The Kid Sense team are big believers that the best way to support children and young adults with additional needs (regardless of educational/vocational setting) begins with genuinely understanding the challenge, to then determine how to scaffold or overcome the challenge.
To this end, the highly experienced (senior) clinical team at Kid Sense offers a range of presentations and interactive workshops for educational settings from childcare through to adult learning environments.
As therapists, clinicians are experts at adapting their therapy and therapeutic recommendations to the individual requirements of the child or young adult. Similarly, they are equally skillful at adapting presentation information to the audiences’ varied skill levels, needs, and interests.
* If seeking in-house support, check out our In-Education Service which can focus on staff education from groups to individual educators regarding specific students and more. Our In-Education Service is ideal for those seeking to upskill the team around them while simultaneously supporting their students.
| Topic/DL Title | Descriptor | |
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Communication |
Your hands are a learning tool Speech and Literacy - using your hands to supplement communication (Cued Articulation) | Are you supporting pre-school aged children, & seeking more tools to support them with speech,
phonological (sound) awareness, and literacy? This group/classroom focused workshop explores the practical applications of research around:
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|---|---|---|
| Your hands are a learning tool for Language and Learning - using your hands supplement communication using Key word signing | Are you supporting pre-school aged children, and wanting more tools to support children with their
language, comprehension, and learning? This group/classroom focused workshop explores the practical applications of research around:
Using hand gestures and key word signing can emphasize the visual supports to enhance learning language and expand communication. This workshop focuses on the strategies that attendees can walk away with for immediate use. |
|
| Communicating Effectively with Children | There are many ways to communicate with children - some more positive and affirming than others. As an educator, you wield a great deal of power over your students simply because you are the adult in charge. For some children, the teacher-student relationship is more supportive than the parent-child relationship, and because children spend so much time of their week in your care, it is vital to foster positive relationships and connections before anything else. With positive relationships, children can then develop foundational trust and respect, a sense of security, self-esteem and self-regulation skills, which then lead to communication and participation abilities and the confidence to explore themselves and their environments! | |
| Developmental Milestones for Communication | What are the specific developmental milestones for speech, language and communication? How do these differ between monolingual and multi-lingual language learners? | |
| Communication Development: Levels of Questioning | What are the different levels of questioning and how can we use questions effectively in the classroom to support alnguage and learning development? | |
| Colourful Semantics and using Visual Strategies to support language learning and understanding | What is colourful semantics, why should we use it/visual strategies, and how can visuals support differentiation and language understanding in the classroom? | |
|
Regulation and Sensory Procesisng |
Getting ready to learn: Understanding & supporting regulation with spontaneous strategies | Do you work with pre-school children who can be really 'busy' or lethargic and disengaged, to the point
it interferes with their life and learning? Do you need some ideas to help grab the attention of even
the more disengaged students? This group/classroom focused and practical workshop explores:
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| Keeping Regulation Language Simple - regulation strategies for low language |
Working with preschoolers (as educators) typically involves managing active children (and sometimes
lethargic ones also). Regulation is the key and there are multitudes of strategies but they are not all
well suited to children with language or communication difficulties. This group/classroom focused workshop builds on 'Getting Ready to Learn' and explores:
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| Sensory Processing: An introduction to sensory processing and how to support students/children with sensory processing differences |
The world is full of sensory experiences, and everyone processes this information differently. This may
impact a child's learning or participation in everyday activities. This workshop explores:
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Irresistible Learning |
Creating Irresistible Learning Environments | How language and learning development happens best within irresistible learning environments |
| Immersion Interventions: Developing communication skills in your classroom | What is the communication development pyramid?; how to speech, language and communication needs present in children"; why is class-based intervention/dynamic differentiation so effective for teaching communication and underlying learning skills?; what does language-learning through play look like for monolingual and multi-lingual language learners?; what areas of language can you develop that require no physical resources and how? | |
| Using Books as Learning tools | How to really use books and stories as learning tools for language development - more than just reading a story! | |
|
Independence, and school Readiness |
Nurturing independence by Being a supporter not a do-er: 'Be their glasses, not their eyes': |
Child Care/ Preschool educators often focus on enhancing their students functional daily life skills and
ultimately independence. But being an independence 'coach', rather than a 'director' (doer), can be
tricky no matter how well intended. Maximize your coaching by being mindful of the levers you can use to
ensure successful coaching, including:
Enjoy a 'hands off' and statement free coaching approach towards independence success. |
| Self-care and Self-management: Developing independence and school readiness | Practical tools to support independent toileting, dressing, eating and managing belongings within the childcare/classroom setting. | |
| Supporting Social Engagement and Understanding in the classroom | How to use Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations to support social understanding and engagement in your classroom. | |
| Reading Comprehension and the Reading Brain - supporting reading comprehension in primary and secondary schools | The brain is not hardwired for reading - we have to learn to read in order to read to learn. How does the brain read and what are the stages of reading a word/sentence for comprehension (including processing speed and working memory impacts on reading accuracy). | |
| Gross and Fine motor skills: Exploring movement skill development to support child development and school readiness | Exploring foundational motor skills and how to foster children's development in preparation for their transition to school. | |
| Mealtimes: Exploring the many benefits of mealtimes within a classroom setting, and tips to support students food preferences | Unpacking the power of food exploration and how this can support fussy eaters. Exploring practical ways to support a child's food preferences within the childcare/classroom setting. |
We acknowledge the land on which we operate as the traditional lands of the Kaurna people, and pay our respects to the spiritual relationship with country that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hold.
Kid Sense is founded on inclusion and the belief that everyone is welcome. All diversity is celebrated, encouraged, represented and supported in our staff, our clients, and our community. You are welcome here.
