Discover a Professional Development Program That Supports Your Whole Team.
Empower your early childhood educators with our comprehensive professional development program. Tailored to meet the Kindy Uplift Program criteria, our course promotes inclusion, neurodevelopment understanding, and effective teaching strategies. One license per center is all you need!
Our Brainwise Kindy Method
Empowers Educators.
To Grow Brighter Minds.
For every child.
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Learn at Your Pace.
At Your Speed
Affordable Pricing
There is hope!
You can empower your early educators to brighten young minds who think
‘outside-the-box’!
This course is crafted as an all-encompassing program to serve as a professional development training that is self-directed, evidence-based, and offers practical strategies and resources for application in a challenging environment. This program will empower your staff to:
Design individual support plans that are individualized to children's unique developmental profile and needs.
Understand neurodevelopment and the areas that require support specifically to support school readiness.
Adapt instruction, whole group instruction techniques, and individual support for children with neurodevelopmental delays, behavioural concerns, and developmental delays.
INTRODUCING...
The Brainwise Kindy Method Program
Crafted by Dr. Nicolene Shields, a Behavioural Neuroscientist, Specialise Teacher, Clinical Neuropsychotherapist, and Counsellor, this program covers the following objectives:
1.Understanding Neurodevelopment:
- Gain insights into neurodevelopment and its importance in early childhood education.
- Learn about goals and strategies for targeting school readiness skills.
2.Support Culturally Safe and Inclusive Programs:
- Develop and implement kindergarten programs that are culturally safe, inclusive, and responsive.
- Promote social and emotional learning, executive functioning, physicality, and language development.
3. Adaptation and Individual Support Planning:
- Enhance your ability to adapt whole group instruction.
- Create individual support plans for children with neurodevelopmental delays.
4. behavioral and Learning Delays Management:
- Acquire skills to manage difficult behavioral concerns and learning delays efficiently.
Managing the professional development requirements for all staff can be challenging. Imagine having a comprehensive program that you can implement for your whole team. Designed by an expert. That you can reuse and deliver in a flexible manner.
This program helps educators to understand their roles as agents of change by modelling principles from the ‘Being, Belonging, Becoming’ Early Childhood Framework. Be empowered to balance the needs of children and your own wellbeing in your professional role as a carer.
- Comprehensive Course Lectures.
- Helpful and Practical Resources.
- Great printable Workbooks that Help educators Become Empowered with Knowledge to Make Lasting Changes.
- Create the Right Environment Based on Your educators' time and center capacity.
- Get the Tools to Understand Developmental Limitations and Set Realistic Goals for Change.
- Tailor material delivery for each educator with personalized additional workbooks for each educator.
Let’s grow brighter minds - together.
At Brainwise Acdemy, we nurture growth through a tree of self-discovery.
Planting Seeds
Just like a tree, development start with the smallest seed.
Supporting Growth
In the right environment, solid roots can grow to support lifelong growth.
Strengthening the Tree
And with every branch of knowledge, the tree becomes the strongest, fullest, healthiest version of itself.
We help you know when and how to nurture childrens' growth as a thriving carer....
Our Brainwise Kindy Methos Program includes the following...
Module 1: The Philosophy of Brainwise Early Learning
The philosophy of brainwise early learning entails an integrated approach to care for educators, management staff and children. Our tree of self-discovery guides a unique and proven approach to plant seeds for developmental growth by:
- Assessing the potential for growth by understanding the brain and development.
- Making use of resources and evaluations to set realistic goals for change.
- Armed with our 'brainwise' knowledge, we can reinforce growth through environmental adjustments and special instruction.
- To sustain growth, we continually review and adjust goals to help children reach their highest potential.
Module Benefits
- Understand the Developmental Needs of Children
- Understanding the Needs of Educators, including the importance of effective communication, self-care, and balancing time and energy in supportive work environments.
- Learning steps of evaluate, set goals, and reinforce engagement.
Module 2: Strategies to Support Your Care of Children
This unit delves into neurodevelopment and the brain changes that result in neurodevelopmental delays and disorders. We also deepen our comprehension of care adjustments for inclusive practices.
