Empowering Educators to Support Neurodiverse Students
Time Table
Beccie Hawes
All Kinds of Minds: Creating a classroom in which all brains can thrive.
A session which explores neuro-affirming adaptive teaching strategies to create a classroom in which all brains can thrive.
- Exploring different kinds of minds through the lens of neurodiversity.
- Practical and impactful adaptive teaching approaches that will be vital for some and valuable for all.
- Neuro-affirming practices.
- The promotion of the feel good factor.
- Helping all learners to thrive.
This session will explore the strengths and the challenges all kinds of minds face in the classroom through the lens of neurodiversity. We will explore a range of neuro-affirming practical and impactful adaptive teaching in our classrooms so that every learner has a level playing field from which they can achieve success, feel good and thrive.
Room:
Fintan O'Regan
The curious case of Neurodiversity and Neurodivergence
This workshop will outline and demystify a range of Neurodivergent terms to help support parents and carers. Focussing on traits rather than labels we will outline a range of systems and strategies to help within the home whilst working in partnership with schools.
Room:
Kirsty Heap
Empowering Parenthood: Navigating Family Neurodiversity
Discover Kirsty's compelling insights into parenting as a dyslexic raising both dyslexic and neurotypical children.
- Turning dyslexia into a parenting asset– embrace your strengths.
- Building self-confidence – nurture resilience and positive self-talk in children.
- Breaking the stigma – reshape how dyslexia is seen at home.
- Practical tools for parents – support neurodivergent and neurotypical children alike.
- Empowering future generations – teach life skills schools often overlook.
Discover Kirsty's compelling insights into parenting as a dyslexic raising both dyslexic and neurotypical children. In this enlightening talk, Kirsty reveals how she used her dyslexic strengths to adapt her parental style, fostering self-confidence, positive mindset, and empowering self-talk crucial for her children's development. She shares her journey of transforming negative perceptions of dyslexia into a positive force, ensuring her dyslexic and self-diagnosed ADHD son thrives without the stigma she faced. Kirsty offers practical tools and ideas for navigating parenthood, equipping parents to support their children with essential life skills often overlooked in schools. Kirsty will empower you with strategies for fostering resilience and celebrating neurodiversity in family life.
Room:
Jacqui Strubel - Flourish Teaching
GROWTH MINDSET: What is it? What impact can it have?
In this presentation Jacqui will highlight how low self-confidence in a student's own ability and poor self-esteem are often additional barriers to learning. This is especially often present for those who are dyslexic and/or dyscalculic and/or those with other neurodiversities.
Jacqui will share strategies that she uses to engage with her students to break down barriers and to promote learning as an enjoyable experience for all.
Encouraging teachers and educators to address this issue when using targeted interventions and specialist teaching will enable their students to be more receptive to learning and confident in their own abilities, as they develop a “can do attitude”.
Jacqui will also share conversations with parents that she is currently working with, demonstrating real life examples of how a Growth Mindset can make a huge impact on outcomes.
There will be the opportunity for questions at the end of the session.
In this presentation Jacqui will highlight how low self-confidence in a student's own ability and poor self-esteem are often additional barriers to learning. This is especially often present for those who are dyslexic and/or dyscalculic and/or those with other neurodiversities.
Jacqui will share strategies that she uses to engage with her students to break down barriers and to promote learning as an enjoyable experience for all.
Encouraging teachers and educators to address this issue when using targeted interventions and specialist teaching will enable their students to be more receptive to learning and confident in their own abilities, as they develop a “can do attitude”.
Jacqui will also share conversations with parents that she is currently working with, demonstrating real life examples of how a Growth Mindset can make a huge impact on outcomes.
There will be the opportunity for questions at the end of the session.
Room:
Liz Day
Mental Health in Neurodivergent Young People
This session will provide parents with practical strategies to foster resilience, improve communication, and access support for their neurodivergent children.
- Mental health in young people
- Mental health literacy as a protective factor
- Neurodiversity
- Seeking external help
- The bigger picture
Supporting the mental health of neurodivergent young people can be challenging, but understanding their unique needs is essential for their wellbeing. In this insightful talk at The Neurodiversity Show, Liz draws on her master’s thesis from the University of Exeter on mental health literacy to explore the barriers young people face and how we can improve their protective factors.
Many young people struggle with mental health challenges, yet neurodivergent individuals often experience additional difficulties in being understood, diagnosed, and supported effectively. Parents play a crucial role in supporting their children’s mental health, but navigating the complexities of the system can be overwhelming.
This session will provide parents with practical strategies to foster resilience, improve communication, and access support for their neurodivergent children. Liz will share key insights from her research, highlighting the importance of mental health literacy in recognising early signs of distress, breaking down stigma, and empowering both parents and young people.
