AASE WA Semester 1 Newsletter

Jun 1, 2020 | Western Australia

Dear AASE Members,

I am sure you hear this from just about everyone but what a year this has been and we are only in June! We have achieved things that we would not
have imagined possible before the start of the year and in timeframes that were punishing. It has also highlighted the importance of understanding
Special Education as a pedagogy not a place as you have strived to reduce the impact of these changing times on students with disability.

In this newsletter we have included some key points from the Council for Exceptional Children Webinar, Teaching Special Education Online During
COVID-19. While most students are returning to classrooms, the strategies for online instruction apply equally to onsite teaching. There is also an article
on the great work being done at Como Secondary College as well as tools and resources to support students with Type 1 diabetes and information on
AASE events.

We have a special event on Thursday this week for Autistic Pride Day, with young adults presenting an online seminar on their experiences of transitions, creating calm learning environments, and supporting students on the spectrum. This is a free event and the registration details are available in this newsletter. The focus on transitions in this event also links in with a recent article in the Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education,
which you receive free as a member of AASE, titled Students with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities in Inclusive Settings: The Nexus Between Recommended and Actual Practice.

As I mentioned in one of last year’s newsletters, the Australian government established the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and
Exploitation of People with Disability. Details about this process are available at https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/. The Royal Commission is
currently collecting feedback on Restrictive Practices and First Nations People with Disability. If you would like to contribute to the information and
discussion on either or both of these issues the details are at https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/restrictive-practices-issuespaper
and https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/first-nations-peopledisability-issues-paper respectively.

I hope the rest of your term goes well for you personally and professionally.

Dr Susan Main
President WA Chapter, AASE