Maggie Dent is an author, parenting and resilience educator and inspirational presenter. Maggie currently runs her own independent business called “Esteem Plus” that promotes the value of building personal and professional resilience in homes, schools and communities. Her common sense, practical approach to life and all that it brings particularly about the healthy raising of children has made her a regular on the TV and ABC radio.

Maggie is a proud mother of four spunky sons and she has a special affinity with boys, men, women, children, trees, dogs and ducks.

The Importance of Calmness, Silence & Stillness in children’s lives.

10:30am Session

Today’s world has become faster, busier and “hurried.” Maggie explores how this impacts on our children and their capacity to cope and thrive. Learn the cognitive, social and emotional benefits of silence and stillness and how it will bring you immediate benefits into your home. Maggie also explores building mindfulness in young children that will help with their ability to interpret and interact more positively with their world.

Dad’s ONLY: Top Tips for Being a Terrific Dad.

11:30am Session

This is a seminar just for Dad’s that unplugs the important aspects of the parenting of children from birth to 25.
Maggie has a unique ability to do “bloke talk” and decodes complex information in a highly practical and informative way. In her commonsense style of communication Maggie will inspire, empower and enthuse Dad’s to be terrific!

Emily Hunt is a Speech Pathologist who specialises in young children’s speech and language development. After working for many years in the government, non-profit and private sectors, she now publishes a twice-weekly guide of tried and tested ways to stimulate your child’s communication skills that are quick, fun and easy – so both you and your child want to do them! Find more at www.playtalklearn.com.

Speech & Language Development

10:30 am Session

The early years of speech and language development are amazing – so many skills are learnt and mastered in only a few years. This presentation will explain how speech and language skills develop between birth and four years of age, as well as suggest activities that families can do at home to further stimulate their child’s communication skills.

Emily Hunt – Speech and language skills needed to develop good literacy skills in 5-8 year olds

11:30 am Session

The ability to read and write is strongly linked to the ability to talk and listen. This presentation will describe the speech and language skills needed to develop good literacy skills in 5-8 year olds, and suggest ways of strengthening these skills at home.

Sabrina Hahn started her gardening career completing a certificate of horticulture at Bentley TAFE a hundred years ago, then a Degree in Applied Science Horticulture at WAIT, and finally completed a Bachelor of Social Science (Leisure Sciences) at Edith Cowan University. Then a landscaping business in Perth followed by a move to Kalgoorlie where she managed a nursery.

Sabrina grew up in the wilds of New Guinea and draws her gardening inspiration from her grandmother. She has a garden design and consultation service and operates all over Western Australia. She has three grown up children.

Each Saturday morning thousands of West Australians tune in between 9am and 10am to get their weekly installment of banter between Sabrina Hahn & James Lush when they appear on ABC radio.

Connecting Kids to Nature.

11:30 am & 2:30 pm Sessions

Sabrina will engage us with how to create natural outdoor spaces, in your garden, for your family.

She will also emphasise the values of outdoor spaces for children, adults and animals.

No matter where you live or your gardening skills Sabrina has answers for you!

Sue Hodges, a local teacher & brain gym specialist, is sharing her skills as a Kinesiologist with you all.

For many years Sue has educating our youth and has decided to expand her passion for helping others.

Sue has a vision to create a rich and fruitful community by supporting the wellbeing of children, adolescents & adults through kinesiology.

Brain Gym – The Learning Bucket

10:30 am Session

This presentation is designed for teachers, parents & care providers of children aged 0-6 years, in a fun and relaxed environment.

This program gives a background into the importance of movement to enrich brain development in the young child.

Information will include:

The importance of primitive & postural reflexes in development.

Addressing the learning, behavioral, physical & emotional challenges of children & demonstrating techniques to assist overcome the childs difficulties.

Sue Somerville is a clinical psychologist with over 25 years practice with the past 16 years working with women and their families. She currently manages a public hospital service and is a specialist in maintaining mental health for women during pregnancy and postnatally with the aim of establishing the best beginnings for families over those early important years.

She is a mother of 2 teenage children and has some years of experience in juggling work and family demands and trying to apply relevant psychological theory to the realities of raising children.

Health & Family Life Balance

2:30 pm Session

Sue’s presentation will focus on establishing and maintaining health and family life balance in the early challenging years of having young children. She will review some of the recent findings on the role of parents in developing emotional health in their children by maintaining a balance as they grow between protecting and nurturing, versus providing or allowing stimulation and exploration. How do we read and understand the signals our children give us about what they need from us as parents?

Dr Jenny Jay has been an early childhood educator since the late 70s. In recent years she has worked in the tertiary sector helping to develop high quality early childhood teachers. Of late she returned to classrooms to support teachers in the area of literacy and numeracy as a teacher coach. Her most recent role with the Department of Education once again sees her focussed on improving education outcomes in the early childhood sector.

