Extra help for kindy kids
Growing expectations about what kindergarten-age children should be capable of and concerns some lack the required speech and motor skills are helping drive demand for pre-kindergarten programs.
Private schools have been increasing the number of pre-kindergarten spots for three-year-olds and private operators are also moving in to offer specialised services.
Occupational therapist Melissa Dove is one of two women behind a program that uses occupational therapy and speech skills to help children get ready for kindergarten.
She said a modern lifestyle that favoured screen time over outdoor activity or experimental play was contributing to the problem of children starting kindergarten without the necessary speech and motor skills.
Other factors, such as longer work hours for parents, also played a role.
"We've worked in both the government system and in private practice and in our experience we found that a lot of children are getting to kindy age and haven't always developed the skills they need, both in motor skills and in speech and languages," she said.
"For example, from an OT perspective, kids were having difficulty establishing hand dominance or pencil grip, which was leading to difficulty writing their names or manipulating tools. And from a speech perspective, it was difficulty telling stories. It's about early intervention.
"We have noticed as therapists that demands have changed with pre-primary being compulsory, the expectations have increased as to what a child should know from kindy.
"It could be that kids just might not have developed the skills they need. Sometimes parents don't know what the expectations are and there's a lot of talk about getting kids back outdoors.
"You think it's educational doing a maze on the iPad and yes the child is developing skills . . . but it's still not the same as holding a pencil or using a texta or a crayon."
Pre-primary became the first compulsory age of schooling for WA students last year and schools have been quick to embrace it.
Ms Dove and speech therapist Anthea Martin will launch Up & Away Learning - which is not a formal pre-kindergarten because it does not include a teacher - early next year with a focus on learning through play. 'You think it's educational doing a maze on the iPad . . . but it's not the same as holding a pencil.'" Occupational therapist Melissa Dove
