Cathy Parvin, Education Officer for the West Midlands Dyspraxia Foundation visited the School of Education on 1 February 2012 to give an informative and interesting talk on Dyspraxia which was very well-received by an audience of over 200 professionals and students.
Cathy has worked for the Dyspraxia Foundation as their Education Officer for the West Midlands for two years delivering training in over 230 schools, colleges and Universities. According to the Dyspraxia Foundation there are thought to be between one and three children in every class of thirty affected to some degree by Dyspraxia or related problems, and many professionals working with children are noticing increased numbers of children displaying these tendencies.
The aim of the session was to give a background understanding of Dyspraxia (also sometimes called DCD - Developmental Coordination Disorder), how it affects children in their everyday life and some simple strategies professionals can implement to support them within their learning environments. Appropriate intervention and support is vital in their early years in terms of them overcoming difficulties and going on to lead full and successful lives as adults.
Cathy thanked the DISN team for organising this event and said that the Foundation are most grateful for opportunities to raise awareness and understanding, especially amongst teaching staff.
‘Please forward my thanks to your department and all those who organised the talk by Cathy. It was so well managed and informative. Cathy was such an informed speaker and she made listening to some quite detailed 'stuff' easy.’
‘…thank you for including us in such a brilliant lecture. Cathy Parvin delivered a considerable amount of information in a short time. It has definitely clarified some finer points of classroom observational skills.’
‘The talk was very interesting and enlightening and worth attending.’