Whether your child is autistic, has ADHD, or another neurodivergent profile, this talk will equip you with basic knowledge to support their mental wellbeing with more confidence. Join us for an engaging and informative discussion tailored to parents and carers.
Room:
Samantha Garner
You don't have to climb mountains! Embracing who you are.
Being neurodiverse in a world built for neurotypical people can feel isolating. Learn how to embrace who you are.
- overcome feelings of isolation and not good enough
- redefine mental strength
- develop self-compassion and resilience
- support yourself and others
- affirm your worth
Being neurodiverse in a world built for neurotypical people can feel isolating. It can make you feel that you're not good enough. That you need to achieve something huge in order to feel worthy. Join Sam (who has no desire to run a marathon) to discover what true mental strength is. How to embrace who you are now. Learn how to achieve positive self esteem and support the development of self compassion, self-esteem and resilience in adults and children alike. Be able to say 'I am enough. I am worthy.'
Room:
Liz Day
Mental Health in Neurodivergent Young People
This session will provide parents with practical strategies to foster resilience, improve communication, and access support for their neurodivergent children.
- Mental health in young people
- Neurodiversity
- Mental health literacy as a protective factor
- Seeking external help
- The bigger picture
A key focus will be on mental health literacy—understanding how young people experience and express mental health difficulties, and how educators can respond effectively. This concept was central to Liz’s master's thesis at the University of Exeter, which examined different factors of mental health literacy and how greater understanding can lead to better outcomes.
Educators play a vital role in creating environments where neurodivergent learners feel safe, supported, and understood. We will discuss practical, evidence-based strategies to foster wellbeing, build resilience, and reduce stressors in the classroom. Attendees will gain insight into why traditional mental health approaches may not always be effective and how a neuroaffirmative perspective can lead to better support strategies.
Whether you’re a teacher, SENCO, learning support assistant, or school leader, this session will equip you with the knowledge and tools to make a meaningful difference in the lives of all learners and particularly those who are neurodivergent.
Room:
Axel Gudmundsson
ADHD: a liability or a gift? Hereditary or developmental?
What if the person’s high level of curiosity is their main quality - and this quality can be a great asset if managed appropriately?
- Why does ADHD run in families? Is it hereditary?
- ADHD: Disability or a gift? Liability or an asset?
- ADHD symptoms, causes, and a simple solution.
- What is the ADHD "Bubble"?
- ADHD is simpler than you think.
ADHD refers to the negative aspects of the condition - the distractibility and how that impedes learning and success in life.
From a different perspective, the ADHD person is interested in anything that catches their attention, rather than the one thing we want them to focus in. What if the person’s high level of curiosity is their main quality - and this quality can be a great asset if managed appropriately?
By addressing the issue of focusing, you can greatly reduce the negative effects of ADHD.
We can teach them to focus their attention in a simple and easy way, and then start to improve their awareness of when they are focused and when not.
Certain concepts, which most of us take for granted can be unclear or missing from the mind of an ADD person. These concepts include consequence, time, sequence, and order/disorder.
This will affect behaviour; they may be constantly late, or repeatedly in trouble, despite putting in huge effort to the contrary.
They may promise themselves time and time again to change their behaviour, only to find them having "messed up again".
Find out how to address all of this in a simple structured way.
Room:
Fintan O'Regan
How to be a Neuroinclusive School. Systems, Strategies and Solutions.
This workshop will focus on the 7 key elements that can create a truly Neuroinclusive school. We will also introduce the SF3R approach whereby Structure, Flexibility, Rapport, Relationships and Resilience can provide the framework to meet the learning, behaviour and socialisation needs of students within the school community.
Room:
Tessa Halliwell
Autism: pain, purpose and participation in the world.
Where there is misunderstanding and confusion there is fear. For many autistic individuals this affects their ability to engage effectively in a non- autistic world.
- Autism value
- Non-autistic understanding of autism
- Common life concepts; mutual understanding
- Abstract concepts become concrete
- Freedom from confusion.
There is a new paradigm that recognises that autism has value for all of humanity. For that potential to be realised there needs to be mutual understanding and a common way of being. This can be achieved by the shared knowledge of certain life concepts that pertain to both autistics and non-autistics. Concepts such as ‘change’, ‘time’, ‘responsibility’, or ‘we’.
These and other concepts were identified by an autistic man, Ron Davis, as the necessary ideas that would enable an autistic individual to participate if they choose.
Davis methods make these abstract concepts concrete so they are easily applied in everyday events. These concepts are reliable, they give certainty. Freedom from confusion, means freedom from fear, means freedom to choose to be.