Hi, My name is Yanqiu Zhang, I am the founder of Saluk Individual Child Development Support Program. I have over 20 years experience working as a registered nurse. I obtained the bachelor degree in Nursing at Massey University in New Zealand and my highest qualification is the Master Degree in Child and Family Health from University of Western Sydney (UWS).

Currently, I am still employed in the NSW health as a Child and Family Health Nurse. Due to the nature of my work, I have many years of working with families within the first two years of their children’s life. What I learned is that every parent wants to be a good parent, however, there are so many times that we feel inadequate, frustrated, loss of control and not knowing what to do. This is especially happening within the first few months of a child’s life.  The worries never end here, some babies will have sleep and settling issues, some babies will have feeding issues, some babies will not reaching the milestones.

In my work, I provide the family with age appropriate parenting skills, monitoring their children’s development and provide age appropriate consultations to parents.  I spent a lot of the time with the parents and the children, the family receives more than 20 visits within two years. This had been researched to be effective in making sure the healthy development of the children.  However, due to the cost of providing these visits, the public service can only reach to a small number of the families.

My main aim to set up this service is to provide similar service but less intense so that the parents are still getting enough supports in raising their children and at the same time financially affordable. This service will give you the opportunity to keep track of your child’s development from a professional point of view. If your child’s development is on track, the service will provide you with anticipatory guidance.  If your child’s development is not reaching the milestones, Age appropriate discussion and how you can help with the development will be delivered in details to boost your child’s development. The good thing is you choose the TIME and you choose the WAY how you want to be delivered.

Saluk Individual Child Development Support Program consists a schedule of services. It ranges from 0-2 years old. Maybe in the future, I should be able to extend the service to up to 5 years old. The parents will benefit more to complete all scheduled activities. This is because each age group will deal with specific information within that age. however, you are welcomed to just book in any session of the age group.

Please see below the service schedule and the delivery methods.

Service schedule:

1. 0-3 Months-Topics on Baby’s Cues, Baby’s Status, Baby’s Behaviours, Baby’s typical and emerging skills, Individualized activities according to the assessment result.
2. 3-6 months: Topics on baby’s Sleep and Settling, Introducing Solids, Baby’s typical and emerging skills, Individualized activities according to the assessment result.
3. 7-9 months: Topics on Object Permanence, Separation anxiety, Baby’s typical and emerging skills, Individualized activities according to the assessment result.
4. 10-12 months: Topics on Language Development, Baby’s typical and emerging skills, Individualized activities according to the assessment result.
5. 13-18 months: Topics on the play, Taking turns, Baby’s typical and emerging skills, Individualized activities according to the assessment result.
6. 19-24 months: Topic on Joint attention, Emotions, Toddler behaviors, Baby’s typical and emerging skills, Individualized activities according to the assessment result.

 

The above schedule can be delivered by:

1. Book for your very own mother group (up to 4 families)
2. Phone and email consultancy (if not within service coverage area.)
3. Premium home visiting service (please check service coverage area.)

 

The benefit of the program:

1. It focuses on your child’s development.

By assessing your child’s developmental stages, it helps the parent to focus on the current developmental stages and support the child with right activities. Parent will feel prepared to support your child’s development.

2. It focuses on your family’s strength.

Every family has its strength and weakness. For example, a mother who is very conscious of cleanness and tidiness would not allow much of messy play. In fact, messy play is such an important part of the baby’s life. By allowing the child to eat and play messily,  it helps the baby’s fine motor and problem-solving development. In this case, the consultant will discuss with the parent of alternative ways where the parents feel safe and acceptable to support the child to gain these skills.

3. Continuously individual support.

As a family in this program, you will be assigned to a consultant for 2 years. This will provide a continuous individual support to your special family and child.

4. It works with other professionals.

This program is helping you to keep track of your baby’s development. But it will not replace other professionals. We will work with other professionals if necessary or referral to another service if concerns raised.