Authentic Inclusion in Schools: 2024 Program

8:15am – 8:45am

Registration

8:45am – 9:00am

Welcome and introduction

Daniel Payne, DSV CEO, Ro O’Dwyer and Paula Kilgallon, DSV Education Managers and Kath Mansour, DSV Advisory Network

9:00am – 10:00am

Keynote speaker: Teaching children with Down syndrome to read – benefits for language and cognition

Keynote speaker: Professor Sue Buckley, Director of Science and Research at Down Syndrome Education International and Emeritus Professor of Developmental Disability at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Key learnings:

• Why teaching reading and shared reading is important for all children
• What levels of reading achievement can we expect?
• How to teach children with Down syndrome to read at home and at school
• How it can improve language and cognitive progress
• Foundations are laid in early years

Live streamed – Sue is located in the UK.

10:00am – 10:45am

Adjusting the Australian Curriculum

Keynote speaker: Dr Rhonda Faragher, Associate Professor in Inclusive Education and Diversity in the School of Education at the University of Queensland.

Key learnings:

• Planning well for most learning needs right from the start 
• Planning using LYLAC: Learning Year Level Adjusted Curriculum 
• Making adjustments 
• Supporting learners in the classroom – making adjustments on the fly. 
• Assessing learning to show what students know and can do. 

10:45am – 10:50am

Reflection

10:50am – 11:10am

Morning tea

11:10am – 11:25am

My life with Assisted Technology (AT)

Colby Hickey, DSV Advisory Network, Advocate, Speaker.

Key learnings:

• How AT has been useful in my day to day
• The challenges I have faced over the years
• What my life would be like without AT
• The importance of AT in education

11:25am – 12:10pm

Understanding student behaviour as a pathway to increasing engagement

Tyrone Smoger, Senior Project Officer, Principal Behaviour Support Adviser Unit, Department of Education and Dr Brent Hayward, Registered nurse, Credentialed Mental Health Nurse.

Key learnings:

• A better understanding of the factors contributing to behaviour at school
• Proactive and reactive strategies to support students

12:10pm – 1:10pm

Communication everywhere, all of the time – non electronic and electronic solutions

Helen Tainsh, Speech Pathologist.

Key learnings:

• Aided language stimulation
• Visual supports for behaviour management
• Talking mats
• Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) and other robust Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) solutions

1:10pm – 1:15pm

Reflection

1:15pm – 1:55pm

Lunch

1:55pm – 2:50pm

Maths for me, too!

Keynote speaker: Dr Rhonda Faragher, Associate Professor in Inclusive Education and Diversity in the School of Education at the University of Queensland.

Key learnings:

• Numeracy is the effective use of mathematics in life contexts. Everyone needs to learn maths. 
• Getting off to a good start – ideas and activities for the early years 
• Teaching the big ideas of maths: e.g. counting, place value, measurement, problem solving, algebra 
• Using the tools of maths: calculators, spreadsheets etc 
• Maths in the secondary school 

2:50pm – 3.30pm

A journey into inclusion

Tommy Quick, Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Speaker.

Key learnings:

• My story
• Challenges at school
• Positive action by teachers to promote inclusion
• Why social and academic inclusion matters
• Life after school

3.30pm – 4:00pm

Building an inclusive environment for all school community members that is sustainable and underpins the inherent culture at Cockatoo Primary School.

Darrelyn Boucher, Principal, Cockatoo Primary School.

Key learnings:

• Our journey at Cockatoo PS
• Key ingredients for successful inclusive practices
• The importance of leadership in building a culture of inclusion

4:00pm – 4:15pm

Reflection, close.