{"id":11866,"date":"2026-04-30T13:22:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/uncategorized\/transforming-communication-in-classrooms"},"modified":"2026-04-30T13:26:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:26:47","slug":"transforming-communication-in-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/news\/transforming-communication-in-classrooms","title":{"rendered":"Transforming communication in classrooms through research and innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-stretch fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:89.44rem;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column fusion-flex-align-self-stretch\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:20px;--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><h1>Transforming communication in classrooms through research and innovation<\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_11867\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11867\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11867 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/kate-jones-p.jpg\" alt=\"Kate Jones, Caboolture Hospital Paediatric Speech Pathologist\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/600;\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-11867\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kate Jones, Caboolture Hospital Paediatric Speech Pathologist<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>Caboolture Hospital paediatric speech pathologist Kate Jones is exploring new ways to strengthen communication between Australian primary school students and their educators through augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).<\/h4>\n<p>AAC refers to methods of communication other than speech, such as drawings, gestures or communication devices, and can play a vital role for students with complex communication needs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have always been passionate about all people having a voice to express who they are,\u201d Kate said.<\/p>\n<p>Her recent research examined how Australian primary school educators perceive AAC and whether existing supports enable its effective use in classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>Kate said schools present a key opportunity for successful AAC implementation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChildren spend six to eight hours a day at school, making it an ideal environment for consistent communication support and modelling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The study highlighted ongoing challenges, with many educators lacking the confidence, time or resources to fully implement AAC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to better understand whether the barriers are related to attitudes or resourcing,\u201d Kate said.<\/p>\n<p>Kate hopes to continue her research within her role at Caboolture Hospital, with plans to undertake a PhD focused on improving AAC implementation in school settings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy goal is to develop more streamlined approaches that reduce the time and training required, making AAC more accessible for educators and students,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Caboolture Hospital\u2019s Speech Pathology team supports both adult and paediatric patients across the Caboolture and Kilcoy regions, delivering care that helps people communicate with confidence.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Caboolture Hospital paediatric speech pathologist Kate Jones is exploring new ways to strengthen communication between Australian primary school students and their educators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":11868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-caboolture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11866"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11871,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11866\/revisions\/11871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/caboolture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}