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“When I Go Hiking” is a tale about a young explorer named Christopher who embarks on an adventure into the heart of the wilderness with his family. Every step brings new excitement and wonder.
Along the way, he navigates winding trails, encounters a breathtaking waterfall, and meets curious critters and native Australian animals, adding to the magic of his journey.
Join Christopher in his exploration of Australia’s wilderness and be inspired by his curiosity.
A story to ignite a love of adventure in all young hearts.
This book was written by an Australian Speech Pathologist, Evyenia (Nia) Michellis, in a rhyming way to engage children, encourage a child’s love for reading and to help children begin to recognise word patterns.
Nia is an Australian Certified Practising Speech Pathologist and a self-published author. From the age of 14, Nia knew she wanted to be a speech pathologist, driven by her desire to work in a helping profession with children and her love for speech, drama, and singing.
After graduating high school, she commenced her Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) at The University of Queensland. Nia is passionate about assisting young children with speech, language, and literacy difficulties, aiming to help parents create a language and literacy-rich environment for their children.
In recent years, her special interest has focused on childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). In 2022, she opened her private practice to support more clients with CAS and took on a casual position at the University of Sydney. Since 2021, she has served as the Tasmanian research clinician in the Dynamic Therapy Randomised Control Trial.
In 2022, Nia released her first children’s book, “Phonics with My Animal Friends.” She developed this book for several reasons: There were not enough repetitive books in libraries available for her clients with speech and language delays. She wanted to create a book with repetitive functional phrases to help children with childhood apraxia of speech practice functional words. Many early years books in shops focus on teaching the alphabet and letters, but to learn to spell and read, children need to first learn to sound out words and tune into the sounds within words. She aimed to create a sound-loaded book featuring all the Australian English sounds, useful for screening speech development, monitoring progress, and home practice.
Through her work and publications, Nia continues to support and inspire children and their families in the journey of speech and language development.