Our course provides several key benefits to help you support children in your care:
- Effective Coping Strategies: Learn practical, actionable strategies to help children build their resilience to change. Our unique negotiation technique is a proven method that fosters a child's capacity to adapt and thrive.
- Understand Brain Development and School Readiness: Explore the critical connection between development and readiness of school living, and the importance of inclusive practices.
- Resource Utilization: Discover how to employ effective resources that can prepare children for school readiness. These tools will ensure you are always ready to support children through any transition.
Equip yourself with the tools and techniques needed to help children learn and play at a pace that is right for them. Join our course and take the first step toward fostering resilience and self-confidence in the young minds you care for.
Module 3: Strategies to Support the Needs of Educators
This unit supports educators with actionable strategies to understand and reduce stress, improve communication skills, and build team working abilities.
Why is educator mental health important?
- Improved Self-Confidence: Educators that cope with workplace demands by understanding and managing their time well may improve in their ability to care tfor others.
- Improved Communication: By understanding and managing stress, educators may show improved communication skills to solve problems and build on a positive team atmosphere.
- Improved Health: Caring for others can be demanding. Taking steps on a daily basis to care for mental health may improve physical functioning and reduce sick days.
Module 4: How to Implement the Brainwise Kindy Method
This module explores the intricacies of assessing the needs of neurodiverse children and offers practical steps for establishing individual goals, addressing learning and behavioral challenges, and tailoring instruction and care to meet those needs.
Why is covered?
- Understanding neurotypicality and neurodiversity in the kindy setting.
- Evaluating capacity.
- Environmental- and- care adjustments for neurodevelopmental delays.
- Individual support planning.
- Teaching strategies.
- Understanding the underlying needs of problematic behaviours and tools to set attainable goals for change.
- Tools to track escalation responses and relative triggers.
- How to address specific challenges associated with autism spectrum disorders, including communication delays, rigidity, and social interaction challenges.
What parents & educators are saying...
Dr Nicolene Shields has spent her career helping children reach their potential. From her first days as a hospital intern psychologist through to leading her own unique specialised practice, Nicolene has 8 years of experience working with families.
"Dr. Shields has been supporting our 8 year old daughter diagnosed with ASD and ADHD over the last few years.
- Sonja, Parent
"Dr Shields is my lifeline. Her years of experience and wealth of knowledge is priceless when dealing with the many issues that arise from having a son with ASD and an intellectual disability.
- Theresa, Parent
"Nicolene is incredibly knowledgeable in her field and relatable. Our team participated in a professional development opportunity and appreciated the strategies provided.
We look forward to working further with Nicolene in the future"
- Manager, Perfect Beginnings Montessori Children's House
Hi, I'm Dr. Nicolene Shields!
Supporting children with exceptionalities has always been an area of interest for me during my psychology training. As I became a mother, I realized that many unique children with talents and gifts are not always recognized and celebrated in mainstream care and education systems. Increasingly, children are being identified as 'neurodiverse', yet our approaches to education, therapy, and care have not kept pace with the need for a more inclusive and supportive model. Over the last twenty years, I have studied education, neuropsychology, neuroscience, special education, counseling, and even Reiki mastery! I pursued this extensive education because I believe children deserve holistic support to reach their full potential, regardless of how their capacities may differ from the norm. In my private practice over the past decade, I've focused on understanding how to support all aspects of a child's functioning to bring out their best self. Through conversations with numerous parents, carers, and educators, I learned that they often lack integrative support for children and sometimes don't understand what to do. Brainwise Academy is my response to this need: to empower parents and educators with the knowledge to provide just the right fit for unique children. I hope that you will join the growing community of parents and carers to create change - for the better.
Qualifications
Nicolene’s expertise speaks for itself:
- Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
- Bachelor of Social Science in Psychology (with Honours)
- Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy
- Master of Education (Cognitive Psychology & Educational Practice)
- Master of Special Education (Sensory Disabilities)
- Master of Neuroscience
- Graduate Certificate in Magnetic Resonance and Positron Emission Tomography
- Doctor of Philosophy (Neuropsychology)
Your education transformation is waiting
Brainwise Academy empowers you to think differently about childhood development.
Let’s grow brighter minds - together.
Common questions
Find answers to your questions about Brainwise Academy.