Come and meet like-minded people, share stories, talk to an expert in one of our clinics, get answers to questions as well as support and advice, and hear some wonderful and impactful speakers.
I am super proud to be the Well Being Ambassador for this prestigious charity, this AKO family of passionate, dedicated and tireless volunteers who are determined to bring about change, understanding and belief.
The charity promotes the inclusion and equality of children and adults with an autism spectrum condition throughout society.
The incredible speakers this year include
Carrie Grant MBE a BAFTA award winning broadcaster with a TV and music career spanning 40 years.
Ben Pearson, an autistic fashion entrepreneur who recently wowed the investors of Dragon’s Den
Gemma Long of www.empoweringautistics.org on Leading The Change
Alphonso Archer, Creative Music Leader at Venturer’s Academy since 2016 and who has Savant Syndrome
All clinics will be held during the afternoon.
I am thrilled and so chuffed to have been invited to hold my own as part of this empowering day.
So please come along and say hello !
Tickets available from the Anna Kennedy Online Charity website as well as Facebook, Twitter and linkedIn.
For the FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS all of us at the AKO family are thrilled and excited to be back at Brunel University,London for the Anna Kennedy Online Autism Expo after having had to previously share it online due to Covid.
Anna Kennedy Online created the AKO Autism EXPO to bring support and information to as many families, carers and professionals as we can.
“It is a time to meet like minded people, share stories, talk with an expert in one of our clinics and to find out more about Autism and its related conditions”.
Everyone is giving their time for free as Anna Kennedy Online is dedicated to promoting the inclusion and equality of children and adults with an autism spectrum condition throughout society.We are a MASSIVELY passionate team!
The event is an action packed day on 25th June with a whole team of people headed up by Dr Anna Kennedy OBE, with incredible speakers and afternoon clinics where you can seek all sorts of advice from EHCP’s,legal advice, therapies, knowledge and real solid help. Autism and other neurodiversities are for life and this day will bring all sorts of help as your neurodiverse children become neurodiverse adults.
I am delighted ,as the Wellbeing Ambassador for the charity, to be sharing my therapies to ease issues and challenges and to help grow your child to their full potential. I also have a whole stack of legal advice for SEN parents due to my personal as well as professional journey with four neurodiverse children.
So please come and say hello !!
Speakers include the fabulous Carrie Grant MBE, Alessandra Bester, Brian Bird, Gemma Long and Alphonso Archer .
To book your tickets and find out more information please click on the link below. AKO Autism Expo
HUGELY EXCITED to be a part of this powerful week of celebrating, advocating for and educating about neurodiversity !!
Neurodiversity Celebration Week, in partnership with LEXXIC (‘Empowering Neurodiversity’) are hosting this incredible event.
Every single event is completely free of charge and the itinerary for every day is packed with important, impactful information.
I shall be representing Anna Kennedy Online Charity and will be on the panel for * Understanding and Empowering Neurodiversity in Children* with Dr Anna Kennedy OBE on Tuesday 22 Marchfrom 2.30pm – 4pm GMT.
The week is just bursting with talks and panels hosted by some truly inspiring people and leaders in their field.
Please click on the link below to register for free and to see the huge array of talks and events.
I am delighted to have been invited by Graeme Croton, founder of the Aspie Project, as a special guest to take part in the “Special Open Space Initiative” Online Group Event on March 31st from 7pm-8pm GMT.
Open Space One-to-One Initiative, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Government, has been helping and supporting autistic people throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been and continues to support with online One-to-One mentoring sessions and online Zoom Group sessions focusing on adapting to change during Covid-19 and autism shared lived experiences,behavioural challenges, isolation, loneliness, mental health and wellbeing, amongst a whole host of topics.
This initiative is geared towards bringing the autism community together throughout Covid-19, to support each other, gain advice, brainstorm ,share ideas and help each other. What an absolutely wonderful concept !!
On Wednesday 31st March the Open Space Initiative will be focusing on Adapting To Change during Covid-19 from an autistic perspective.
This Special Online Group Event is a build-up to celebrating World Autism Day on 2 April 2121 and Autism Awareness week.
I am SUPER PROUD to be a part of something so special and so invaluable.
I am absolutely delighted to have been invited as the guest panellist to the “Live Wires” seminar with Emma Willars on 22 April 2021 12.30-1.15pm GMT for the Bright Minds’ Work & Family Event.
This webinar is about Parenting Children and Young People with Autism, ADHD and Asperger’s.
We will be chatting about balancing work and family when you have a child with special needs and I will be sharing tips, advice and experience about this as well as arming yourselves with as much SEN knowledge as possible . It will all be live, with question and answer sessions included, which I especially love because it is real, natural, direct and impactful.
The audience capacity will be up to 3000 people who I literally cannot wait to meet, share with and also learn from .
Emma has worked in Learning and Development for over 20 years. Director and lead consultant at Work Life Now, she supports employers and employees with models and solutions for better work-life integration: creating content – facilitating virtual workshops – forwarding diversity and inclusion strategies. Emma organises 10 seminars a year for Bright Horizons Work & Family Academy which she supports by delivering events for working parents and neurodiversity. A dedicated and motivational lady who is right up my street !
