KU Annual Conference now open for registration

The KU Annual Conference for 2016 will feature Keynote Speaker Maria Aarts, Founder and Director of Marte Meo International Network, an organisation which specialises in enhancing the interactions between adults and children.

The conference, to be held on Saturday 15 October at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse, Sydney, is designed to bring together early childhood professionals to share in professional learning and networking opportunities through a variety of presentations.

Maria Aarts enjoyed professional success as a specialist for children with autism at a residential Child Psychiatry Institute in the Netherlands when a mother who observed the intimate connection between Maria and her son asked: “Maria, I am his Mum, he is my son, if you know how to get in contact with my son why don’t you teach me”?

This initiated the development of the Marte Meo approach. The words Marte Meo mean ‘on one’s own strength’.

This was deliberately chosen to highlight the central focus of the Marte Meo program, which is to encourage people to use their own strength to advance and stimulate developmental processes on the part of children, parents, and early childhood professionals, to best utilise their capacities.

The conference’s extensive program of featured speakers, seminars and workshops will cover a wide range of topics including pedagogy and practice, inclusion, wellbeing, interactions with parents, Playspaces and reconciliation.

To learn more about the conference, or to register visit https://www.ku.com.au/professional-services/ku-annual-conference.aspx