I had fully intended to be blogging a plenty after Speech Pathology Australia’s national conference last month in Perth. The conference was a fantastic opportunity to catch up on current trends and research and best practice. I have been busy assimilating a lot of new information with my local group of clinicians. We are a group of four Speech Pathologists based nearby to one another here in Perth, WA. We meet about once per month and share clinical updates and information to ensure we are providing the very best for our clients. Two of us are Lidcombe Program specialists. I will share findings from the conference in another post shortly.
One of my big goals for 2016 alongside setting up my Speech Pathology practice here in Perth WA – specialising in early intervention for stuttering – was to form a twice yearly clinical forum for Speech Pathologists in WA to meet and share expertise about using the Lidcombe Program. I plan to call it a Lidcombe Link Day in honour of the fabulous Speech Therapists in Norfolk, UK, who have been running the same group for a number of years and were very welcoming to me during 2012-2015 – as I travelled 3 hours from Surrey to be there! Mary Kingston, Sally Lelievre and Kate Morley in particular, were very accommodating and supportive. Clinicians should never stop learning and growing and a forum like this is one way to help with that and to stay connected with like-minded colleagues.
The Lidcombe Link Days will provide updates from the Australian Stuttering Research Centre and other research from around the world; links to specialist clinicians for expert advice and updates; clinical sharing about successful and challenging cases and clinical skill building.
So far I have canvassed interest from the private sector and now I will do the same with the Speech Pathologists who work for the Health Department of WA. The first meeting should take place in 2-3 months time.
So if you don’t hear from me for a while, you know what I am up to!
