Zip It Up For Kids

Zip it up or have a chat program

Speech impairment, Speech Pathology funding, Optimal Communication, Zip it up for Kids, Phonic All Stars, Katrine Elliott

Miss Mary Mouth has gone missing. The last thing we we heard her saying was she was sick of all the “LIP SERVICE” when it came to funding support for children with speech and literacy impairments.

Miss Mary Mouth, our Speech Pathologist in charge here at Optimal Communications Speech Pathology and the out front lady of the Phonic All Stars is sick of lip service when it comes to supporting children with speech and language impairments.

She understands that a large amount of our community think that speech pathologists help only kids with lisps and don’t understand the extensive nature of speech, language and communication impairments and the impact that this disorder has on a persons life currently and in the future. It not only impacts on their ability to communicate their needs, wishes and desires but to even interact with people on a daily basis. She knows first hand as a speech pathologists that the actual impairments that are underneath speech and language are also involved in reading and writing impairments making communication by typing not even an option. It impacts on their ability to gain education and also to be employed in most jobs given the weighting on talking in most workplaces.

Why Miss Mary Mouth is so frustrated is she has watched for years financial support being injected into organisation to find a cure for many other disease, that by all means needs the support, however, what infuriates her is that speech and language impairments have a cure…it is called speech therapy!!!!!! Only if the kids would be supported to get access to the services.

Speech Pathology. Katrine Elliott, Optimal Communcations, Zip it up for kids, Funding speech therapy

Katrine Elliott, Speech Pathologist excited about the arrival of the badgemaker and zips on eBay to take the first steps forward to the ZIP IT UP FOR KIDS sponsorship program

Presently, children with complex speech and language impairments are supported by medicare with a partial payment of under $50 for 5 speech therapy sessions per calendar year to support the correction of conditions that require multiple sessions weekly over months to many years to achieve life changing goals for these children who then grow up to be adults. She is even more frustrated as she understands that by investing in the youth at the seed level then it has an impact on adolescents and young adults given the dependency of people on the dole and the association between unemployment and speech, language and literacy impairments. The secondary tsunami of this are that these individual or more likely to be at risk of emotional and psychological challenges and have an impact on self esteem having a greater drain on community support services for mental health, housing, employment and even crime.

Miss Mary Mouth is wondering how generous we are as a community and whether we are prepared to put the money where the mouth is and give little stars the chance to shine.

She is prepared to go through the agony to ZIP IT UP if it means raising funds to help these individuals in our community ti get the support they need.

Speech Pathology funding, Katrine Elliott, Optimal Communications

Zippy is one of our characters at Zip it up for kids where you can take sponsorship and attempt the NO SPEAKS HOUR or DAY to have a true experience of how valuable communication is and the importance of speech therapy to support these individuals with speech, literacy and communication impairments.

If you want to be involved in the ZIP IT UP for individuals with communication impairments but know that in your workplace, occupation or profession you can not undertake your duties then you can choose to HAVE A CHAT and pay a little more for the convenience of speech which is a small cost to pay for the luxery of speech and communication and may actually make you realise how fundamental speech and communication are to every aspect of what we do. `


Speech Pathology funding, Katrine Elliott, Optimal Communications, Zip it up for kids fund raising

For those individuals who can’t ZIP IT UP during the day due to the type of work they are in, they can choose to still be involved and take the HAVE A CHAT experience with our little green friend…CHATTY. Take note of the ‘…’ speech marks in his design to indicate that “you can talk”…but take the time to value that opportunity and appreciate that you wouldn’t be able to have that job if you had a speech or literacy impairment.









The process

If you or your workplace want to be involved in this worthy and necessary program to raise funds and awareness for communication impairment then enter your details in the email collection porthole to the left. YOu will then receive information of how you can be involved which will involve us sending you your own ZIP IT UP or HAVE A CHAT package to get started. It’s simple…enter your details.. forward your donation….receive your ZIP and get spreading the message the way that works-the experiential way !!!!!

Speech Pathology funding, Optimal Communications, Katrine Elliott, Zip it up for kids

The Yin and Yang Zips are for those of you who want to take the BESTIES ZIP IT UP experience together. You can do the Zip it up challenge with your favourite friend or you partner. One talks-and one goes into silence…then you will get to feel an unbalance interaction and how that feels to gain and understanding of how vital communication is.

Distributions of the funds:

Optimal Communications has chosen to take this mission on independently as a direct method of raising funds and delivering them directly to the community members who need these services. This is not a non-profit organisation but is an organisation that really cares about making differences and reaching the children and adults that require the support. The funds raised are to be managed in a transparent and disciplined way in a manner that minimises spending other than for it’s specific purpose being to support individuals with communication impairment. To enable this process to occur, Optimal Communications has volunteers to have transparent banking statements and distribution of support packages as evidence of goodwill and honest intentions of the value community funding received. Our goal is to get the funds directly to the children and families so they can get on with the job!

Speech Pathology funding, Speech impairment, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, OPtimal Communications Speech Pathology, Katrine Elliott

Can’t do doubles as a friend is left out…well take the Trippy Zips and do the triplet experience of entering the world of silence and fund raising to support familes and children with speech and literacy impairments. Speech therapy is proven to make measurable and necessary improvement to these kids…Speech Pathologists have the cure! The kids just need the funds to get the treatment.

How to apply for support:

Any individual can apply for support, however, they will require an assessment and recommendation from a Speech Pathologist who is a member of Speech Pathology Australia. Funds can be applied to a designated speech therapy treatment program, attendance at speech therapy groups or for the purchase of specialised resources and equipment. Specific discretion will be applied to funding individuals and circumstances that are not supported by other organisations (eg. Funding may not be available for a communication device that could be funded by MASS funding).

Look foward to a sea of Zip faces coming your way

Speech Pathology Funding, Optimal Communications, dyspraxia, dyslexia, central auditory processing, speech impairment, autism, down syndrome

We are creating an army of Zips to be set forth out into the community to ramp up the awareness of everyone to the importance of communication. This is not a human privilege but a necessity. Watching the past 20 years of minimal support given to children with speech and literacy impairment has been criminal given that Speech Pathologists have a cure for so many speech, language and literacy condition if treatment is able to be accessed. Zip It Up For Kids is NOT “lip service” but ZIP SERVICE….a sponsorship program the community can get involved in…watch this space to see what the community can do for itself!.

Here are some important people who really understand the fundamental importance of communication who have taken the time to tell you their story if you can give some time to listen.

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