Happy New Year!

Another year is coming to an end, and where would 5energies be without all the quiet determination of the parents who bring their children through the door. We know that some of you have looked long and hard to find the right assistance for your child, and we so enjoy meeting you and working with your children.

Thank you to those parents who have worked tirelessly with their children through the year – and thank you for the many compliments to 5energies. The partnership is a strong one, but we are just so pleased to see so many children succeeding, thanks to your insight and work through the year. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead, with even more teachers and schools coming online, so between us all, hopefully we are making a difference to many children’s lives. And lastly, thank you to the parents who have shared their child’s successes with other parents who might be in the same boat of looking for appropriate assistance – we appreciate the trust you put in us, and thank you for helping other parents.

Happy New Year! See you in a couple of weeks when sessions resume at 5energies!

Merry Christmas to all!

Just a very quick comment to wish everyone a very merry and festive Christmas, and a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! This year has certainly flown past, and as with all things, if you are having a lot of fun along the way, the time just flies. That is certainly the case at 5energies, where it has given us such great delight to see children succeeding – and succeeding well!

Our end of year function was a Bocce Tournament, and Graeme, our IT guru and consultant won the overall trophy, but Zachary won the Junior Trophy in a convincing win. Best and Fairest went to Angie and Claire, who showed restraint and enthusiasm throughout the entire highly competitive tournament. Either way, it was a fun afternoon for all of us at 5energies, and our families.

So whatever you are doing on Christmas Day, our hope is that you enjoy your day as well, and reflect on the richness that our children have brought to our lives. Christmas sure would not be the same without them, would it? Again, all the very best in the festive season, and in 2009, from all of us at 5energies.

The day 5energies created a storm!

What a week this one has been!

On Sunday, 5energies staff and family enjoyed the inaugural Bocce Tournament and Christmas party. Some 27 intrepid souls battled it out for supremacy in a game that many had never played before, but the eventual winners were Graeme Henry (Open Winner), Zachary McGuire (Junior Winner) and Angie Datseres and Claire Culley won ‘Best and Fairest’.

However, as the tournment was coming to an end, the fierce black storm clouds signalled that a storm was on its way, so most families departed to try to get home before the storm hit. Tales have since emerged of where each 5energies person was during the storm, with some driving in the thick of it, and watching trees with roots fly past the bonnet of the car, to others taking shelter in the middle of the house, away from glass and potential flying debris. Unfortunately, Alexandra, Graeme (IT Guru), Patrick (actor / reader of our DVD stories), Anne-Maree (film-maker and Technology Guru) and families saw the big tree in Alexandra’s front yard come crashing down (see photo), pulling the electricity connection right out of the house, taking out the power grid for the street, and keeping them inside the house, without power or telephone, for 48 hours. As baby James, now 9 weeks, was also with them, nappies became an issue. In a wonderful commentary on community spirit, the neighbourhood soon found supplies and fortunately there was sufficient left-over meat and salads from the Bocce Tournament to provide a street gathering and debrief after the storm, on the back verandah. Mel, our Occupational Therapist, ended up driving through the worst of the storm, but her parent’s house in the Gap, one of the worst hit areas of the storm, also received significant damage. Fortunately power has now returned to all residences, and things are returning to normal, albeit with a lot of cleaning up to do.

However, as with any natural disaster, these are just stories. We all survived the big storm (and the two other storms that decided to visit this week), and fortunately all families were fine. However, the inaugural 5energies Bocce Tournament and Christmas party will long be remembered as the day that 5energies created a storm!! May the immensity of the storm reflect where we are next year – huge, determined and getting wide-spread coverage!!

Parents have so much information

Each fortnight over the past year, a little boy has been coming to 5energies for Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology sessions, aimed at improving his literacy and numeracy. Initially he presented as a very troubled little boy, and with a great variety of learning issues.

His mother, a very articulate woman, had acknowledged his many issues and sought assistance from 5energies. I am so pleased to report his progress! In the last month, he has won his first ever merit certificate at school, but the change in this little boy is profound. Bubbly, excited about learning and keen to head off to school and each new day, he is obviously having so much fun now.

