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Training

SpeciaLink offers a range of training options, based on best practices in inclusion, developmentally appropriate programming and adult education. Training is available in a variety of formats: Keynotes, conference presentations, workshops and full day training sessions. All our training is grounded in deepening participant understanding of attitudes to and values about inclusion and on-the-job tips towards quality enhancement.

Workshop and Keynote topics:
· How to Measure Inclusion Quality in Child Care – and Why
· Have You Got Attitude?
· Team Building – Nurturing Team Spirit
· Inclusion Visionaries – the role of the Director in Promoting Quality
· Inclusion: From Awareness to Advocacy
· Inclusion: Success Stories
· Social Inclusion and Child Care
· Inclusive Circle Time Strategies
· Preschool Transitions – Preparing for Change Together
· Social play in the Inclusive Child Care setting

Debra Mayer, MA, is Director for SpeciaLink, the National Centre for Child Care Inclusion and offers training in assessing inclusion quality and transforming programs across Canada. She is a lifelong advocate for children with disabilities and for the adults who care so much about our children. In Manitoba, Debra teaches in the inclusion and management streams for the University of Winnipeg’s ECE degree program.
Sharon Hope Irwin
Now Senior Researcher for SpeciaLink, Sharon was the founding Director of SpeciaLink and managed it for 17 years, after leaving the fully inclusive child care centre that she pioneered in order to promote high quality, fully inclusive, accessible child care across Canada. Her passion for fully inclusive child care grew as she watched families struggle to maintain their own employment while parenting children with special needs.
Dixie Mitchell, vanRaalte Consulting
Dixie Mitchell has been involved in Early Childhood Education and inclusion since 1969 in a variety of roles including past Director of the Preschool Centre in Fredericton, NB and as a childcare consultant. On behalf of the New Brunswick Association for Community Living she coordinates their "Opening the Door to Quality Childcare and Development" project. Dixie is an executive member of the Child Care Human Resources Sector Council.
Angela Robertson
An Early Childhood Educator and Resource Educator for over 15 years, Angela Robertson has worked with children of all ages, with many exceptionalities in child care centres, schools and treatment centres. She has designed many training programs for Early Childhood Educators as well as taught at the community college level. Angela joined the Toronto Children's Services team 3 years ago as a Resource Educator and has worked on projects that focus on inclusion quality in Early Childhood Environments. In 2006, Angela was awarded with two Children Services Awards of Merit, one for Public Service and one for Innovation for her work with inclusion quality.

Contact us for more information


SpeciaLink: The National Centre for Child Care Inclusion
76 Cottage Road,
Sydney, NS  B1P 2C7
Phone (902) 562-1662
FAX (902) 539-9117
Contact us by email

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