Kayleigh
larne
Anna Freud
Kayleigh brings a wealth of experience to the conference having worked as Psychologist in the NHS for over a decade, specialising in childhood trauma, before leading on the whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing for alternative provision in her local education authority. She now works on a number of specialist projects in the school’s division at Anna Freud, developing and delivering training and consultancy on child and family mental health to education colleagues around the world. She is co-chair of Anna Freud’s Neurodiversity and Mental Health Network and currently leads on their Autism and Wellbeing and Suicide and Self-harm in schools projects.
Kayleigh’s presentation will focus on how we can develop an experience sensitive approach to inclusivity for our neurodivergent students, the links between neurodivergence and mental health, and how we can adapt our practice to ensure we are working in the best interests of our young people with SEND, promoting and protecting their mental health and understanding why being an advocate is essential to the prevention of mental health decline in this cohort of students.
Colin
Foley
ADHD Foundation
Colin Foley is the training director of the ADHD Foundation, the largest ADHD charity in Europe. After twenty-five years as a secondary teacher and senior leader, Colin’s work for the ADHD Foundation is grounded in empowering teachers to deliver outstanding outcomes for children and young people with ADHD through increased awareness of the condition and through practical classroom strategies that every teacher can use at all key stages.
Colin will be speaking on: "Principal classroom strategies to support children and young people with ADHD."
In this session, we will explore evidence based practical strategies to support the key classroom challenges for learners with ADHD, for example, supporting variable attention, distractibility and procrastination, including executive functioning, working memory and impulsivity. The session will take a strength based approach and explore the opportunities we have as educators to work positively with both hyperfocus and cognitive hyperactivity.
kim
griffin
GriffinOT
Kim Griffin is an occupational therapist specialising in helping children with sensory processing differences and motor skill challenges, including those with autism and dyspraxia. She has supported children as an independent practitioner in mainstream and specialist schools as well as in clinic. She is the founder of GriffinOT, which offers online occupational therapy support and resources for educators and parents.
Follow Kim on Twitter @Griffin_OT.
andy
smith
Spectrum Gaming
"Andy is an autistic adult and the founder of Spectrum Gaming, a community which supports 1,700 autistic young people across the UK. Before Spectrum Gaming, Andy worked for 2 years as the advocate for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at Bury Council, in addition to co-chairing the North West SEND Young people’s Co Production Steering Group and the Greater Manchester Selective Mutism Network.
Previously Andy worked as an associate consultant at Pathways Associates to implement the UK’s biggest consultation on the priorities of autistic young people, which over 2,900 young people contributed to. He has also been nationally recognised for commitment to autistic young people and represents their views in strategic groups and partnerships, including the Greater Manchester SEND Board, the Greater Manchester Autism Consortium and more."
“Spectrum Gaming has been leading on creating some new guidance for professionals who are supporting young people experiencing EBSA, called Barriers to Education. This guidance aims to provide increased understanding of young people who struggle to attend school and is underpinned by the WARMTH framework.”