Thank you to parents who trust us with their most precious children – we take our responsibilities very seriously, and this story illustrates exactly why we started 5energies!

Speech Pathologist urgently required

Hi everyone,

Well, we have finally reached that lovely state of affairs where the learning consultancy requires another speech pathologist to keep up with demand. If any of you know of a registered, qualified speech pathologist who would be happy with part-time sessional work, please ask him or her to contact the 5energies office urgently.

As you know, we run a professional consultancy, one where we offer an integrated and personal service to children with learning delays and their families. We work as a team, with each of the professions of speech pathology, occupational therapy and education contributing equally to offer a holistic approach to resolve learning delays, but also to offer insight to teachers who want to cater more effectively for the individual needs of learners in their classrooms.

What are we after with a new team -member? Someone with qualifications and registration in Speech Pathology, but this person could also be a new graduate looking to fine-tune their practical skills. Someone who loves to work as part of a thriving and busy learning consultancy, in tandem with other highly motivated professionals. Someone who enjoys working with children, and has a calm, unflappable demeanour. Someone with an enjoyment of life, and a sense of humour. If you know of such a person, please ask them to contact us: we would love to train them in January, and have them on the team for the start of the new year.

The good sense of the whales

It was my daughter’s 28th birthday last weekend. She flew in from Sydney, and her sister flew in from Darwin so we could have a fantastic birthday celebration and a lovely time together.

One of the birthday gifts was a whale watching experience, and it does not matter how old the child, the enjoyment of the whales was there for all of us. And by the way, there was much hilarity as the crew of the catamaran brought out the birthday cake and candles!

However, in a moment of reflection watching their silent forms sliding past our catamaran, I thought about the good sense of these creatures of the deep, as the captain informed us that the mother and calf were usually escorted by an elderly aunt or experienced whale. If only we as humans had that same level of assistance on our journey through the oceans of life – how fortunate it would have been if I had an older aunt to assist me when my children were younger!

The picture is of the baby calf leaping into the air. What you don’t see is mother and aunt immediately swimming up close, to make sure he/she was between them yet again. What utterly sensible creatures the whales are… and what a good time I had with my children. Some things don’t change, despite the age of the child.

Welcome to a new 5energies Team Member!

hi everyone,

One of our team members Anne – Maree, had a baby boy a couple of weeks ago, so we offer congratulations to Anne-Maree, Patrick and their daughter Alannah, on the safe and healthy birth of their ‘little prince’ (who, at 3.6 kg, was a very healthy weight!!). We hope to go and see the new addition to our extended 5energies family sometime this week.  Welcome to the world, little man.

Many of you might not know that Anne-Maree is our technical guru, and has volunteered her services in the development of our promotional DVD, and in a major project that we have underway, to tell the stories of our ‘In the Garden’ series of books. We at 5energies are so exceptionally blessed with the people who assist us in so many ways – and Anne-Maree’s skills are so extensive, and we so appreciate what she does for us. 

we also have so many other team members who assist us, and we would like to thank some of them for their contributions as well. Sarah Amies, our talented author, wrote the ‘In the Garden’ stories, Von edited and desktop published them in preparation for printing and Patrick has kindly volunteered to use his skills as actor and raconteur to tell the stories in a variety of ways. A package, with hard-copy stories, DVD of the story told in several different ways for different levels of learners will also be accompanied by lesson notes for teacher use in the classroom as well as some fabulous songs and music, to go with each of the animals. The very talented Angie and Tina are helping us to get that aspect underway – wait till you see Patrick in action, and the songs created by Angie and Tina!  Graeme, our IT guru, is also hard at work streamlining the FILTA, and getting it to a computerised state of being: wait till you see how easy it is to use then!

So, thank you to everyone who is working so hard on our behalf, and another welcome to the newest 5energies team member!

