NANA Post-Conference Ebook

&quot;Think about the goal -more therapy isn&apos;t always better. Maximize outcomes not your hours of therapy.&quot;

Fast-track your goals using formal (therapists, health professionals) and informal supports (family and friends)

Excerpts from John Whinnen&apos;s presentation: What is a goal? What is a formal support? What is an informal support? How this ties into NDIS. The goals he set and how he achieved it.

&quot;Our goal - Preparing my Child for School Short term goal - How to prepare them for day one?

Formal supports - Helping Elliot understand sharing and playing Attend play groups at Plumtree - lego group Work on roll playing - puppets - Helped Elliot understand personal care Toileting on his own Dressing himself - Lisa and I attended Talkability and preparing for school Plumtree courses - Worked with OT&apos;s holding a pen/ pencil and writing - Help with exposure to large groups or noisy play areas - Attended Plumtree on Saturday morning play groups - Created a visual book of the school, classes in school, toilets and general school day&quot;

Informal Supports - Introduced Elliot to the school grounds (with the schools permission) Attended the school weekly in the months leading up Sat in the car having a milkshake at the front gates and talked about Lisa and my school days Let him play on the playground Attend a school assembly Attended a school fate (Many schools have fates, sausage sizzles or cake days) - Attended orientation week Attend the week Made connections to other parents and children - invite them for play dates before school starts - Prepared Elliot to be more independant Found snacks or food he liked - work on opening the packaging or found snaplock bags Many schools have &apos;Crunch and Sip&apos; where only healthy foods are allowed to be consumed Remember many schools ban nut based foods Let Elliot choose a school lunchbox that was easy to open Purchase an easy to use drink bottle - Helped Elliot learn to dress and care for himself Let him wear his school uniform for the weeks leading up to school - let him wear it to child care Purchased shoes that did not have laces Got him wearing a hat when playing outside - many schools enforce this during school recess and lunch - Encourage more interaction with children Invite new children to play dates Visited more parks or shopping center playgrounds&quot;

Now &amp; Next Alumni Family Post-Conference E-book designed by Smita Bharti for Plumtree.

Guest Speaker Lisa Ashford-Potter speaks about how self-managing her son Brenton&apos;s individual funding has led him to a full life in the community.

Two role models inspiring families of very young children to see a positive future for their son or daughter.

&apos;Parent-Professional Relationship&apos; feedback from NANA families

Developing a mind map is an way to think about a goal or set expectations for your child or family, while focusing on the positives.

https://youtu.be/d1_VYFkzm44?list=PLweQgLzfClbfm-6q6dX3D0t1qVpsu96gF

Now And Next Alumni (NANA) Family Conference 2017

Sylvana Mahmic, Dr Annick Janson and Dr Melanie Heyworth

Courtesy Australian aboriginal artist and Booker-Lowe Gallery

&quot;Launched by families, for families.&quot;

&apos;The doctor told me not to expect anything but lucky I ignored him. He is a sportsman, coach &amp; works in a gym for real pay.&apos; Lisa shared an amazing presentation on how she has achieved I live in the community and positive outcomes for her son Brenton using individualized funding. Tips for a good life: 1. Go with your passion and choose staff who share your child&apos;s interests. 2. Give anything new a try- 6 times! Give your child a chance to see if they like it. 3. Find things close to where you live. 4. Go where the welcome is. 5. Self managing your funding is not hard. Brenton shows a life of inclusion in the community through following his interests &amp; working with the people he chooses. See &apos;Living a good life&apos; here: https://vimeo.com/69723256

Now And Next Alumni (NANA) Family Conference Programme

Fast-track your goals using formal (therapists, health professionals) and informal supports (family and friends)

&quot;What I learnt from Now and Next is that there is a lot that  I and my family can do for my child instead of always relying on formal supports. There are many more informal supports to achieve our goals than formal supports. As parents and family we already provide a lot of informal supports but we don&apos;t recognize these as important.&quot; 


Creating positive partnerships with therapists and health professionals

Chair: Dr Melanie Heyworth (mother) Panel members: Nerida Bodycote (mother), Tim Higginbotham (father), Raj Bharti (father), Robin Treloar (Manager, Plumtree), Julie Cowmeadow (Speech Pathologist, Plumtree)

Activating your community: Hear from parents who have influenced their community to promote inclusion for their child and achieved positive outcomes.

&quot;How do you know what your doing is right? Scrutinize the goal, be empowered as leaders, talk to other parents.&quot; Nerida presented an inspirational presentation we she spoke about Activating the school Community to be ready to welcome Maddie to her first day at school. She went to the school delivered a presentation about Maddie so that everyone got to know some more about her before she started school. Nerida also shared her extensive advocacy work supporting community inclusion. Maddie spends a lot of time in hospital so she shared how they give back by participating in the hospital telethon each year.

Jennifer talked about using the e-book as an electronic photo album. Smita shared how she combines her daughters artwork and her own creativity to create new designs. Nicole shared how the e-book can be used to make a social story which can also read automatically to your child.

