Nurture Early Intervention Education

05/12/2025

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📣📣Students cannot learn when their nervous systems don't feel safe.

Not because they're choosing not to. Because their body won't let them. When a child's (or any human's) nervous system assesses the environment as unsafe (through neuroception—a subconscious scan for safety cues), it prioritizes survival over learning.

This is why felt safety comes FIRST:
Not curriculum.
Not behavior expectations.
✨Felt Safety✨

When students feel safe, their nervous systems can relax into ventral vagal, the state where learning, curiosity, and engagement are possible.

📣📣This is why Connector Practices matter so much. They build the felt safety that makes learning possible. They are the foundation to any lesson plan or learning.

29/11/2025

✨ Preparing for 2026 transitions!
I’ve been busy putting together resources for next week’s sessions, focusing on supporting children as they move into new classes, new teachers and new schools next year.

All of my clients preparing to start school in 2026 have also received an individualised transition report, summarising:
• their strengths and interests
• communication style and key supports
• sensory needs and emotional regulation strategies
• learning preferences and what helps them feel safe
• any potential challenges and recommended adjustments
• strategies for building connection with new educators
• practical ideas to ease the transition at home and school

These resources will be used across our upcoming sessions to help each child feel confident, understood and supported as they enter their new learning environment.

🌈 "Kids do well when they can" — and preparation makes all the difference.

28/11/2025

🌿 SUPPORTING NEURODIVERGENT LEARNERS — School PD Today at St Patrick’s, Gundagai

Today I had the pleasure of spending the day at St Patrick’s in Gundagai, working with their team to deepen understanding of autism, ADHD, PDA, sensory processing, communication differences, and how to support fluctuating capacity in the classroom.

Most people know me for my 1:1 NDIS work, but I also provide professional development and consultation for schools, preschools, daycares and OOSH — and this work is separate from the NDIS.

During today’s session we explored:
• Building predictable, neuroaffirming learning environments
• Understanding behaviour through regulation
• Sensory processing & the meltdown/shutdown cycle
• Co-regulation & the educator body budget
• Communication support (including non-speaking learners)
• Practical classroom strategies for high-support learners

It was a wonderful day of learning, reflection and collaboration — and a reminder that:

🌱 Kids do well when they can… and educators do too.
....….................................................................

✨ If your school is mapping out the 2026 PD calendar, I offer a range of non-NDIS school services, including:

✔ Full-day and half-day PD
✔ Staff meeting presentations
✔ Small-group training
✔ Student-specific consultation
✔ Classroom observations
✔ Educator coaching
✔ Practical, neuroaffirming strategies tailored to your context

Every session is warm, evidence-based, and genuinely useful for educators supporting neurodivergent learners of all ages.

If your school or team would like support in 2026, feel free to message or email me — I’d love to help.

Melissa
Nurture Early Intervention Education
info@nurtureearlyintervention.com.au
💜🌿

27/11/2025

"If your bum is numb, your brain is the same" ! Love it! 🤣🙌👇

25/11/2025

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18/11/2025

Have you heard about this fantastic author talk coming up soon at Tumut Library..?! 🤓

17/11/2025

👇🙌🌟

06/11/2025

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04/11/2025

How did I not know about these gorgeous little accessible reading books!! 🤯🤩 Definitely adding to cart now!

Has anybody used them?

Thanks for sharing Happyhandswith_Hallie 🥰

28/10/2025

07/10/2025

04/10/2025

Great idea. Have a look at an example of how authentic movement breaks can be done in the classroom 👇🙌

We've had some really GREAT consultations with schools this week!

We cannot express how AMPED we get when we see school staff really, truly embracing students profiles and providing AUTHENTIC regulatory support. (not just token fidgets and movement breaks).

You might wonder what you are looking at. You are looking at ingenious support in an integrated kindergarten class with close to 30 students in it..

See that yellow taped square? That's a movement spot for the kindergarten kiddo on the carpet just to the left of it.

Why does he access it? He's a kiddo who processes information and sustains attention more easily when he is getting intense input or in motion. (Check out his feet positioning in the pic. Definitely not criss cross applesauce).

How does he access it? He slides on over to it when his body needs to MOVE. (sometimes with encouragement to do so, sometimes independently)

What can he do there? Any movement that keeps his body within the square. He can also pull from a range of seating surfaces near by and bring other tools in if needed.

How long can he stay there? As long as he needs. The teacher engages him in that spot just like she would if he were on the carpet.

How do the other kids react? It's just part of the classroom culture. This teaching team is working to help their young students understand that "different brains need different things to learn and engage."

Is he the only one who has this option? Nope. He's not. There is at least one other student that has a taped square next to their spot to help them stay engaged in group learning opportunities by providing them with the input they need to make it possible.

What about everyone else? There are other places in the classroom that all students can move their bodies if needed. We witnessed several kids getting up and moving about with no interruption to the lesson. We might advocate for a "Standing Room" only spot at the back of the carpet that any of young learner in the classroom can use.

Are there times that it's not the right support? Absolutely. Supports are not 100 percent effective all the time, as sources of dysregulation vary. So, the team absolutely has other tools in their tool box. But, this is a great first "go to" strategy for this young person.

Did he "just know how to use it?" Absolutely not. All regulation strategies that aren't naturally sought by an individual take some degree of teaching, length of time, and opportunity for practice. This team knows it! They also know that supporting regulation is the key to classroom engagement

❤️💛

Image description - part of a classroom rug. You can see 2 of the 30 students' backs. One little is on his knees with feet stacked underneath him. There is a yellow square taped next to him, so he can move as needed and also be out of direct visual line of other children - but the