***  Keep posted for launch date of the In the Garden package! The dates will be on our calendar.

51,360 Children Need Help

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (4221.0 Schools Australia, 2007) results there are some 428074 primary aged students in Queensland. The news reports from yesterday indicated that approximately 12% of those students did not achieve benchmark in literacy and numeracy. While the testing occurs in selected grades, it is safe to assume that in between the testing grades, those students are likely to be experiencing ongoing learning difficulties. To put a face to those students, that 12% who were BELOW the benchmark equates to some 51360 young people who are struggling with their learning.  

Unless there is investigation into why these children are not able to access the curriculum, unless there is some in-depth knowledge about the factors underpinning their learning capabilities, it is going to be difficult for these children to become functionally literate and numerate, even if offered the $750 per student in additional tutoring. It isn’t just five or ten children; it is 51360 children, and their lives being affected… Some of these children will be identified as children with learning disabilities, but the bulk of them are children of normal cognitive and operational function who are trying exceptionally hard to achieve. It seems completely logical to 5energies staff that the focus – politically and educationally - should be to identify these children early, early, early and to do that by screening each child in the key areas underpinning learning from a developmental perspective.  The relatively small amount of money poured into finding out WHY they are unable to access learning in the same way as their peers, and then into intervention programs that actually assist them long -term, seems a good investment in the future of Australia.

How can we help these 51360 children further? Who do we need to contact politically to ensure these children have both advocates and a ‘voice’ in demanding a change of focus, funding and assistance?

Untangling the Learning Pathways PD

On Wednesday, another successful professional learning session took place! The PD on untangling the learning pathways, an exploration of the role that perceptual motor or sensory motor skill development plays in the acquisition of literacy and numeracy, was a wonderful experience (according to feedback). Again, lots of laughter and learning, lots of fabulous people, wonderful presenters and excellent food (thanks again Rochelle). Our aim with these sessions is to tap into what participants know, but to extend those understandings and share our knowledge. Alexandra (Alex) is a speech pathologist with an explicit understanding of the classroom, Lisa is teacher extraordinaire and Melinda (Mel or ‘M’), with her dual degrees in Occupational Therapy and Education, has such a unique pespective on the classroom as well. Additionally the participants of this PD were wonderful, contributing so much to the success of this interactive PD.

The picture shows one of the activities, where participants are untangling learning pathways! What can I say? If you want more information, please check the website for the next PD session!

Untangling Learning Pathways: Perceptual Motor skills

Quite a number of years ago, while team-teaching at an inner suburban school with an amazingly intuitive teacher Kate C, we had sixty five year old children between the two classes. These children were as all five years olds are: enthusiastic, full of energy, bubbly, determined and fun to teach. Kate was (and probably still is) such a great teacher that each day was an adventure for all of us. However, we were having difficulties when it came to writing, with at least half the class beginning on the right side instead of the left, with some children writing straight down the middle of the page, and some even from bottom to top. Despite the best of modelling, reminders, huge ‘X’ at the left hand side, the whole exercise was getting to the anxiety stage – for us as teachers!!

Fortunately a friend had introduced me to the joys of perceptual motor programs, and we began a fortnight of ‘right’ activities. Everything, from foot placement, to throwing activities, to dance sessions, to using musical instruments, everything began with the right hand or foot. Within a fortnight, every single child knew immediately what we were talking about if we said to find the right hand, foot or side of the body. Seems too logical doesn’t it? Sometimes the best journeys begin with a magical ‘aha!’ moment, don’t they?

Long story short, we then took a look at other areas, and began a structured perceptual motor program for every child in that dual class – and the results were astonishing. By the end of the year, there were few children wtih learning difficulties, and if they were still identifiable, and had been referred to professionals for specialist attention, they were deemed as very minor delays, and to continue our program of assessment, focussed activities and extension in a remarkably fun environment.

*** Please note: Our introduction to ‘Untanging the Learning Pathways: Perceptual Motor Skills’ is taking bookings now. At 5energies, we are all converts to the importance of finding out what each child’s learning pathways are doing from a sensory perspective: if you want an excellent introduction, please give us a ring to book in for this workshop.

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