Three parents shared their different experiences of using an e-book to document their child&apos;s plan, goals, progress and celebrate successes!

What do you want NANA to do for you in the future?

I loved the Q&amp;A session, great collaboration between parents and professionals.

Connecting with other parents and sharing their experiences has been inspirational, encouraging and informative.

Introducing my husband to the general positivity and empowerment created by N&amp;N, seeing him onboard was my favourite part of The conference.

It was a good group with some excellent suggestions on how to find the right helps and reaching goals.

Thank you so much for helping change the lives of so many children and their families.

As a grandparent I felt extremely welcomed and valued.

Personal accounts from parents about their child&apos;s journey was so inspiring.

Liked that it was &apos;by the families and for the families,&apos; super initiative.

Activating your community: Hear from parents who have influenced their community to promote inclusion for their child and achieved positive outcomes.

Welcome to the inaugural Now and Next Alumni Conference on behalf of the Plumtree board.

Excerpts from John Whinnen&apos;s presentation: What is a goal? What is a formal support? What is an informal support? How this ties into NDIS. The goals he set and how he achieved it.

&quot;2. Main goal - Helping my child choose healthier food options. Short term goal - Eating one piece of fruit or vegetable per day?

&quot;Be prepared to waste food&quot; Formal supports Work with OT&apos;s on exposing them to all the senses of food Saying the name Describing it - colour, shape, texture Preparing foods Serving foods Having foods on their plate Touching - fingers, hand, chest, forehead, nose, lips tongue Putting in the mouth and spitting out Doctors - Check to see if they have any food allergies Nut allergies Gluten intolerance Dairy intolerance Being able to feed themselves with hands or spoons/ forks

Informal supports Invite your child to go shopping with you Allow them to choose or select healthier options Allow them to put it in the trolley Invite them to grow something in the garden Choose the seeds/ plant Water it and maintain it Have healthier options in easy accessible places Have fruit in the bowl on the table or bench Hide the chips and biscuits in cupboards Lead by example Eat better food in front of them Describe the taste, smell and texture Invite them to prepare the food with you Getting it from the fridge Cutting it up Cooking or cleaning Putting it on the table to serve Allow the children to serve themselves Put everything in bowls in the middle of the table Ask them to serve you Let them serve themselves Offer them food of your plate Seek support of other carers - Grandparents, siblings, friends to join in Ask your pre school or school to monitor progress Have them encourage healtier eating - provide healthier options for them to share with your child Gain feedback and progress from others Find fruits of vegetables they like and incorporate them into other meals E.g - Banana&apos;s, Banana Bread, Banana Smoothy, Banana on toast, Banana Pancakes, Dried banana&quot;

In the Now and Next Alumni Conference, Lisa Whinnen talked about her experience with school and what she and her husband John did to assist their son with the transition. Lisa spoke about how in the lead up to school they would park out the front watching the kids come and go, talking about what they saw while drinking her sons favourite milkshakes, they would visit the school during lunchtime and use the playground and meet the teachers, he wore the school uniform over the holidays and practiced opening his lunchbox at home and packing his bags. Once at school Lisa &amp; John wasted no time getting involved in their school community. They both joined the P&amp;C and volunteer at school events, got to know the families of the other kids and organised play-dates, they were even instrumental in rebuilding one of the school classrooms which their son would be going into the following year. Through all of their efforts they have become an integral part of the school community and gone to extraordinary lengths to settle their son into the school and achieve the best outcomes for him. The talk gives parents helpful suggestions that while they can work with a therapy team to transition their child to school, the most important role, the one that will be critical to the success of their child going to school, are the ones they as a family have and that we they use their informal supports networks to achieve the best outcomes for their child.

Sylvana Mahmic, CEO Plumtree &amp; Dr Annick Janson, Co-founders of Now and Next

The importance of NANA Network and what we hope to achieve through the conference

Fast-track your goals using formal (therapists, health professionals) and informal supports (family and friends)

At the Q&amp;A session, an esteemed panel drew upon their experiences and views to share their perspectives on shaping relationships with formal supports. The highlights included: Goals: set goals, integrate them into a plan with your practitioner and get yourself a copy. The goals and plan should be prioritised but may change along the way. If the goals are not being met then it may be time to consider a new practitioner. Communication: make sure you can communicate easily across your team of practitioners and that they are able to share information too. Teamwork: See yourself as an equal member of the team – at the centre of the team - and speak on equal authority. Collaboration is key. Strategy not a solution: remember that your service providers are not providing the fix but a helping hand forward. Weigh up time spent in therapies versus life experience, relative to your situation. Have confidence that you know your child best. More is not better: when it comes to the size of your team, less is more. Research indicates that having more practitioners than necessary is likely to be counterproductive to achieving your goals.

&quot; It&apos;s not the hour you see the therapist- it&apos;s all day, everyday that counts! &quot;

Communication passport for preschool, childcare and school: What is communication passport and how to make one for your child

Creating social stories with book creator

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d38s2k77nki1lpz/Social%20stories%20slides.epub?dl=0

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