The Variety SHINE Program sees kids who are struggling at school, given access to a team of allied health professionals either through an intensive opportunity over the school holidays, or onsite at their school.

The program allows professionals to work together to understand how the different areas are inter-related in the support of each child’s needs. Based off assessments of the child, the Variety SHINE team together form a plan and provide recommendations that can be actioned at home and in the classroom to improve the child’s learning outcomes in the long-term.

Abdi is a year 3 student and joined us for a Variety SHINE program during which he made significant improvements in his reading abilities and achieved several goals. While Abdi was unable to read simple words at the start of the program, he can now read long and multi-syllable words. On
one occasion Abdi read a decodable reader extremely well and it was clear he felt an improvement in his abilities. He turned to his clinician with a wide smile and put his hand up for a hi-five. On the way back to class following this session, Abdi said “I love coming to see you because in year 3 I never thought I would be able to read but now I can”. His teacher said he skipped several reading levels, seems more regulated and pays more attention is class, making better progress across all areas. Variety SHINE gave Abdi the motivation to persevere