AISC 2024

We live, and perpetuate, a world of neurotypical standards. Being a part of the minority of working Autistic adults, I constantly fight this battle. However, my AuDHD (Autism & ADHD) is what makes me a strong leader and teacher. Although it comes with it's own set of challenges and boundaries. My voice is loud in my direct relationships to give space for neurodivergence within my classroom and team, however, administration still looks at teacher well-being on a neurotypical scale. It’s time to make some noise and disrupt the space where leaders come to learn by taking the time to understand my story.

Expected Outcomes:
By the end of the presentation, participants will have a deeper understanding of the prevalence and implications of undiagnosed neurodivergence among teachers. They will also leave with practical strategies and tools to support the wellness and success of all educators, ultimately leading to a more inclusive and enriched learning environment for students.

This interactive 90-minute workshop introduces the LIFE approach, a practical framework for supporting student mental health and suicide prevention in schools. The session is designed to introduce educators to tools and strategies to proactively:
● Listen with Care and Compassion
● Identify Pain and Suffering
● Foster Hope and Meaning
● Explore Safe Solutions
Through a blend of engaging activities, collaborative discussions, and reflective practice, participants will learn how to create safer, more supportive environments that foster resilience and emotional well-being. While this session serves as an introduction to the full-day LIFE approach, participants will leave with practical tools to address student mental health concerns and promote a culture of care within their schools.

Expected Outcomes:
● Gain an introductory understanding of the LIFE framework, with tools ready for immediate application in the classroom or school environment.
● Learnthe LIFE approach to develop safe and compassionate conversations with students experiencing psychological distress.
● Collaborate with fellow educators to exchange ideas and insights to further support your practice.

The human brain possesses an astounding capacity for rewiring and remodeling itself throughout life, enabling us to rejuvenate, refine, and enhance our cognitive abilities at any age. Explore the neuroscience of learning and discover strategies to maximize student potential through cognitive training.

Delve into the significance of neuroplasticity and various brain training techniques and neurotech that can empower neurodivergent learners. Learn how neurofeedback can support student well-being and integrate seamlessly into a school's social-emotional learning (SEL) program.

By strategically exercising specific neural pathways, we can significantly boost people's thinking, perception, learning, and memory skills. In fact, brain training exercises may be equally effective as medications in addressing neurodevelopmental conditions.

Incorporating cognitive exercises into school curricula can help students excel academically. When engaged in these activities, learners can develop greater precision, speed, and retention in their cognitive processes, benefiting both high-achieving students and those with learning needs.

By prioritizing cognitive training during the formative educational years, we can empower students to reach their full potential, equipping them with the mental tools necessary for academic and lifelong success. Investing in brain plasticity during this critical period can have a profound and lasting impact on cognitive capabilities.

Expected Outcomes:
For school leaders and educators to understand how learning works in the brain
To explore the concept of Brain-based model in instructional design
To delve into the different cognitive processes and how can schools assess and optimize them.
To consider the place and need for cognitive assessment and training in schools
To investigate the importance of cognitive training to facilitate, improve and maximise learning
To explore the use of neurotech for not just neurodivergent learners but to maximise potential, elevate performance and to improve self-regulation
To know how neurofeedback is used in various institututions around the world to :
- Enhance focus and attention
- Improve academic performance
- Reduce anxiety and stress
- Improve sleep
- Enhance emotional regulation

The presentation addresses a fundamental error in education as conventionally practised, which is to conceive of learning as a reductive journey towards an integrated mastery of information. This is not how human cognition or understanding works. Rather, people tack towards a more satisfactory adumbration of a psychosomatic Gestalt, which licenses their plans for thought and action, and which is continually shifting in its content, its internal and external relations, and its valency. The current mismatch between practice and actuality is consequential for how learners come to conceive of their knowing selves, usually to their detriment.

The presentation argues via an exploration of three visual metaphors for student experience that, outside of a few special areas of knowledge (principally mathematics, physics, and engineering), the ambition of schooling should be to familiarise young people with adumbration in its most productive guises.

By drawing on the work of Iain McGilchrist (hemispheric tendencies towards either apprehension or comprehension), Wendy Wheeler (the ubiquity of biosemiotics and meaning making), and Nel Noddings (the call for integrative centres of care), a new model is suggested, created with the express intent of encouraging curiosity, intellectual humility, growth, and personal well being.

Expected Outcomes:
Participants will leave with a new understanding of how conventional school tends to misunderstand and reduce human learning (including its new mania for AI and the mistaken notion that human thought processes are algorithmic), and with compelling arguments to support the inclusion and expansion of every experience that can be included in the school curriculum that is not STEM.

Through our work over an academic year, we have designed projects that foster collaboration between our Makerspace and Li Ren (Wellbeing and Inclusion Centre). We focus on projects that encourage student collaboration, ownership, and autonomy. Using digital fabrication equipment, students have spent the year working in teams to design and create products to solve real design challenges in the Li Ren (Wellbeing and Inclusion Centre).

Our team will discuss our work so far, both successes and failures, as well as facilitate discussion around how this model might be expanded to other schools. Our findings include how much time it takes to facilitate design/build projects as well as the impact on student perception and understanding of Li Ren (Wellbeing and Inclusion Centre). We believe the best way to reduce stigma around counselling and wellbeing work is to truly integrate it into all parts of the school.

Expected Outcomes:
Participants will engage in a workshop where they can produce a product which emulates our work in both the Makerspace and Li Ren (Wellbeing and Inclusion Centre). Participants will be able to find out more about the collaborative model in our school and how we integrate the Makerspace with well-being and vice versa to support the personal growth of our students. We will discuss our best practices and look for feedback and ideas moving forward in this collaborative work.