I am absolutely overjoyed and full of gratitude to be invited back again this year to speak at the Anna Kennedy Online AKO AUTISM EXPO. Apparently my talk last year was “very popular” which was just so lovely to hear because everything I do, I do with all my heart and with so much thought.
The expo will take place on Friday 26 – Saturday 27th March 2021. Details can be found at www.annakennedyonline.com and I will post a direst link to the event nearer the time.
I remember buzzing for weeks and weeks after the 2020 AKO Expo because it was a glorious and very powerful two days of listening to some truly great and inspiring people.
I learned so much from them and felt motivated and full of even more energy than usual after listening to them !!
I cannot wait to hear all the amazing speakers who will be joining me at this very valuable event and I look forward to learning and growing even more in this much needed field . It is a powerful feeling to be surrounded by positive, motivated people all giving their time because they believe so much in this work.
Thank you for asking me back !
Click on link below for all information and tickets:
On Monday 12th October at 12.30pm BST and 1.30pm Belgian/French/Dutch time I am so,so thrilled to be giving a Webinar on encouraging and nurturing a Positive Growth Mindset in our children, particularly for those who have a special/additional need or different ability.
Hosted by the chair of this incredibly motivated ,valuable and driven organisation, Beverley Sinton , I am hoping to reach as many families, carers, TA’s LSA’s teachers, headteachers, doctors and other professionals as is humanly possible because I am quite literally BURSTING with so much scientific, neuroscientific research and proof along with very simple but wonderfully engaging , slightly crazy at times (!!), fun activities and games .
I shall also discuss how just the simple way we can change our language can make such a positive difference. When we grow a positive mindset, it gives you lifetime skills, an emotionally and socially intelligent skills set and therefore helps you to reach your full cognitive potential.
Growing a Positive Growth Mindset not only physically grows our neurological pathways and alters our physical, cognitive brains but it even bridges the gap between school and the future workplace and employability ! Oh I could EXPLODE !!
IQ might get you the job but EQ (Emotional Intelligence) and SQ (Social Intelligence) will get you the promotion.
The team players, team builders ,the people builders,the thinkers outside the box and the problem solvers are the way forwards in a future rich, global community of inclusion .
“What fires the brain wires the brain .” (Rick Hanson,PHD)
Every day our minds build our brains.
Our brains don’t build our minds.
Therefore what we tell our children is what they become.
Links to this event will be posted on here very soon and across all my social media platforms. Cant’ WAIT to see you there and share SO much !!
To celebrate ADHD AWARENESS MONTH in October I have been invited to give two workshops/webinars for POA learning (poalearning.org.uk)
POA Learning is a hugely valuable and impactful organisation which are the learning arm of the Prison Officers’ Association (union).
They are very forward thinking and supportive of neurodiversity.
Their whole ethos is about unlocking potential which couldn’t be more perfectly in tune with my own work!
POA Learning co-ordinates trade union education and lifelong learning opportunities for all Prison and Secure Hospital employees,members of associated unions, friends,family and local communities.
I’m SO excited !!
This is a cause close to my heart especially because as you read this right now, in just one UK prison alone (HMP Cardiff), 33% of the inmates have ADHD ; some of whom were not diagnosed until they were adults.
With the government still calling conditions such as ADHD,ADD, EDF (Executive Function Deficit) and PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) “Conduct Disorders”, when actually it is not wilful behaviour but a simple lack of dopamine to the brain and therefore a different ‘wiring’, I am very keen to spread awareness and bring positive support.
Those with special needs/different abilities are anything from 2-6x more likely to pick up an additional mental health issue. Boys are twice as susceptible as girls.Those with neurodiverse brains are also born with significantly higher cortisone levels (the stress hormone) than those who have neurotypical brains .
Without the right support and understanding, along with the continual messages of “you’re naughty”,a “behaviourial”, you’re excluded or you don’t belong, these children grow into young adults who are far less resilient to stress, peer pressure, gangs… and more susceptible to later substance abuse.
You could be that one person who is educated and aware enough to be the one pebble on a child’s life path that changes the course of their future.
It is far easier to build a child than to repair a broken adult.
It is this neurological, neuroscientifically proven research, education and awareness that I will bring to this eventalong with many practical tools, techniques,positive growth mindset activities,mindful exercises and proven massage and therapy tips.
Especially as our world deals with the covid-19 Pandemic and mental health is spiking as we try to work out the “new normal”, there has never been a more pertinent time to bring education, support and awareness to conditions such as ADHD. So it is with the most enormous pleasure and massive honour that I have gladly accepted to be part of this very valuable,powerful and special event.
My own workshops will be live on Tuesday 27th October 10-11am and Wednesday 28th October 3.30-4.30pm.
Webinar One will discuss the neurotransmitter dopamine and how our children with conditions such as ADHD,ADD,PDA & EFD simply don’t produce enough of it. I will also discuss the naturally higher levels of cortisone, the stress hormone which is the enemy of the body compared to neurotypical children. I will be addressing the language and neuroscientific ignorance surrounding ADHD from government level downwards. Additional mental health issues will be explored with some hard hitting proven statistics …. and then lots and lots about where WE can all come in and play our part in quite literally rewiring those neurological pathways inside the brain …..!
