Talkabout 4 & 5
Bringing language to every part of your child’s day
We help children's speech, language and literacy grow and thrive.
Building strong speech and language skills for children aged 4 and 5
Telethon Speech & Hearing’s Talkabout program is a specialised language service for children who are experiencing a speech and language delay or disorder. This program combines highly specialised education and specialist health services to help develop speech and language skills through repeated opportunities to experience, explore and discover concepts vital for effective speech and learning.
With a family-centred, play-based approach, Talkabout helps build foundational skills and bring language to to every part of your child’s day at their own pace.
Enrolments are accepted all year round with NDIS funding and scholarships available to eligible families. No referral is needed!
Take a virtual tour of our classrooms! Or contact us to enrol in Talkabout today.
Speech and language support for Kindergarten and Pre-Primary children
Talkabout 4 and 5 are both curriculum compliant school programs providing evidence-based learning supported by the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation.
This unique combination of education and therapy is a valuable collaboration that allows our teams to help achieve excellent outcomes for your child.
Children take part in small groups, play based activity stations facilitated by an early childhood teacher, education assistant, speech pathologist or occupational therapist. Class sizes are very small and high staffing levels allow for intensive small groups and individualised work on focus areas.
Talkabout is a part-time program that runs collaboratively alongside your child’s mainstream school. Children are eligible to enrol during their kindergarten or pre-primary years.
Talkabout 4 (T4)
The program focuses on:
Talkabout 5 (T5)
The program focuses on:
View Our Classrooms
Take a 360-degree tour of our classrooms, then arrange a friendly chat with our Enrolments Officer to learn more about how our programs can support you and your child.
Mid-year enrolments are accepted and families may self-refer their child.
Parent feedback
“We have seen our child flourish in this program. I think that the Talkabout program has such a positive and supportive approach. Definitely, confidence has been built and a beautiful speech and language foundation. Even though our child has had huge challenges, that "give it a go" attitude has been thoughtfully demonstrated and encouraged by all of the staff. I feel that the staff are genuinely vested in the ‘best’ for each child.”
“My child has developed in leaps and bounds with his language and communication skills, his social skills, his fine and gross motor skills. It's also upskilled me and given me ideas and suggestions for me to continue at home. This continuous care has had a huge impact on my child. When I started searching for help with my very delayed child last year, I stumbled across Talkabout. I hoped it would be good but held reservations. Talkabout has far and away surpassed any expectations or hopes I held for it. It has been more than I dreamed possible. The team works as a whole, my child is seen, heard and known and the staff know me and my family. It's always a struggle with these kids but I've felt heard and supported the whole way. I've never been discouraged by any of the staff about anything, but they have always been open and willing to offer any help they can give. We have got so much more out of it than I ever expected.”
Additional speech and language support
Talkabout is also available to children of all ages! Take a browse through our individual and group options below:
- Talkabout 2 – suitable for children aged 18 months to 2.5 years.
- Talkabout Playtime – for children turning 3 before June 30 and not yet ready for a structured group program.
- Talkabout 3 – suitable for children turning 3 before June in the year of enrolment.
- Individual Speech Pathology – Telethon Speech & Hearing offers private speech pathology assessments for children with no referral needed.
Talkabout 4 (T4)
This kindy program is for children turning four who have a speech and language delay or disorder. It runs for one full day per week and is designed to sit as an addition to a mainstream kindy program.
The program focuses on:
- Receptive and expressive language skills
- Play and social skills
- Fine and gross motor skills
- Sensory integration
Talkabout 5 (T5)
This pre-primary program is for children turning five who have a speech and language delay or disorder. It runs for two full days per week and is available on a Monday / Tuesday or Thursday / Friday. Children attend their mainstream pre-primary for the remainder of the week.
The program focuses on:
- Pre-literacy and early literacy skills
- Social skills
- Fine and gross motor skills
- Sensory integration
