Allied health screening offered in playgroup for early intervention

Georgia Hegarty and her son Arlo are involved with the screenings at their local playgroup. (ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines)

Georgia Hegarty had a gut instinct her son's communication skills were not developing as quickly as other children. 

Despite a doctor recommending she take her son to speech therapy when he turned three, Ms Hegarty was determined to get help earlier, and little Arlo was taken to a free allied health screening in Rockhampton before he turned two.

"He wasn't saying the usual words, so that was kind of a scare and that's why we started," Ms Hegarty said.

More than a year later, Arlo is thriving. 

Arlo at playgroup. (ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines)

Ms Hegarty was determined her son have this level of intervention early in life, rather than working on those skills later.

"I started early because he's a smart boy and he understands everything," Ms Hegarty said.

"The speech person plays with him, plays games and she'll give him options [to speak] like, ‘Is this a horse or a cat?'

"It's improving and working for him.

Ms Hegarty says speech therapy, alongside his grandmother's help, has seen her son thrive. (ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines)

Playgroup screenings

CQ University occupational therapist Belle Keen says she loves seeing children develop and grow. (ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines)

The allied health screening is part of a CQ University community outreach program, which provides screening assessments for children between two and five years old attending the Rockhampton Children and Family Centre playgroup.

Belle Keen is an occupational therapist and clinical educator at the university clinic.

She said the program ran for 10 weeks and assessed whether the children needed assistance in speech pathology, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy.

"Seeing them develop and have these little personalities and really work on their development stages is really nice to see."

Ms Keen says allied health professionals train university students to screen the children. (ABC Capricornia: Jasmine Hines)

Early intervention the key

Rachel Robinson, an honorary fellow at Murdoch Children's Research Institute said often parents struggled to access cohesive allied health support for their children.

"On school entry, around one in five children have an identified or an emerging additional need that might relate to behaviour or development and in order to really get the most out of schools, it's better to have that need addressed before they get to school," Ms Robinson said.

"It's really about tailoring the support to the needs of the children and in the communities in which those children are growing up.

Ms Robinson said, while early intervention was important, children of all ages must be identified if they need extra support.