Illuminating Inclusion

07/04/2026

I am very excited and honoured to have been invited to present a workshop at the up and coming ACA Queensland National Conference in June ✨

I hope to see many of my ECEC colleagues there!

✨ Meet Your 2026 Australian Childcare Alliance Queensland National Conference Workshop Presenters ✨

Sector experts. Practical learning. Real impact.

⏳ Early Bird tickets close 17 April — just 10 days left.
Register now: https://zcu.nu/yLY

🎟️ Don’t miss the chance to save on the 2026 ACA Qld National Conference.

04/01/2026

I’ve always had a long-term focus on understanding people — children and adults.

For much of my life, that focus has been shaped by feeling misunderstood. My own AuDHD diagnosis has helped me name something I had long sensed: my desire to see people understood and embraced is deeply connected to lived experience.

That understanding deepened as I supported my own neurodivergent children through recovery from school-related trauma. These experiences reinforced what neuroscience continues to affirm — children’s outcomes are inseparable from the adults, leadership practices, and systems that surround them.

While my work will always be child-focused, I’m increasingly aware that sustainable change doesn’t begin in ‘classrooms’ alone. It begins with leaders and systems.

As James Clear reminds us, “We do not rise to the level of our goals; we fall to the level of our systems.”

My rumblings with all of this led me to undertake further studies in 2025, including a Graduate Certificate in Trauma Aware Education (QUT (Queensland University of Technology) to deepen my understanding of neuroscience and trauma and ensure my leadership approaches are grounded in current research.

Thank you to my incredible husband Michael Denner - my study partner, fellow researcher and greatest cheerleader (who has also completed his Grad Cert too!). I’m so excited for what is in store for you professionally- you are an EXCELLENT, humble, wise, grounded leader with more integrity than anyone I know. Whilst the journey hasn’t been easy, our studies made it clear - the education system needs leaders like YOU who are willing to question and challenge what ‘has always been done’ to find better ways to support all students.

As I reflect on this course, amidst all I learnt, the research that is resoundingly clear is that Trauma-aware practice cannot solely rely on individual effort. We need reform! When transformational leadership and trauma-informed systems support adults well, they shape the environments children experience every day.

I still have much to learn. But I’m increasingly clear on this: when we invest in how we lead, design, and support adults, we create safer, more responsive cultures for children.

It starts with us… Bring on 2026!!!

10/11/2025

Over two years ago, I would never have imagined that I’d be invited to speak into spaces like this— the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and National Child and Family Hubs Network.

➡️ https://www.childandfamilyhubs.org.au

Each opportunity to share our family’s story and continue advocating for other neurodivergent children and families feels both surreal and profoundly humbling. I’m so thankful for the chance to contribute to conversations that matter so deeply — conversations about belonging, inclusion, and seeing every child for who they truly are.

Feeling incredibly grateful — for where this journey has led, for the people walking alongside me, and for the continued reminder that our voices, when shared with courage and compassion, really can create change.

💛💛💛

And a huge shout out to my incredible husband Michael Denner who is holding down the fort at home! I am so thankful to God for your integrity, strength and faith- gosh we have been through the trenches but to do it together is truly a gift. 🙏

07/10/2025

I am sharing for two fellow ND mummas who are INCREDIBLE advocates for all things neuroaffirming practice, inclusion and supporting spaces of genuine belonging for children and families. Both Angie Casella and Kaycee Larney give so much of themselves for our neurodivergent community and to have them share at our ChildKind Conference would be INCREDIBLE!

If you know of any business sponsors or any other potential sponsors who may be interested in helping out Curious Me please let me know!

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💚 Help Us Take Curious Me to ChildKind 2025 🧡
We’ve been accepted as breakout presenters at the ChildKind 2025 Conference in Sydney 🤩, a national platform to speak about play, regulation and the rights of neurodivergent children.

As neurodivergent mothers, advocates and co-founders of Curious Me, this is a chance to amplify our community-led, curiosity-driven work from Logan and South-East Queensland to a national stage 🙈.

We’re looking for a like-minded organisation, business or partners who would consider sponsoring part of our travel costs to get us there.

Your support would directly help elevate inclusion, authentic play and family voice in systems that need to hear it most.

If you'd like to help us, please reach out. We’d love to yarn.

Kaycee & Angie

📧 [email protected]
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27/09/2025

4 weeks to go!!!

28/08/2025

Our response to Minister Butler’s NDIS/Thriving Kids announcement.
Families need co-designed, neuroaffirming, trauma-informed supports.

21/08/2025

Thank you Reimagine Australia for producing this document and providing the opportunity for families, educators, allied health and organisations to join in speaking up.

Please sign and share!!!