I’ll be sharing gentle but powerful massage techniques along with self massage that will lead to more dopamine, less cortisone, more melatonin and serotonin and why this is key to reducing challenges, managing behaviour and boosting focus and attention.
Self massage leads to self awareness, self regulation and eventually self management! And therefore inclusion in the learning environment along with the collective benefits to the whole classroom and for teachers.
Webinar Two will be all about sharing other therapies,tools,techniques and positive growth mindset activities which are also proven to reset those neurological pathways and grow the child to their full potential. Therapies such as yoga, mindfulness, meditation, sensory and immersive meditations, guided journeys, gratitude games and activities exploring a whole range of feelings and how to manage them will be shared.You will be BUZZING with ideas!!! I’m just so excited to share all I possibly can to grow the child, help bond families and siblings , get through those feelings of isolation that so many families with a child with an additional need feel and to share ideas that could simply and at little or no cost be incorporated into the classroom too !
I’m going to talking ten to the dozen to fit it all in !! Plenty of resources and ideas will be demonstrated. We are going to have so much fun !! I’ll put some games,massages and activities together on links so that you have it all to hand once you have recovered from my joy !
The whole event will take place over the course of that half term week and all the details can be found on their website at poalearning.org.uk
Anna Kennedy OBE and Katherine Ellison Pulitzer Prize-Winning author are two of the other speakers who will both be holding sessions. How amazing !!
This event has been organised by the incredible Beverley Nolker and Alison Manion of POA Learning . Beverley also heads up an ADHD support group on the Isle of Sheppey. She holds a conference each year which focuses on those with ADHD ,their families and the support surrounding this different ability/condition.
Some people just inspire me to keep doing more, learning more and never stopping until we achieve that true understanding, education and inclusion of those who are neurodiverse.
I am truly so immensely honoured to have been invited to share this valuable online webinar to celebrate World Brain Day!
It takes place from 13h45-15h30 Belgian time / 12.45-2.30pm BST.
This seminar will be exploring “Brain and Mental Health Awareness Across The Lifespan” and is being hosted by ADHD, ASC & LD Belgium, European Brains @Work and Equisito, with myself as the keynote speaker.
Please click on the link above for more information and to book your free tickets for this powerful, impactful, very informative but also fun webinar exploring the strengths that neurodiversity and inclusion bring to our global community.
“What fires the brain wires the brain,” to quote Professor Rick Hanson.
What we tell our children is what they become.
Autistic children , children with ADHD, any child who has a neurodiverse brain, become neurodiverse adults who deserve to bring their passions and gifts to the workplace and to feel seen, heard and included in our society. This webinar will give lots of information and practical advice to teachers, therapists, employers and other professionals along with parents and families on how to achieve this.
It is with IMMENSE joy that I am sharing with you the news that I have been invited by Jyoti Jo Manuel, founder of Special Yoga, to give a webinar on Saturday 7th November 2020 from 2-5pm. This will be a part of the Special Yoga for Special Children Level Two training. I’ll be in my element !! Thank you Jyoti . I love working alongside therapists , teachers and practitioners who inspire and help drive me. It always feels SO good to reach that many more people together !
“MODULE 15
Giuliana Wheater
Indian Head Massage For Special Needs.
In this module we welcome Giuliana to share Indian Head Massage practices that she has used successfully for many years and she has especially adapted them for autism, ADHD ,other different abilities as well as mental health. The module will involve practices that you will learn on yourself to share on. The time together will be interwoven with Giuliana’s inspiring story of her son. ”
The EXPO is back !!!
Come and meet like-minded people, share stories, talk to an expert in one of our clinics, get answers to questions as well as support and advice, and hear some wonderful and impactful speakers. 
HUGELY EXCITED to be a part of this powerful week of celebrating, advocating for and educating about neurodiversity !!
I shall be representing Anna Kennedy Online Charity and will be on the panel for * Understanding and Empowering Neurodiversity in Children* with Dr Anna Kennedy OBE on Tuesday 22 March from 2.30pm – 4pm GMT.
I am absolutely delighted to have been invited as the guest panellist to the “Live Wires” seminar with Emma Willars on 22 April 2021 12.30-1.15pm GMT for the Bright Minds’ Work & Family Event.
On Monday 12th October at 12.30pm BST and 1.30pm Belgian/French/Dutch time I am so,so thrilled to be giving a Webinar on encouraging and nurturing a Positive Growth Mindset in our children, particularly for those who have a special/additional need or different ability.
It is with IMMENSE joy that I am sharing with you the news that I have been invited by Jyoti Jo Manuel, founder of Special Yoga, to give a webinar on Saturday 7th November 2020 from 2-5pm. This will be a part of the Special Yoga for Special Children Level Two training. I’ll be in my element !! Thank you Jyoti . I love working alongside therapists , teachers and practitioners who inspire and help drive me. It always feels SO good to reach that many more people together !
