Election in Queensland

Election results in Queensland are in, and no doubt there will be some sore heads somewhere, considering the successes and failures of the election process. Regardless of who won or lost, at 5energies, we are hoping that someone in government begins to look locally, asks us for our research supporting children with learning delays, and begins to focus on local efforts to assist these children.

I have been told that the Federal Government is bringing in the Canadian Social Development Index, which gives a good amount of information on each Prep child. However, it still does not assess the underlying factors that impinge upon a child’s ability to learn. THESE are important to us at 5energies and we have the success rate to prove it at the learning consultancy. At the risk of sounding like strong activists, we are sincerely hoping that those within the education department and within government, begin to talk to us about our training programmes for teachers, and how we can genuinely help children with learning delays. We are in four schools now and the results from those schools have been stunning… and all because of the commitment of teachers, their understanding of the factors underpinning learning and their willingness to include more apppropriate strategies in their daily teaching.

In the meantime, congratulations to those members of Parliament who have won the election, and we hope you take your responsibilities to your constituents very seriously, including those children who are experiencing developmental delays and need assistance now. These are the voters of the future…

5e will SHINE in 2009!

Nothing like a good motto to get the blood stirring, is there?

After some indepth discussions recently about the directions of 5energies for the next year, Alexandra and I have chosen as our motto – ‘5e will SHINE in 2009!!’. A friend of mine speaks often about her selection of a key word for the year, and how her creative energies focus on making that word a reality – so our key word is ’shine’.

We have been working hard for the past three years to make our vision a reality, but to be honest, we have probably only twinkled at times, as getting a business up and running is not for the faint of heart. There has been so little time to share our message broadly, but that will change this year. Yup, we don’t just want to twinkle and provide a faint light to our door for those children with learning challenges – we want to shine! We want to convince the world that our message of early identification and assistance to these children is not only worthwhile in the short and long term, but essential for our future as a country. How marvellous to think that a future Prime Minister might be attending 5energies right now! Or the future CEOs of our leading companies? Or leading academics in areas of expertise we cannot even visualise right now…

So – this year? Yup, we aim to SHINE in 2009!!  If you have a key word, we would be interested in hearing how you plan your 2009.

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?

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