Young Leaders of Tasmania | Community organisation

Young Leaders of Tasmania

Phone: +61 428 640 320

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• Charitable organisation
• Community organisation
• Youth organisation

25.01.2022 Wonderful to attend the Year 9 MacKillop Catholic College assembly this morning. Current YLOT Participants from Year 10 gave presentations on their experiences with the program at Southern Support School and shared their journeys of growth and development. It was a highlight to hear from these students, they spoke professionally and from the heart about how much they learnt from their buddies, how they enjoyed learning about different forms of communication tools and how ev...eryone is different, but we still have similar needs, feelings and desires. Thank you Young Leaders!

25.01.2022 Planting and Painting were on the program this week! Great communication and team-work by our Young Leaders and their buddies! #ylot #buddies #friends #allabilities #youngleaders #inclusion

25.01.2022 Reminder to all current Young Leaders from this year's program, statewide: Please login to the website portal and complete the Completion Survey (under Forms and Surveys) ASAP. Thank you! :)

24.01.2022 AAC Awareness - Braille Riley was fascinated and motivated to learn how to print messages in Braille using the Braille typewriter. He then placed the corresponding print underneath to remind him of each symbol when taking it back to school. Devonport Primary School North West Support School - Devonport Campus

23.01.2022 What a fun night! In keeping with the COVID theme The Friends' School hosted a virtual space social for their Southern Support School buddies tonight. Buddies received a show bag today and then signed in to Zoom from their lounge rooms, family rooms, the YLOT Office, and The Friends school. Well done to all involved in planning the social. The activities were great and a lot of thought and preparation had gone in to hosting the event & providing the show bags. ... It was out of this world! #leadershipthroughpersonalgrowth

22.01.2022 Another shout out and Congratulations to one of our 2019 All Abilities Participants... Lottie from The Friends' School! Lottie has been awarded two prestigious scholarships by The Australian National University (ANU) to facilitate her study in a double Arts/Law degree. She has also been accepted to the ANU Burgmann Residential College. Lottie thoroughly enjoyed every moment of her time in our program last year and was really grateful to have participated. Lottie believes the... program gave her an invaluable opportunity to grow, connect and discover so much about true inclusion. She particularly loved the Dark Mofo program last year, where she assisted young people with disability to access the winter festival. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours, Lottie!

20.01.2022 Celebrating Book Week 2020 for today’s YLOT session, shared reading and character dress ups. #allabilities #ylot #buddies #inclusion

19.01.2022 Southern Support School students/families - if you have not yet RSVP'd for the 'virtual social' your The Friends' School buddies are hosting via Zoom, please do so today! This will enable them time to prepare show bags and other things ready for Friday night. RSVP for the Zoom link, it'll be out of this world!!

17.01.2022 Charlotte & Matilda and Lily & Mary have been working on some craft activities each visit. They are putting together a journal of their sessions together, which will become a beautiful momento of their friendship and time together. Great team work and a meaningful goal to work on girls!... #allabilities #ylot #buddies #inclusion #settinggoals

15.01.2022 Ryan and Elsie were having a great conversation using alternative communication - Proloquo2Go app on the iPad. They were choosing items to draw together. Great team-work guys! #ylot #buddies #allabilities #friends

15.01.2022 Wonderful to be onsite with the Burnie program today at North West Support School - Burnie Campus. Lots of activity, games, craft and cooking! Well done to buddies from Montello Primary School.

14.01.2022 Halloween art and Lego were some of the activities buddies worked on together at Southern Support School this week. It was great to see the smiles and sharing. Well done everyone! #buddies #ylot #connections #allabilities #learningtogether

13.01.2022 It was a pleasure to be involved in the iCan project with Clarence City Council and we can't wait to hear the inspiring stories from all involved. Tune in to these weekly radio podcasts, Thursday 10:30am on Hobartfm 96.1, from today until 17th December. Many thanks to 2019 YLOT participant Lottie, who volunteered to be involved in this project with us.

13.01.2022 It was great to welcome back the 2020 group of Young Leaders from MacKillop College this week. Due to COVID-19 these visits have been on hold, but that hasn't stopped this enthusiastic group from learning about the NDIS and disability advocacy, as well as alternative communication tools and sign language. Well done young leaders!

12.01.2022 It has been a term full of art, craft, stories, exercise, and most importantly FUN at our Southern program! Learning and playing together with buddies from Bellerive Primary School. With only a few visits left this year, these Grade 6 buddies have certainly made the most of their time visiting Southern Support School.

