KEYNOTE SPEAKING

This is my signature talk designed to introduce audiences (parents, teachers, principals, psychologists, pediatricians, etc.) to a processing-based approach to learning differences. The aim of this talk is to demystify learning disabilities, helping the audience understand their role in the identification, support, and remediation of different learning disabilities.

For educational leaders, parents, teachers, and anyone with stakes in special education, this talk works to uncover the ideologies we hold about the very concept of difference and how these ideologies create the inequities we see in our educational systems (this talk can also be tweaked for psychology and medical professionals). Using critical pedagogy and a Freirian framework, this talk aims to help audiences develop a critical consciousness in their efforts to create a more just paradigm for neurodiverse children.

Using the work of Gabor Mate and Shefali Tsabary, this talk is based on the belief that the best way to empower children is to transform ourselves. The talk aims to help parents or professionals who work with parents better recognize how the child’s behavior, difficulties, or diagnosis can be a symptom of other unresolved traumas or projections. Using the child as a mirror, or alarm, the purpose of this talk is to help us move away from a pathological view of disability toward a deeper understanding of the transformative power of children in our lives.