As a teacher educator and grandmother Jenny became intensely interested in the use and misuse of technology with young children and still struggles with the dilemma of “how much is too much?” when it comes to children’s screen time, use of hand held and mobile devices and our fascination with technology. Being a technology addict and fierce advocate for child friendly childhoods Jenny believes in a measured and monitored approach to technology expose for young children.

Impact of Technology in the Home

2:30 pm Session

Jenny will explore the pros and cons of young children’s engagement with screens and various technology devices. Hoping to inform and assist parents to take measured approach to screen exposure and digital literacy development in the very young this workshop will help families determine ways they can monitor the impact of telecommunication and multimedia devices on all areas of their children’s development.

Judy Warren is currently a lecturer in the Early Childhood Studies program at Edith Cowan University. Judy lectures in both the undergraduate and post graduate Early Childhood programs. Judy’s interests and special projects addressed the importance of early childhood literacy and numeracy in the communities of the Kimberley region in Western Australia and the use of E-portfolios in child care contexts. Judy has also recently published a children’s story book. Judy is active in early childhood professional organisations and is currently a member of the Early Childhood Teachers Association.

Judy Warren.
M.Ed., Grad Cert (Tertiary Teaching); Dip Teach.

The Early Years Learning Framework and Your Child

2:30 pm Session

The Early Years Learning Framework was introduced nationally in Australia in 2010 and covers early education from birth to age 5. In this presentation we will unpack the Early Years Learning Framework as it applies to your child’s learning and development. We will discuss the principles and practices embedded in the framework highlighting its strong emphasis on play-based learning.

Jo Jackson King was born into a family in which child development, parenting and education have been a pasion for generations. She has a degree in Literature as well as an Occupational Therapy degree. She has discovered the most effective therapist for a child is an empowered and knowledgeable parent.

Jo lives on a pastoral property in WA, the subject of her first book “The Station at Austin Downs”. She works as an OT, runs workshops for parents and professionals on child development and is a speaker at professional conferences.

Jo can also be heard on the ABC radio.Her latest book is “Raising the Best Possible Child”. Jo is about how to navigate parenting myths and bring up confident, happy kids.

Reading your child, reading yourself, and putting it together.

10:30 am Session

A workshop which puts together the research on the body language of children and that on attachment patterns, and ends with how to make the most of the rupture and repair process in growing your relationship.

The First Rung on the Learning Ladder: Self-regulation.

11:30 am Session

What makes a child really ready for school? It isn’t knowing their numbers and letters. How you can help your child develop the skills that make them ready to benefit from education: Empathy, Attention, Concentration, Theory of Mind, Impulse Control and Perceptual Sensitivity.

Susan Rosendorff is a qualified Early Childhood Teacher with many years experience working at ‘The Child Study Centre at UWA’.

Her passion has always been with Additional Needs for Children, so Susan is currently working for The Department of Education in WA with her field of expertise being Children with Autism & Special Needs.

Support for Families for Children with special needs

10:30 pm Session

Sue will present and discuss the education of students with additional needs, from refugee children, students with disabilities and learning difficulties to students with autism.

This includes developing strong partnerships with schools to ensure positive outcomes for students with additional needs in the public school system. Sue shows us how to engage children, parents, teachers, administrators and specialists pertaining to the needs of the child.

Dr Denise Stapleton is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with over 20 years experience in children’s nutrition and research.

Together with occupational therapist Gillian Griffith’s, Denise developed the Mealtimes Matter workshop for parents with mealtime difficulties.

By joining with Denise you will discover how our children’s sensory preferences impact on what we tolerate, love, seek and avoid throughout our day, particularly during mealtimes. Your new understandings will help you stretch your children’s dietary intake toward nutritious food and create harmonious mealtimes for your family.

Mealtimes Matter parent workshop

11:30 am & 2:30 pm Sessions

Discovering your sensory preferences and creating harmonious family mealtimes.

Do you or your child struggle to enjoy mealtimes?

If your child eats few foods, refuses entire food groups, will not eat family meals, becomes anxious, tantrums or gags when presented with new foods or finds security in a particular food being present at every meal, which has been prepared the same way, then you may like to join with Dr Denise Stapleton who is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with expertise in mealtime difficulties.

Griffin Longley is a newspaper columnist, the manager of a program for at-risk kids in the Midland area and the CEO of Nature Play WA.

Nature Play WA is a not-for profit organisation which, in partnership with the Department of Sport and Recreation, aims to make unstructured outdoor play a normal part of Western Australian kids lives again.

The Importance of Unstructured Play

11:30 am

Join Griffin Longley to learn about the importance of unstructured play outdoors for you child’s physical, cognitive and emotional development, why is it that modern kids spend more time indoors than any other generation in history and what parents can do about it?

And be introduced to Nature Play WA Passports to an Amazing Childhood program and other initiatives designed to make ‘mucking around outside’ a part of your kids lives again.