Dennis Knox - School’s & Community Liaison Officer – Hills & Northern Sydney Ability Options have been supporting people with disability who need assistance to achieve their aspirations and inclusion in the community for 40 years. Ability Options provide a variety of services from 25 sites across NSW, supporting people in the home and in the community, in education, with allied health, supported and independent living through the NDIS. Ability Options assist people to find the job that’s right for them, through the Australian Government’s job active scheme as well as the Disability Employment Scheme (DES).
EarlyEd is an early intervention service for children and their families, delivering all the services they need including speech pathology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, behaviour support and special education. For over 40 years, as a not for profit organisation, Early Ed have been supporting families across Northern and Western Sydney. Our teams have specialised early intervention skills as well as discipline specific skills to help them assess, set goals and provide interventions that will support the child as a whole as well as their family and community. Our teams of intervention staff work together with families, preschools and childcare to find ways to support children to be ready to learn. Early Ed plan and deliver support in ways that meet the individual...
Gifted Learning Disabled (GLD) Australia is a national not-for-profit online learning community and support group responding to the needs of intellectually gifted learners with disability (GLD) or other learning challenges, including ADHD. Through the sharing of information, research and personal experiences, GLD Australia members seek to provide support for GLD children and for those who care for, teach and advocate for them.
Joan Caelli is a child psychologist and play therapist with over 10 years’ experience working predominantly with neurodiverse children and families. Joan works from the social model of disability using a neurodiverse-affirming practice framework to support the achievement of an individual’s goals, including offering support to parents, schools and working within a multidisciplinary team structure creating collaborative individualised care plans. Joan is also passionate about supporting professionals in this area including ND professionals, around self-care and workload planning, through peer supervision and formal supervision 1:1 and group.
Lawson Clinical Psychology Kelly Fullarton Several clinicians at Lawson Psychology provide a range of services to support individuals with ADHD and learning difficulties. Services include consultation, assessment, specific-skill development, educational consultation and mental health intervention.
The Learning Difference Convention - Jillian Zocher, Director The Learning Difference Convention is an annual event in Sydney and Melbourne , linking delegates to support networks, teacher training, resources, research, authors and information, all relating to learning differences. Neurological differences are to be recognised and respected as any other human variation. These differences can include those labelled with Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dyscalculia, Autistic Spectrum, Tourette Syndrome, and others. The Learning Difference Convention recognises that a systematic, explicit and multi-sensory approach to reading is essential and that early intervention is key. Whilst we provide FREE resources to assist with reading, we recognise that dyslexia is more than just a reading difficulty and that dyslexics have varying needs, relative to their individual strengths and weaknesses. This unique event...
Learning Difficulties Coalition of NSW Inc The LDC offers a telephone helpline for parents, teachers and health professionals relating to learning difficulties and associated issues, eg. ADHD, dyslexia, Autism, Tourettes, Anxiety, Social Skills, Bullying, Literacy/Numeracy, Self Esteem, Speech/Language and more. Information on assessments, contacts, tutors, support groups, resources, etc are available via the helpline. The LDC also run a seminar each school term and have a range of publications relating to LD. Membership is also available to individuals and schools/organisations. The telephone helpline is open school days, school hours. Wendy Bowman - LDC Parent Helpline Coordinator
Psychological & Educational Consultancy Services Dr Shane Langsford Psychological & Educational Consultancy Services (PECS) was established by Dr Shane Langsford in Subiaco in 1999 and has grown from being a single practitioner practice to now comprising seven staff who, under Dr Langsford’s continued guidance, conduct child and adult assessments for ADHD, Specific Learning Disorder (SLD: aka Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia), and Intellectual Developmental Disorder (IDD). Dr Langsford’s qualifications include a PhD in Educational Psychology, a Bachelor of Education with First Class Honours (BEdHons1), and a Bachelor of Psychology. Completed within the BEdHons1 was a Postgraduate Diploma of Education majoring in School Psychology. Dr Langsford is fully registered with the Psychology Board of Australia (PBA) and the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA);...
Speak & Write was established to help children, adolescents and young adults develop and improve their speech, language, literacy and comprehension skills. We have programs and options available no matter what your child needs and have worked with children with disabilities for over 10 years. We offer a comprehensive range of professional Speech Therapy services, including: ● Individual Speech Therapy: via Tele-health in clinic or your child’s school ● Speech assessment ● Language assessment ● Literacy (Reading & Spelling) assessment ● Consultancy services for teaching professionals ● Teacher and parent seminars Our Therapy Options include: ● Individual weekly lessons ● Individual intensive holiday programs ● In-school visits – individual therapy and assessment (dependent on permission and facilities of the school)...
SPELD NSW is a Public Benevolent Institution whose mission is to provide advice and services to children and adults with specific learning difficulties and those who teach, work with and care for them. SPELD NSW is one of the National Federation of SPELD Associations, AUSPELD. It is an incorporated not-for-profit association of parents and professionals committed to advancing the education and well-being of children and adults with Specific Learning Difficulties. Speld NSW supports, disseminates information and advocates in response to the needs of children and adults who have Specific Learning Difficulties (SLDs) and those who teach and care for them by: Supporting their educational needs Supporting teachers, other professionals and kindred associations in matters of SLD Promoting knowledge of and equal...
Twice Exceptional Educational Consultancy Rhonda Filmer - BA GradDipEd, COGE, M.EdAdmin (UNSW) & Chair of SPELD NSW I take appointments to discuss the learning profiles of bright and gifted children (but no-one is excluded – this is just my specialty) when there is underachievement and even failure to thrive at school. Often, there is undiagnosed ADHD or ADHD (PIP), sometimes with Specific Learning Disabilities as well. I do standardised Achievement testing and report to families and schools, I accompany parents to Learning Support team meetings at school to explain the challenges faced by children with ADHD and to demonstrate the need for remediation/ curricular adjustments. I also tutor students who have fallen behind their expected levels of achievement and progress...