Events
Workshop: Understanding the NDIS for Autistic Participants
Date: Wednesday 22 March 2023
Time: 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Register for this workshop
Are you looking to build your understanding of the NDIS and what it might mean for Autistic people? Amaze is delighted to partner with Kim Henderson from Maroondah City Council to offer regular NDIS workshops tailored specifically for participants with an Autism diagnosis. Our workshops are free, online, and will allow you to hear from sector experts, and participate in a live Q&A with members of the Amaze team.
Kim and Amaze experts will lead you through all the ins and outs of the NDIS, with sessions and content spanning from “101 introductions” to more detailed topics. We warmly invite registrants to submit any questions to us in advance, and we will endeavour to answer them in the Q&A session at the end of each workshop presentation.
Who is Kim Henderson?
Kim Henderson has led a broad career in health, aged care and disability services, and brings both a professional and personal lived experience to her work. Kim currently works at Maroondah City Council and is regarded as an expert on the NDIS. Kim is passionate about supporting families to access appropriate supports, and is a talented communicator who understands both the NDIS and the experience of individuals and families seeking to access it.
VALID FOR AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTS ONLY.
Workshops will be held as a Zoom meeting. You will need a Zoom account (free) at https://zoom.us/signupZoom. Meeting ID and presentation will be emailed to registered participants 24 hours prior to workshops.
Using gaming to support collaborative skills and positive Autistic identity, featuring Jess Rowlings and Dr Matthew Harrison from Next Level Collaboration
Book an upcoming session:
- 25 March 2023 at 10am – 11.45am (AEDT). Register for this webinar.
About this webinar:
Hosted by Jess Rowlings and Dr Matthew Harrison from Next Level Collaboration, this webinar focuses on the benefits of online gaming in developing skills and knowledge in social capacity, collaboration and positive autistic identity.
- Structure and design of games that support collaboration during play. What makes a game good for supporting cooperation and teamwork?
- Collaborative skills that can be used during cooperative play. What are these skills, what do they look like, and how can we use games to support the use of these skills?
- Social connection, friendship, and belonging through gaming and online communities
- Safety using online platforms and in online relationships
- This webinar will also include the launch of a suite of healthy online video gaming resources. This will be at the end of the webinar, and will include presentations from both Jim Mullan, Amaze CEO, and a guest from the eSafety Commission.
Jess Rowlings from Next Level Collaboration – Where every gamer belongs
Jess Rowlings is a qualified speech and language pathologist and researcher at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She is also the co-founder of Next Level Collaboration, a social enterprise that runs programs to support neurodiverse children in developing collaborative skills and social connection through cooperative video games. Jess was diagnosed with both autism and ADHD as an adult, and is passionate about the use of digital games-based learning to promote social capacity and inclusion. Jess is also an avid gamer herself, and her favourite game is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo (SNES).
Dr Matthew Harrison from Next Level Collaboration – Where every gamer belongs
Dr. Matthew Harrison is an experienced educator, researcher and digital creator with a keen passion for utilising technology to enhance social capacity building, connectedness and inclusion. He has taught in Australia, South Korea and the United Kingdom at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Matthew is currently coordinating Autism Intervention within the Master of Learning Intervention, and is the Co-Director of Student Experience at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education. His research primarily focuses on inclusive education and the effective use of digital technologies as teaching and learning tools. As a gamer, he has a particular interest in digital games-based learning and intervention. Matthew’s PhD thesis examined how cooperative video games can be used as spaces for developing social capabilities for students with disabilities and neurological differences. Building from this innovative research he co-founded Next Level Collaboration, an inclusive community for neurodiverse children that uses cooperative video games to build confidence and social capabilities.
Date:
Wednesday 12 April 2023
Time:
10 am – 12 pm AEDT
Location:
Online
About this webinar:
This interactive, live presented session provides an introduction and overview of autism and how to be an autism-positive person.
After completing this program, you will be able to:
- Understand what autism is, and the diversity of the experience of autism
- Understand the social model of disability and learn the importance of strengths-based language
- Understand what it means to experience the world as an Autistic person and appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of the Autistic community
- Identify practical ways to be an autism-positive person
The course is a foundational awareness-building experience from a strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming and social model of disability lens.
We are currently running Amaze events as a mix of in-person and webinars.
A webinar is like an online class. It is done live, like a video call, and you can watch and listen to the hosts. You can ask questions at the end. If you want to join, click the REGISTER button on this page. Then we will send you a link to the webinar.
On the day and time of the event you will need to do the following:
Step 1: Be sitting at your computer ready to start.
Step 2: Open the email we sent you with the webinar link.
Step 3: Click the link and follow instructions. The webinar will start.
If you have questions about a specific event please contact [email protected] or call us on 1300 308 699.
Supporting young autistic people with healthy online video gaming webinars
Online friendships can be more prevalent with autistic children, however an increased amount of time spent online in gaming communities may make children more vulnerable to being exposed to unsafe behaviour.
Amaze’s free online safety webinars educate parents and carers about the increased risk of harm for autistic children participating in online gaming communities. Our expert guest speakers will provide practical strategies about being safe online and building healthy online habits. Parents and carers will have an opportunity to ask the experts questions as part of each session.