Janet O'Keefe

Ian Ross from Vievolve will be leading a seminar on negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution. Ian’s skill is built on a long and successful commercial career spanning senior posts in a variety of organisations that include British European Airways and Team Training Europe. He is an experienced facilitator, negotiator, and executive coach based in the UK and working internationally. As a Director of Vievolve Ltd, he offers a rare combination of the highest accreditations possible in NLP (INLPTA Master Trainer), together with negotiation and conflict resolution studies at Harvard. With over 18 years experience of applying NLP in commercial contexts he provides access to learning from the absolute cutting edge of human leadership and personal development technology, alongside the academic rigour of negotiation and conflict resolution models and strategies available from the Harvard Law School.

Book your place now at http://towardsapositivefuture.wordpress.com

Louise is Training Manager at the charity Child Brain Injury Trust; her role is to raise awareness about the issues that children, young people and their families face following the devastation of childhood acquired brain injury.  She has trained over 2,000 professionals across Education, Healthcare, Social Services and more recently with those working with young offenders and those at risk of offending. The aim of the training is to highlight that 90% of those affected by childhood acquired brain injury (ABI) have no physical sign of their disability and because of the hidden nature and lack of knowledge of ABI there injury is often unnoticed or even misdiagnosed.  Louise has also spoken at many conferences on this subject including SEN, Youth Offending and ABI conferences.  Since joining the Child Brain Injury Trust  in 2008 Louise’s passion for ensuring that these children and young people receive the appropriate support to enable them to achieve their full potential in life, has helped raise the profile of this hidden disability.

Book your place to hear Louise at http://towardsapositivefuture.wordpress.com

Professor Heather van der Lely is Director of the Centre for Developmental Language Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience and is one of Britain’s leading researchers into Specific Language Impairment. She will lead a presentation titled, “The grammar and phonology screening (GAPS) test: quick, simple, affordable and accurate: so why isn’t there national screening?”

Book your place now at http://towardsapositivefuture.wordpress.com

Charlie was the youngest Headteacher in the West Midlands to run SEBD schools for teenagers who been excluded from the mainstream system. Twenty five years later he is now a Consultant Child and Educational Psychologist providing hands-on services to the National Autistic Society,  Mainstream Academies and Health and Prison services on working effectively with students with complex needs – especially those with Autism and damaging behaviour difficulties.

Kevin joined Dyslexia Action as CEO on 1st April 2011 from the NHS, prior to that he was with the RNIB as Chief Operating Officer and has spent most of his career in the public sector. He has worked with the Open University as a tutor, was a trustee/governor of City Lit FE College for eight years and is currently a trustee of the Institute of Fundraising and of Contact a Family. Kevin has enormous experience, not only of the third sector, but of managing complex organisations with a strong set of values. Kevin is passionate about education and values how life changing education can enable people to stretch themselves and lead enriched lives.

Friday October 14th 2011 

9.30 am – Registration and Refreshments

 9.45 am – Welcome to Mary Hare and the Arlington Arts Centre – Tony Shaw

 9.50 am – Welcome Address – Robert Ashton

10.00am – Keynote Presentation – Kevin Geeson – CEO, Dyslexia Action ‘The impact the SEN Green Paper could have on literacy and the long term economic and social problems that getting it wrong could cause’

10.45am – Presentation – Inez Brown legal implications for children with special needs, current funding arrangements and future funding arrangements

11.30am – Presentation – Louise Wilkinson the issues that children, young people and their families face following the devastation of childhood acquired brain injury ‘The Hidden Disability’,

12.15 am – Exhibition, Networking, and Lunch

1.00pm – Charlie Mead – how Acadamies can find ways to meet the needs of students with complex needs

1.45 pm – Presentation – Prof Heather van der Lely “The grammar and phonology screening (GAPS) test: quick, simple, affordable and accurate: so why isn’t there national screening?”

2.30 pm Refreshments

2.45pm – Ian Ross – Negotiation, Mediation and Conflict Resolution

4.45pm Robert Ashton/Janet O’Keefe/Ian Ross – Clarity Foundation

5.45 pm – Closing remarks from Janet O’Keefe and end of Day at 6pm.

Please book your place at http://towardsapositivefuture.wordpress.com

When editing the forthcoming book ‘ Towards a Positive Future: Stories, Ideas and Inspiration from children with special educational needs, their families and professionals’ there were 10 things that cropped up repeatedly in the personal stories of the 14 families featured that made a positive difference to their well-being and the educational and life outcomes for the students.  These are:

• having a clear description of all of the child’s needs
• schools and services that focus on the child’s abilities and strengths
• productive activity for the child throughout the day to promote learning rather than a differentiated but meaningless curriculum
• safe, secure, appropriate physical environment which minimises the disability for the child and enables them to learn
• integrated therapy and teaching
• a positive and close relationship between parents and school
• social care working in partnership with parents and schools
• appropriate individual specialist programmes available as part of the curriculum
• appropriate medication and nutrition available in school
• access to specialist solicitors, barristers, advocates, representatives, expert witnesses and tribunal to achieve all of the above as early in the child’s life as possible

The book is available to pre-order from www.jr-press.co.uk and will be launched on Friday 14th October 2011.  To book your place at either the Book launch, the Conference or both please go to www.towardsapositivefuture.wordpress.com