We were delighted to be able to offer two online behaviour seminars featuring Mr. John Curran as a guest speaker. These webinars were held on March 28th and 31st to support parents, teachers, and other professionals who work with children and young adults with Down syndrome.
These were successful and very well attended, with around 200 people attending live and another 100+ people registering in order to be able to access recordings. They were attended by parents, teachers (early intervention, pre-school, class and SEN), SNAs, Aim workers, community nurses and SLTs. We were also delighted to have the Head of Inclusion from Down Syndrome International (UK), Mr. Chris Barnes, attend on both evenings.
All age groups ranging from 0-2 years up to 25 years were represented, those who attended offered a variety of reasons for their interest in the topics – the most common being current or recent behaviour issues; general interest in the topic; and continuing professional development.
Most attendees were either DSI members or professionals working with a person who has Down syndrome, but some had no previous experience of Down syndrome, simply wanting to be in a position to support any person with Down syndrome in the future.
Feedback was positive: 89% of people who attended rated the webinars as good, very good or excellent. We would encourage people who are looking for additional information on this topic to look at our Educational Professionals section on our website for webinars on behaviour or contact John directly to arrange individual or branch sessions.
Some comments from attendees included:
“I really appreciate your content-rich programme of seminars, webinars etc.”
“Thank you for offering webinars. It is a fantastic tool and so needed. I don’t have to travel or take huge amounts of time and expense to attend a webinar.”
“The webinar series has been invaluable during the pandemic. In the absence of services it has been a lifeline of information. Our child was transitioning from preschool to primary school last year and the advice provided was invaluable. I think this kind of remote learning and support for parents should be an area DSI invest heavily in. There is an opportunity for you to be a thought leader in this space in the UK/IRL. Congratulations and continued success to Fidelma and Nicola.”
“Thank you for running this webinar. A very relevant one for all persons connected to an individual with Down Syndrome.”
“Thank you. Huge amount of very valuable support.”
We were delighted to welcome Mr. John Curran – Behaviour Specialist as our guest presenter for both webinars. John has over 15 years experience supporting parents and professionals who are involved with individuals who challenge using behaviour across a wide variety of environments.
The aim of John’s service is to educate and empower adult figures involved with individuals who challenge using behaviour by giving them the tools to impact positively on as many areas as they feel they can when helping an individual to progress and reach their true potential.
