Bree Pennie & Kristy Cartan, Belongside Families

Waiting months between appointments. Travelling for therapy. Trying to make it all work at home in between. For many families in rural communities, this can be a lot to manage. 

This session is about what actually helps day to day. We’ll share simple, realistic ways to support children in everyday life, without adding more pressure or extra work. We’ll also talk about how to make the most of the support you do have, and how to work with therapists, teachers and others around your child.  

Whether you are a parent, carer or professional, you’ll leave with practical strategies and information about the free supports available for families' raising children with disability, developmental delay and Autism. 

Jill Hellemans, Analise Vella & Micah Street, All Aboard Inclusion

Some children need us to understand the conditions that help them feel happy, relaxed and engaged before they can meaningfully participate in learning. This workshop gives families, teachers and therapists a practical way to define a child’s learning profile, recognise early signs of dysregulation and respond with predictable, compassionate strategies that protect dignity and restore safety.

Across the hour, participants will work through a guided workbook to create a Student Snapshot: Supporting Inclusive and Compassionate Practice.

This simple, strengths‑based tool captures what supports a student’s regulation, the precursor behaviours that signal they are moving away from feeling happy relaxed and engaged, and the universal responses that help them return to a state of connection and readiness.

Together, we will explore how relationship‑centred behaviour supports can be embedded into everyday practice without adding to workload. Participants will leave with a shared language, a practical framework they can use immediately, and greater confidence in supporting students who rely on us to notice the small cues and respond with care.

Allison Lozes, Behaviour Analyst, Connect Behaviour Consulting

Whether you're parenting, teaching, or otherwise supporting children, some moments will test you - where you react before you think and then wonder, “what just happened?!”

This session normalises the struggle, and then does something about it. Drawing on behaviour science and Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), we'll explore why we get caught in coercive cycles that can intensify difficult behaviour, how present-moment awareness can interrupt knee-jerk reactions, and how identifying your core values can slowly shift the way you respond in your hardest moments. 

Bec Blessing, Speech Pathologist, Marathon Health

Adults play a vital role in a child’s language, speech and social development. This presentation provides practical strategies that can be incorporated into everyday life and interactions to support these skills. These strategies are beneficial when there are concerns about a child’s development or while waiting to access speech pathology services, which can be limited in rural and remote communities.

Alysha Spradbrow, Educator, The Thinking Gym & Mardi Taylor, OT, Kidmotion

This tangible and practical professional learning session is delivered collaboratively by Inclusive Educator, Alysha Spradbrow (The Thinking Gym) and OT Mardi Taylor (Kidmotion) who combine their skills in clinical insight with practical classroom experience on a daily basis through their work in Wellington NSW and surrounds. This session explores the evidence underpinning neurodivergence, including how differences in brain development impact attention, regulation, sensory processing, and executive functioning. Teachers, parents, educators and carers are supported to understand how these neurological differences present in everyday and classroom contexts and why some students experience barriers to learning and participation. The presentation then translates this knowledge into practical Tier 1 strategies, allowing for evidence-informed, neuroaffirming approaches to create inclusive environments that support engagement, reduce cognitive load, and improve access to the curriculum and everyday activities for all learners.

Panel (Speakers TBC)

Micaela Rafferty - moderator