotional capability of children at the kindergarten service. The goal of this is that children feel safe, secure and confident in themselves and the learning environment, enabling them to take risks and make decisions. Speech Pathologists can assist in providing professional development for childhood educators and resources for early education that support children in building the skills to sustain engagement in learning, manage emotions and connect positively with peers and significant adults.
Thinking and responding
The second priority area of the Kindy uplift program that Speech Pathologists can help with is thinking and responding. As you can probably imagine, this priority area focuses on the way children take in verbal and non-verbal stimuli and process this information. This area also focuses on the way children demonstrate their understanding and respond to stimuli in their environment.
Oral language and communication
The third priority area of the Kindy uplift program that Speech Pathologists can provide support with is oral language and communication. In fact, this is totally our ‘thing’! Speech Pathologists can provide clinical insight and practical strategies to childhood educators to help them strengthen the oral language and communication skills of the children in their care. Our expertise can inform approaches, resource development, and professional education to better support children in expressing their thoughts, feelings, and emotions for a range of purposes. We can also provide tools and education on different ways children can communicate using verbal, non-verbal, and alternative and augmentative technology.
How to Begin Working with Speech Pathologists through Kindy Uplift
If your kindergarten has already been approved for the Kindy uplift program, you can begin reaching out to relevant professionals to provide professional development and support to your early childhood educators. Here at SpeechEase Speech Therapy, our team of passionate Speech Pathologists have experience supporting kindys taking part in the program and are happy to travel across Queensland to provide dedicated training and support.
To start a conversation about how we can work together to support your kindergarten through the Kindy uplift program, visit our dedicated Kindy uplift page.
