Questions?

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There are 4 sessions via Zoom. Each session is 2 hrs long; After that, a facilitator will remain online for parents who have additional questions and/or want to share more of their learning.

One more session will follow up around the IEP (Individual Education Plan) review to check how your child's voice was included in the planning process.

After each Zoom session, you are coached to do a fun project at home with your child. These projects are designed to assist you discover your child's strengths and how to best assist them work on their goals whilst increasing their wellbeing and the wellbeing of your family. Our research and experience running such programs has taught us how to assist parents formulate goals so that their child keeps on a path of achievement, no matter how small or big the steps are. As parents, we sometimes want our child to achieve fast - that is understandable. But sometimes, paying attention to the smaller indicators of success is the key to this success.

The Student Voice program aims to include student voice in the planning process with the long term aim for students to lead their own planning at school and further. The Student Voice program teaches parents to coach their child to make decisions, set goals and achieve goals - these unfold as the child matures.

The Student Voice program includes some of the 'critical ingredients' of the Now and Next program:

• It uses the in-session collaboration to build an informal support network for participants

• It builds on positive psychology concepts such as Agency, Imagining the future with hope, Signature Strengths and

• It increases participant's empowerment, hope and wellbeing.

The Student Voice program, however, includes a few additional unique and innovative elements:

1. Parents participate in the session with their child’s educators so that they start building more effective partnerships with them

2. Parents collect information to support achieving the child goals and share these with the teachers

3. Student voice is about achieving 3 Child goal (we teach parents to achieve their family and personal goals through the same method using Goal to Action. Then teachers and parents collaborate to help the child achieve these 3 goals through their education planning process.

The program is run by parents for parents. Our peer facilitators are parents like you. They have a child with special needs and have co-designed this program. They have also had special training as facilitators.

Parents and caregivers of a child with disability or developmental delay. If you share the care of a child, ideally both carers attend so that you can implement at home what is discussed in session. If you are a solo parent, you are welcome to invite a person who helps you - it can be a grandparent, a relative or a person of your choice. It can also be a teacher aid who will work with the class teacher and the parent(s) to implement at school what is discussed in session.

If you need an interpreter or know a parent who needs an interpreter, please contact your school to discuss.

The program is free for parents. It is funded by the NSW Department of Education as part of the 2020 Innovation Project.

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As mentioned above, each session is followed up by an hour for you to get any extra support.

The main part of the Child Voice project happens in 4 weekly sessions. Don't worry if your child has not completely achieved his or her goal during this time. Session 5 of the Child Voice project will be scheduled to follow up around the IEP review time. You are welcome to contact your facilitator after session 4 to continue helping your child working on his or her goal.

In some cases, you will be able to join another Zoom group. We will try our best to provide a flexible schedule to accommodate your busy days!

A computer or a smart phone. Head over to our Zoom page for more details.

Contact the school "Child Voice" project coordinator. Details follow.

Pictability Kits (and workshop Mindfulness colouring books) will be mailed to you the week before the start of the program.

Contact the Child Voice school coordinator. Details to follow.

Throughout the program, we invite the teachers to share their comments about how they integrated student voice into goal setting and student wellbeing as they support students achieve their goals. This page includes a video clip on how teachers can record this information into their Teacher Dashboards.

Bansktown South Infant School designed this page to inform parents of new students.

Punchbowl Public School Educator Sophie Evans prepared this page for graduate parents to take along their empowering learning from the program and implement it together with their child's new teacher at their next school.