MEET THE TEAM

Dr Brenda Montgomery,EdD, MEd, DASE, Dip HE, PGCTE. Brendaisthe chairofthe nasen Northern Ireland AdvisoryGroup.Brenda was an adviserfor SEN andbehaviour support with the educationauthority (SEELB) in NorthernIreland for18years,during which time she wassecondedtothe SEN team at theDepartment of Education (DE) for three years. Prior to that, Brenda taughtina post-primaryschoolinBelfast, where shewas SENCOfor nine years. She has also been an assessorfor inclusion and has tutored andpresentedonthe policyand practicefor SEND at schools, universities and collegesthroughoutIreland.

Lorraine McAleer,BA(QTS).

Lorraine is the managing director and founder of Learning SPACE (Specialised ProductsAiding Child Education), an award-winning educational advisoryand resource company.She is a passionate, innovative developer of products to supportchildren’sneeds.Her idea for LearningSPACE came from supporting her sister, whohas SotosSyndrome. Lorraine is an experiencedteacherand aproven manager with over 20 yearsofexperience in education and sensorypractice. She is currentlycompleting a Graduate CertificateinAutismStudies (GCAS).

especiallydevelopmentallanguage disorder, and realises theimportance of children receiving timely support. Laura is amemberofthe NationalAssociation of Professionals concerned with Language ImpairmentinChildren (NAPLIC), the Associationfor all SpeechImpaired Children (AFASIC), TheBritishPsychology Societyand the Sensory IntegrationNetwork

Maria Diffin, MEd, BEd (Hons), AMBDA, PQH, APC

Maria worksasa specialist teacher for pupils withspecificdifficultiesinliteracy. Initially, Maria workedinEngland forten yearsand, on returning to Belfast, worked in alarge primary school, where she became the SENCO, assessment co-ordinator,member of thesenior leadership team(SLT) and aReadingRecovery teacher.She was secondedtoStranmillis UniversityCollege for ayear to deliver training programmes to schools in Northern Ireland on raisingawareness of dyslexia and how to supportpupils in class. Maria’sMEd was in teaching and assessingpupilswith dyslexia. Her passion is supporting all pupils with SENDand promoting an education systemthatmeets theneeds of all children

Lois Totton,MBA, BEd, Adv Cert Ed.

Loisisa Senior LectureratStranmillis University College. She has responsibilityfor teaching BEd primary and post-primaryeducationwith aspecific focusonSEND.Loisisalsothe course leaderfor the SENFirstCPD programme. Prior to taking up herposition at Stranmillis, Lois completed a25-year teaching career working across post-primaryand further education. Loisdemonstrates herpassion forSEN through her researchofthe historyand journey of special education in NorthernIreland andparental experienceofaccessingSEN support.She is alsoaschool governor in aspecialschool

Laura McClure, BEd (Hons), PG Dip, PG Cert, CCET.

Laura is aspecialist language teacher whofor the past 19 years hassupportedchildrenand young people with identified speech,language and communicationneeds (SLCN) andother co-occurringneeds. Herexperienceincludes teachinginaspeech and language classand aspecial school, asecondmenttothe language and learning service as well as to theSEN earlyyears inclusion service. She is passionate about effectively supporting childrenwithSLCN,

Gillian Beck, MEd (Distinction), BEd (Hons), AMBDA, ATS, FHEA. Gillian is aSeniorLectureratStranmillis UniversityCollege, whereshe lecturesin special and additional needs and literacy at undergraduate andpostgraduate levels. Prior to taking up thisposition, shewas aprimary teacherfor 16 years, afull time SENteacher (nurserytoP7) and SENCO for eightyears, inclusionco-ordinator andgiftedand talented co-ordinator.Gillian has worked with children witha diagnosisofAutistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and continues to pursue herpassion in thatarea; sheisa PhD researcher focusingon sensory provision in the mainstream environment

Alastair Rowan, MEd, BA, PGCE, PQH, DMS

Alastair is the vice chairofthe groupand currently works part-time as adevelopment officer for an educationsupportbody. Priortothis, he worked in educationfor 35 years, including as foundingprincipal of an integrated college,headofmathematics of alargecomprehensive school and sports coach. Throughout the varied aspects of Alastair’s career,hedevelopedaninterest and passion for SENand actedasa volunteerambassador for nasen in NorthernIreland for two years.