Fiona is a Primary School Teacher from Dublin. She graduated from St. Patrick’s College,Dublin in 1987 and since then has taught all class levels, including resource and learning support. She holds an honours B.Ed. Degree and a Diploma in Montessori Education. She has worked as a Teaching Practice supervisor of student teachers of St. Patrick’s College, Dublin.

Fiona is also a trained and experienced facilitator of the Rainbows programme which supports children who have experienced loss. Fiona’s keen interest in children’s well-being and mental health led her to undertake a M.Sc. in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) with the University of East London. As a result of her studies, she began to introduce practical and child-centred Positive Psychology concepts into her classroom.

Mick is a qualified Executive and Life Coach and a Motivational Speaker who has helped hundreds of people to enhance their lives and achieve a wide variety of goals. As a parent of two boys Mick is extremely passionate about working with and helping children to deal with the various challenges in their lives, to increase their happiness and wellbeing and to fulfil their true potential.

Mick is also the owner of Act Now a company that delivers motivational talks, training programmes and one to one coaching to adult participants. These sessions have a strong focus on positive psychology interventions. 

Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP specializes in the treatment of individuals with social learning challenges and is the founder and CEO of Social Thinking®, a company dedicated to helping individuals from four through adulthood develop their social competencies to meet their personal social goals.

Michelle coined the term “Social Thinking” in the mid-1990s and since that time has created numerous unique treatment frameworks and curricula that help educators, clinicians, professionals of all types, and parents/family members appreciate that social capabilities are integral to a person’s success in life, socially, academically, and professionally.Michelle receives accolades for her energetic and educational conference presentations, as well as her down-to-earth approach to teaching social competencies.

Dr. Pamela Crooke is part of the clinical team at Social Thinking Santana Row as well as a faculty member of San Jose State University in San Jose, California. She served as a clinical faculty member at the University of Arizona’s Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences for a number of years where she taught in the areas of Autism Spectrum Disorders and management of pediatric communication disorders.

She most recently coordinated the interdisciplinary clinical services at the Autism Extension Clinic within the Tucson Alliance for Autism. Her area of research interest is treatment efficacy in social and relational therapies for individuals with Autism, specifically Asperger Syndrome. 

Julie Ryng is a Primary school teacher with an ALCM Diploma in Music. She was awarded Master in Education with Leeds University in 2002. Julie has taught classes at all levels in Primary School. During the course of her career she has led many bands, choirs and dramatic productions, and her pupils have participated in concerts and competitive events.

Julie co-wrote Whistle A While with Mary Mc Auliffe (Ryng) in the 90’s. This much acclaimed tin-whistle tutor presents tonic solfa notes over staff notation. In response to demand created by the implementation of the revised primary curriculum, Julie produced Whistle Along, which is a tin whistle tutor that uses a staff notation approach.

Carol Gray is president of The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding in Zeeland, Michigan, USA, a non-profit organization serving people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and those working on their behalf. She is an internationally respected author and speaker with 30 years of experience as a teacher and consultant working on behalf of children and adults with ASD.

In 1991, Carol developed Social Stories™, a strategy used worldwide with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). 

Avril Webster is the author of the “Off We Go” books. Avril is married to Robert and they have three children; Stephen, Michael and Rachel.
Their eldest son Stephen has a moderate to severe intellectual disability . They feel passionately about including Stephen in their activities and everyday outings. Like many children with special needs, Stephen finds it difficult to cope with new experiences and changes to his routine. Avril & Robert searched to find clear uncluttered books on everyday events, but could not find any to suit Stephen’s needs. With the help of teachers from Stephen’s school, speech and language therapists and other mothers, Avril wrote the “Off We Go” Series.

A graduate of Mary Immaculate College of Education, Limerick, Rose Marie is currently a teaching principal in Inch National School, Co. Clare. Rose Marie has facilitated continuing professional development courses in the SALF programme over
the past four years.

In addition, Rose Marie has worked on embedding a culture of self assessment in her own school where the voice of the pupil is central to guiding the teaching and learning in each classroom. Her experience of introducing SALF in
her own classroom and as a whole school initiative is very evident in the development and writing of these revised guidelines.

A graduate of Mary Immaculate College of Education, Limerick, Aideen is currently a teaching principal in Clohanes National School, Doonbeg,
Co. Clare. For the past ten years she has been a facilitator on the Misneach programme for Newly Appointed Principals, initially, with the Leadership Development Service (LDS) and currently on the Leadership Team with PDST. Aideen is also a mentor
with the Centre for School Leadership. Having a keen interest in Assessment for Learning strategies and methodologies Aideen has incorporated SALF into her classroom practice for a number of years.