Professional Learning and Development
Building confident professionals who enable every student to participate, belong, and thrive
No two children learn, communicate, or experience the world in exactly the same way. While teacher training provides a strong foundation, it cannot prepare kaiako, educators, and school teams for every child they will meet, especially when around 15% of students are neurodivergent.
Acorn provides neuro-affirming, evidence-based professional development for early childhood centres, schools, kaiako, teachers, support staff, and other professionals. Our training helps teams better understand neurodivergent children and young people, build meaningful connections, and use practical strategies that support participation, learning, regulation, communication, and wellbeing.
We offer tailored consultation for teachers, leaders, and administrators, alongside workshops and webinars for professional teams. Our goal is to give educators the knowledge, confidence, and tools to create inclusive learning environments where neurodivergent children can fully participate, belong, and thrive.
We provide professional learning and development to build inclusive communities. Any of the following workshops can be tailored to your school or organisation’s unique needs. More topics available upon request.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approaches and strategies
Trauma-informed practice
The neuroscience of emotional regulation
Understanding Autistic learners
Understanding ADHD learners
Compassionate behaviour support
Supporting neurodivergent learners to succeed
Supporting the development of communication (including AAC)
Supporting social thinking
Developing executive functioning skills
Sensory processing and emotional regulation
Interoception
Using CBT and ACT to support neurodivergent young people to understand themselves
Handwriting
“The world needs different kinds of minds to work together.”
— Temple Grandin