About Me

Hi, my name is Kassi.

I graduated from my university teaching degree in 2002 with a huge belly, as my second child was due. I started teaching in 2003 and continued for 2 and a half years until my 3rd child was born. With 3 young children, and my eldest child freshly diagnosed with Autism, I had my hands full! Then, surprise!!! I found out I was pregnant again, and my second child was also diagnosed with Autism. I decided to put my career on hold. During this time, I was plunged into the world of raising children with additional needs and attended many appointments; speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry and paediatric appointments. I researched how best to teach and support my children. I booked myself into seminars like Tony Attwood and Sue Larky workshops. It was then that I realised I had been taught the wrong way to teach children with additional needs. The whole language approach was not going to help my children learn. I drastically altered the way I parented, and found myself trying to educate my children's teachers on how best to support my children.

In 2011, I decided to return to teaching, but this time everything was different. I ended up being the preferred teacher for classes with high levels of need, and I also started to teach in an Autism specific school. I learned the importance of repeated explicit instruction, and that many children do not instinctively absorb the lessons from their surroundings. I used visuals and predictable timetables to create safe working environments.

In 2015, I began teaching Stage 1 and remained there until December 2021. With good classroom management, and effective strategies in place to support children with additional needs, I was able to focus on teaching children to thrive in reading.

I attended training for different systematic synthetic phonics programs and trialed a number of them. The results were amazing! The majority of students I taught, finished the year well above expected stage outcomes. Additionally, students with specific learning disabilities were still progressing 12 months' worth during the year. I am so passionate about helping students excel in learning to read and write, and that is what has led me to this place today.