F I R S T - W E - B U I L D - I T

Join us by endorsing our response to Thriving Kids

On 20 August 2025, Minister Butler announced the Thriving Kids initiative, shifting children with disability, developmental delay, neurodivergence, and developmental vulnerabilities out of the NDIS into a $2 billion “foundational supports” program.

While ambitious, Reimagine along with many other advocates, peak bodies, parents, carers, and practitioners are concerned the proposal risks harm: it was not co-designed with families or practitioners, it underfunds the scale of need, and it places children into systems that are already failing.

Reimagine Australia has released our collective response: “First, We Build It” — a call to pause, co-design, and rebuild early childhood supports in ways that are inclusive, safe, and grounded in human rights and disability justice.

You can read our DRAFT Position Statement; First, We Build It here:https://reimagine.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/DRAFT-First-We-Build-It.pdf

We are inviting families, practitioners, organisations, and allies to endorse this statement. Endorsements will be included in our submission to the Minister, amplifying our united call for restorative reform.

If you share our concerns and vision, please take a moment to complete this form. By endorsing the statement, you add your voice to a growing coalition calling for reform that is co-designed, inclusive, and grounded in justice. Whether you are a parent, professional, community leader, or ally — your support matters.

Add your details here, by COB Friday 22 August, 2025, to become a co-signatory: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8Hh9W6eknDT6tR7SiJ9WXaYNUn3zmYuoHyhO1-RFisitPdg/viewform

We have a short window of opportunity to make an impact, so please share this information widely amongst any networks you have across early childhood.

16/08/2025

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Curious Me has so many wonderful tips and tricks on their page to support educators and parents to more deeply understand and meet the sensory needs of children 💛

13/08/2025

A poster, program or good book WILL NOT teach our children body safety, consent and protective behaviours etc, if in our daily actions as adults we are ‘shutting down’ a child’s bids to express their needs.

Leaning in with curiosity and attuning to how our children are communicating their needs (perhaps their need for connection, movement, reduction in sensory input, extra processing time or nervous system safety) is not permissiveness. It is the necessary foundation for PERSONAL SAFETY, CONSENT and EMOTIONAL REGULATION.

We can connect and validate AND hold a boundary that keeps everyone safe.

We can connect and acknowledge a child’s feelings and experience of a situation AND also uphold what we know is best for our little person in that moment.

And, sometimes, we can actually connect and validate and realise ‘woah… I need to adjust my expectation in this moment and shift MY behaviour as the adult with a fully developed brain.’

We cannot expect children to ‘conform and just follow directions’ and then become frustrated when they won’t take a risk or try something that’s hard. And we most certainly cannot push conformity and then expect that our children will listen to a ‘program’ about protective behaviors or consent and have the neural connections to speak up when they don’t feel safe.

The brain is wired through what it experiences. It’s the little moments in our everyday with children that build the neural architecture that supports their safety and wellbeing.

Safety of our children, begins with how as adults we lean in and listen to their ‘voice’ … even when that voice looks like messy behaviour.

07/08/2025

As many of you know, I am part of Reimagine Australia and the incredible work they do in advocating for the safety, wellbeing, equity and inclusion of ALL children across Australia.

Reimagine is a not-for-profit organisation and as our ChildKind Conference is on this October, there are still some opportunities for sponsorship available. This conference will involve the release of our ChildKind Framework as well as many other incredible professional development supports for ECEC operators and educators, teachers and Allied Health professionals. The time to come together, bridge silos and advocate fiercly for the safety, wellbeing, equity and inclusion of all children is more important than ever!!!

If you would be interested in coming along, in finding out more about sponsoring this amazing event OR know of a business who might be keen to put their hand up for a sponsorship package, please reach out 🙏 (and please feel free to share this post!).

Thank you!!!!!! 💛💛💛

26/07/2025

💛 These two women are fierce advocates for neuroaffirming play and meeting children where they are at and embracing them for who they are! I cannot WAIT to hear them share at our Reimagine Australia Event on Monday night!

We are less than a week away for our first BRISBANE ChildKind Live Event!

Monday 28th July
6:30-7:30pm
Location: Mother Duck Childcare Lawnton

This event is for Early Childhood Professionals, Allied Health Professionals, Community Groups and those who share a passion to advocate for ALL children to be understood and supported.

We are so thankful to have Curious Me join our panel as we focus on our Childkind Framework's Pillar One - UNDERSTAND ME. This 'best practice pillar' is all about embracing and affirming the diverse needs of children and practicing deep listening, curiosity and empathy when supporting children and families.

As part of our panel, Kaycee and Angie will share practical ways in which the work of Curious Me seeks to understand and amplify the diverse needs of children, embracing all play types and truly advocating for a strengths-based approach to supporting children!

Check out their inspirational work: www.curiousme.au

For more information about our ChildKind Best Practice Guidelines and Framework, please visit: https://childkind.org.au/best-practice-guidelines/