Conference 2004

The Dyspraxia Association’s 8th Annual Conference "Dealing with Difference" was held at the GlenRoyal Hotel ,Maynooth on Saturday 3rd April. Despite postal difficulties a record number of delegates attended. Feedback from the conference was very positive.

Keynote Address – Dr. Tony Humphreys

Tony Humphrey’s gave us plenty of food for thought both in his keynote and in his workshop.

Dr. Tony Humphreys is a consultant Clinical Psychologist in private practice and lectures for health care and teaching professionals in University College Cork and the University of Limerick. He is also a Fellow at the National College of Ireland. He is considered an authority on individual, couple and family relationships and on relationships in the workplace. Below are some of the comments we received on the evaluation forms.

"Very good conference loved Tony Humphreys" "Found him excellent and thought provoking" "He was informative and interesting" "Would encourage you to examine yourself" "Could have listened longer"

Education -Don Mahon, Inspector, Department of Education and Science

Again Don Mahon obliged us by holding a workshop. He outlined the current system for allocating resources to schools for children with learning difficulties and learning needs.

With feeling running high on the current situation for children with learning difficulties, Don Mahon’s session contained a lot of questions from the floor and this interfered with his presentation.(Sorry Don)

Comments:

"He coped admirably, but where were the head honchos" "Not enough time" "Very factual and informative" "Bombarded with questions "

Suzanne Duggan/ Programme Development Officer – N.T.D.I

Suzanne McCarthy / Educational Psychologist

Suzanne Duggan and Suzanne McCarthy from the Bua Centre co-presented a workshop.

Comments:

"Very encouraging" "Excellent notes " "Was very helpful"

Transition from Primary to Secondary-Ann Whelan

Anne is an Educational psychologist who specialises in the area of learning difficulty. Her workshop focused on Second Level schooling including transition from Primary to Secondary.

Comments:

"Very good" "Practical advice" "Good input from group" "Full of practical suggestions" "Appreciated that Ann welcomed questions"

Overview of Dyspraxia/ Get the Picture- Monica McNamara

Monica McNamara, Occupational Therapist is a leading specialist in the development of training programmes for people with disabilities.

The theme of the morning workshop was an overview of dyspraxia from an occupational therapist’s perspective.

In the afternoon workshop Monica gave an outline of a new programme she has developed called "Get the Picture".

Comments

"Very good" "Good handouts" "Not enough time" "Good insight into child with Dyspraxia"

How an under developed balance system may impact on a child’s emotional and physical development’-Mary O’ Connor – Neuro-Developmental Therapist

Mary F. O’Connor is a full time Neuro-Developmental Therapist since 1995. She was the first person to set up a practice in Ireland, having trained at the Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP), in Chester, England where this work was pioneered.

Mary is the INPP representative in Ireland and is the Director of the International School for Neuro-Developmental Training and Research in Ireland.

Comments

"Excellent presentations" "practical applications" "very interesting" "excellent in every way"

Behaviour Management- Anita Prunty– Lecturer in Special Education

Anita is currently a lecturer in Special Education at St. Patrick’s college Drumcondra. She has worked as a teacher, special educator and educational psychologist in Australia and Ireland. For the past number of years she has presented workshops for teachers/parents around Ireland in the area of special needs, behavior management and literacy.

Her workshop this year was based around Behavior Management

Comments

"She was excellent" "More time needed or two workshops" "Could have listened to her for longer" "More strategies for coping with probs at home" "Great handouts"

We would like to thank all who attended the conference and any suggestions for next year will be gratefully received. Thanks again to all who filled out the evaluation forms. Below are some general comments that we received.

"Thank you, I wish the committee and org all the best in it's good work supporting families and communities" (From a number of answers) "Well done, thanks so much, not enough time, very helpful, very inspiring" "Very interesting and worthwhile to meet so many people willing to share their experiences" "Very good conference loved Tony Humphreys" "Workshops were really good, suggest more workshops " "Will return next year, as much info was exchanged between parents and teachers and workshops2 "Every speaker was so relevant, would have loved to attend them all" "I admire your professional and dedicated assoc".