The Child Study Centre (CSC) is a unique resource at the University of Western Australia.
The Centre, part of the School of Psychology, houses a variety of facilities for teaching, research and community service. These include a preschool, research laboratories and rooms for assessment, counselling and group work with children and their parents.
Members of the CSC include academic staff, teachers, clinicians, research psychologists and doctoral and masters students.
Facilities
Preschool
There is a preschool consisting of three well-equipped classrooms: one for pre-primary children, one for kindergarten children and one for preschool children with special education needs. Each classroom is fitted with a one-way mirror and can be viewed from a sound-linked viewing room.
CSC Clinic
A suite of three rooms used in assessments, interviewing and counseling form the hub of the CSC Clinic. These room are linked by microphones and one-way mirrors. There is also a large room suitable for running groups.
These facilities enable the CSC to fulfil three important functions within the School of Psychology and wider community.
Teaching
The preschool is used in a variety of ways in undergraduate teaching in developmental psychology and in teacher training for students in the M Psych/Dip Ed program, while the CSC Clinic resources form an integral part of M Psych training in assessment, interviewing and counselling.
Research
Each year, with parental permission, children in the preschool are involved in a number of research projects, either as participants in studies of young children, or to help students and staff refine materials and instructions for studies that will be completed elsewhere.
Currently the CSC research team has an ARC Linkage grant with the WA Department of Education and Training (DETWA) as their industry partner. The longitudinal project, “Parents as Partners” will evaluate the effectiveness of a four-week program for parents of kindergarten and pre-primary designed to teach them how to develop their children’s pre-literacy skills through specially designed games.
Previous research projects carried out under contract for the Early Childhood Directorate of DETWA resulted in a variety of products:
Booklets
- Speech Impairment and Literacy Difficulties, by Suze Leitao and Janet Fletcher
- Examining How Young Aggressive Children Think, by Robin Harvey and Janet Fletcher
- Easing the Transition to School for the Young Child with Special Needs, by Suzanne Luscombe
Book and DVD Packages
- Learning Through Play 1: Curriculum and Learning Outcomes, by Loraine Corrie
- Learning Through Play 2: Teachers’ Roles in Children’s Play, by Janet Fletcher, Lesley Edelman and Lara Sampson
Community service
The preschool is an off-site campus of Nedlands primary school and operates as a result of a partnership between DETWA and The University of Western Australia. DETWA provides the teachers who have been merit-selected, the major equipment and consumables; the University supplies the buildings and infrastructure support.
The kindergarten and pre-primary cater for children from the local community. The Special Needs Unit (alias the Sunshine Room) provides small group support to children of pre-school age from the larger metropolitan area who cannot cope with full integration at this stage.
The CSC Clinic provides a range of psycho-educational services to children and their families.
University information
CRICOS Code: 00126G
