2022 Making the KU Difference for Inclusion Award recipient, Donna Archibald, is the Brisbane North Hub Manager and Specialist Equipment Library Manager for Inclusion Support Queensland.

Donna’s passion and commitment has made a significant difference to the inclusion of children within more than one hundred early childhood education and care services in Queensland. She has driven and inspired professionals to consider how specialist equipment may support children’s inclusion, and how educators may respond to and meet children’s needs differently.

In response to the many initiatives and resources that Donna has spearheaded, educators say that children’s challenging behaviour has reduced, and participation and engagement of children has increased.

Alumni Connect recently sat down with Donna to talk about her award win, and passion for inclusion support.

What did it mean for you to win the Making the KU Difference for Inclusion Award?

I was surprised because whatever you do and whatever successes you have are obviously supported by the people that work alongside you. Without them, we wouldn’t get the outcomes we're trying to achieve. When you do your job to improve outcomes for children, you don't necessarily expect an award, so it has been really lovely to be acknowledged in this way.

What was the work you did to prompt your nomination for this award?

I work in the Specialist Equipment Library in Brisbane, which is part of Inclusion Support Queensland. These services are funded by the Australian Government Department of Education to provide inclusion support and is managed by KU Children’s Services in partnership with Cairns and District Child Care Development Association. The Specialist Equipment Library provides early childhood education and care services with access to a range of free resources to increase their capacity and capability to support children with additional needs.

A few years back we saw a need for acquiring some alternative equipment for children that may not have physical disabilities but have other challenges that impact their engagement and learning opportunities.

We developed a proposal to create sensory equipment packs to trial for loan for up to 10 weeks to see if these would assist children to better engage and give them higher educational outcomes. We also thought this would provide an opportunity for services to assess their own equipment and perhaps go on to purchase these relatively inexpensive items themselves.

So that's where it started and got the ball rolling.

We did a lot of research and looked at sustainable and durable equipment suitable for a cross-section of children. We developed inclusion sheets on practical ways to use the equipment as supports for children, along with a risk assessment. Once given the thumbs up, we began purchasing the sensory equipment and upskilling Inclusion Professionals so they could confidently talk to early educators about children experiencing engagement barriers and what equipment might offer them the best support.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. A few services have gone on to purchase items for the longer term and also look at ways they can adapt resources they already have.

Can you tell us a little more about the children the specialist equipment is supporting?

Some of the children have difficulty transitioning from one activity to another. Whether that's pack up time and moving into mealtimes or coming from play to another activity. Often, it's just going from one space to another, so the Equipment Library provides visual timers to help with this.

For children who may have difficulty regulating their emotions, we provide swings that act like a snug cocoon, a sensory pod, for when they need some quite time or a slow push on the swing.

There are children, who for different reasons, need to move their bodies a lot more than other children. We provide lycra body wraps and body socks that they can sit in and push against, which also help their bodies regulate.

Through our tip sheets we recommend services borrow a few pieces of the same equipment. So even though the outcome might be targeted for one child, it can benefit everybody and be incorporated into music and dance or other play that the educators can lead.

Children may be very sensitive to sound so we provide bright coloured earmuffs that they can put on when the noise level gets too much and that just helps them to stay calm and regulated.

We have a fantastic resource called “A Box Full of Feelings” that was developed by Early Childhood Australia to facilitate teachers talking to children about their feelings. It includes masks and other aids to support children in recognising and expressing their feelings. This helps reduce levels of frustration and learning about emotional and social regulation at the same time.

The library stocks a variety of small textured, tactile items and squeezy cushions that children can select to help their concentration, listening and responses, especially in the older kindergarten age group where they are expected to sit for longer periods of time.

Yeah, so there's a bit of a snapshot. The idea is that when educators trial different kinds of sensory resources, they'll learn what works best to support children, as well as increasing their own knowledge and capacity for including children.

What are some stories you can share that help to make the KU difference?

There are children who find it especially difficult to sit still. Their bodies are telling them to move and sometimes they’re not aware of their own their own strength or their body needs to interact with an environment at a higher level than other children.

This may occur when they are playing with their friends. For instance, they may give a friend a cuddle but for them to feel that cuddle they need to squeeze super hard and are unaware that it may be accidently hurting the other child. Some behaviours may be boisterous, and the child needs to create lots of noise, which can mean they have trouble engaging with their peers.

Some sensory equipment can meet this need and, as a result, interactions with their friends are less intense making social interactions more positive.

The Specialist Equipment Library loans pieces of equipment that helps to calm children, such as the sensory pod swing. For children who can become extremely overwhelmed and experience emotional outbursts, the sensory pod swings are making a huge impact. The swing comforts the child reducing outbursts, and this results in less incidences of children being excluded.

What you’re saying is, that children can play safely with their friends because they're getting their needs met and they've been able to calm?

So, they're feeling better about themselves, they're able to interact with their friends in a socially appropriate way, the difference for them is that it's a really positive experience. The difference for families is they can actually see that that their child is being accepted socially and not being excluded and missing out on learning opportunities.

Some children experience moving from service to service because the environment isn't meeting their needs and they can react to this through behaviour that they can really struggle with. Supporting children with transitions, planning ahead and visual timers are really good for helping to create a level of independence for children. When educators put the timer up, they can see when it's getting time for them to finish that activity and move on to another one, so they become more independent to make their own choices through these support resources.

How did you get involved in this type of work?

My background is as an early childhood teacher where I worked with three to five-year-olds for many years in NSW. When we moved to Brisbane, I went back to teaching as a kindergarten teacher at a childcare service where I had inclusion support needs in my room. Actually, one of the women I worked with back then, and whom I work with now, was my first inclusion facilitator. I remember doing some work with her and thinking, “Wow that would be an amazing job!". The inclusion program made a difference to me when I was teaching, and a difference to children and families. Not long after that, a position came up. That was five years or so ago now.

KU is fantastic to work for, and our team in Brisbane has many inclusion professionals who knew each other from previous programs. It's great to work for an organisation that encourages you to act on the needs you see, and that empowers you to take your ideas to management and be supported to do something that no one else is doing. That’s the good thing about KU, they are happy for people to be innovative, share their ideas and be supported.

Inclusion Support Queensland, funded by the Australian Government to provide Inclusion Agency support, is managed by KU Children’s Services in partnership with Cairns and District Child Care Development Association. For more information visit https://inclusionsupportqld.org.au

Welcome to the KU Alumni Connect Summer 2022 Edition