12.01.2022 So, how and when do I use prompts and cues? First things first, I don’t use prompts and cues until there has been a significant period of aided language input (...i.e., modeling). How long is a significant period? 6 months? A year? Hard to say exactly, but there needs to be an extended period of modeling without expectation of use by the learner. This allows the AAC learner to get oriented to their system and how it might be used. Otherwise, we are prompting them to use a complex system that they have no knowledge of! Keep in mind that the people modeling need time to get comfortable using to system to speak to the learner. We need that before the learner can fully benefit from the models. So factor in your learning curve into this time too! Long story short, if you’re at the beginning of your AAC journey, it’s NOT time to prompt! When I use prompts and cues, I do it in response to an initiation from the AAC learner. By this I mean they have done something that makes me think they have something to say. Maybe they vocalized, gestured, or moved their body. If they have communicated clearly through these methods, I don’t prompt! Instead, I use their system to reflect back what they have expressed. I don’t prompt for any particular language. Instead, I encourage the learner to communicate. Whatever they want to say is fine with me! I follow a least to most hierarchy of cues. First, I wait with an encouraging, expectant look on my face. If they don’t respond, I use an indirect verbal. I typically use maybe you have something to say or looks like you have something to say! I find it’s really helpful to have consistent wording. With time the learner quickly knows what I mean. If they still don’t respond, I get more direct in my cueing. I gesture to the talker or book and verbally encourage the learner to use their system (e.g., you’re device could help us understand you). Finally, if the learner still has not responded, I model 2-3 options that might meet their language needs and return the device/book to them. I do NOT require them to imitate. If they choose not to say anything, we move on. They don’t have to say anything if they don’t want to! That’s autonomous communication, folks! Either way, it’s likely that some learning has happened. They’ve seen some models of language that might be helpful in the future! Notice: No physical prompts in there! I take body autonomy really seriously. The only time I might physically assist a learner would be for positioning or stability. In those cases, it’s done with notice and consent. Edit to add: I learned this approach to prompting from PODD trainings with Linda Burkhart and Gayle Porter. Kate Ahern has also done significant work on prompt hierarchy for AAC. Lots of respect for all their work. Check out Kate's work here: https://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com//re What are your thoughts?. Image description: Title reads: AAC How I do it...Prompts and cues. Image shows four boxes stacked on top of each other like a stairway. Each step except the top one has an arrow pointing up to the next step to indicate starting with the least support and increasing. Bottom level: Wait Time 15-30 seconds with expectant/ encouraging facial expression Second level up: Indirect (or Less Direct) Verbal "Maybe you have something to say." Third level up: Gesture and/or Direct Verbal Point to device or "your talker might help me understand." Top level: Model, Show 2-3 options that may meet the need, imitation not required. Text around boxes reads: Least to most hierarchy of prompts Always in response to some initiation or action by the learner Prompts to communicate, but not for the expression of specific language. NOTE: Should only occur after extended period of aided language! Image description: Top text: AAC: How I do it... Prompts and cues

12.01.2022 Spring is in the air Mila and Kayla are having fun celebrating spring with blossom paintings and playing games together. #allabilities #ylot #inclusion #creatingawareness

11.01.2022 Senior Young Leaders from MacKillop Catholic College have been spending time this week socialising and connecting with their buddies from Southern Support School. These Young Leaders are not only enriching and fostering social skills with their buddies, but they are enriching their own lives, challenging themselves and growing from the experiences as they learn from each other. #allabilities #creatingawareness #changingperceptions #buddies

10.01.2022 Shared Storytime using AAC Maggie and Polly are gaining skills in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) using PODD books with their buddies at Southern Support School.

10.01.2022 Today our Devonport program was buzzing with activity and fun! Buddies were playing uno and basketball; making slime and painting; and writing messages in cards for special people in their lives! It is so fabulous watching these connections and seeing our young people enjoying time together in person. We are currently so lucky in Tasmania to have this opportunity and when we look back at our time in lockdown, we certainly don’t take our ability to return to physical ...visits for granted! Happy weekend! #ylot #allabilities #buddies #friendship #inclusion Devonport Primary School North West Support School - Devonport Campus

09.01.2022 Fantastic to be involved in the Clarence City Council's iCan Radio Segments focussing on inclusion and accessibility within our community, on Hobartfm this morning. Thank you to our Young Leader, Lottie, for joining Keren in conversation with Lisa Stafford from Queensland University of Technology. The discussion highlights the importance of including young people in the discussion and planning of inclusive communities. If you missed the segment this morning, catch up via the ...link below! https://soundcloud.com/user-1277310/ican-radio-segment-ylot

09.01.2022 We are all different, but have so many similarities Well done to the Young Leaders from Bellerive Primary School today! It was wonderful to attend their assembly and hear them speak about their time in the program this year. Their reflections on how they’ve grown and the things they’ve learnt from their Southern Support School buddies, despite COVID disruptions, were inspiring. ... Thank you to this group of young people who are creating awareness and changing perceptions of disability within their community.

07.01.2022 After a delay due to COVID-19, it was fantastic to see BPS Young Leaders so excited and keen to go to Southern Support School today. It was a busy morning as buddies were getting to know each other on their first visits to classrooms and they can't wait to come back again soon! Congratulations and welcome to the 2020 Young Leaders from BPS!

04.01.2022 Happy Father’s Day! We hope you have a fantastic day filled with lots of laughs, fun and plenty of dad jokes. And a special shout out to all the Key Word Signing dads out there you guys are real heroes! #keywordsign #keywordsignaustralia #fathersday

02.01.2022 A huge welcome to The Friends School 2020 YLOT participants. Despite COVID, these students have still been engaging with SSS buddies - through virtual platforms and they have been learning some sign language. It's great to have you back on-site at Southern Support School though! This year we will have three groups of students from The Friends School attend over three days. Congratulations Young Leaders and we look forward to watching you and your buddies grow and develop for the remainder of the year!