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Booking Conditions
No applications for this program will be accepted after all vacancies have been filled. Unsuccessful applicants will have their monies refunded in full. Cancellation prior to two weeks before the program date (cut-off date) will incur a 15% service charge per applicant. This program will be payable in full for cancellations made on or after the cut-off date or for failure to attend the program. All cancellations must be in writing and emailed to us. In the event of insufficient applications this program will not proceed and registration monies be fully refunded. In the event of this program being cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances registration monies only will be refunded as Critical Agendas will not accept liability for the payment of any other associated costs. Critical Agendas reserves the right to vary the advertised programs prior to commencement. Please note Critical Agendas reserves the right to transfer participants from face to face to webinar format with price adjustments (if required), should minimum numbers not be met for face to face event
Teaching Brilliant Brains – Applied Understanding of ADHD & Autism in the Classroom
Experiential Full-Day Practical Pedagogy Immersion
A bold, emotionally engaging and deeply practical full-day professional learning experience designed for educators who want to move beyond behaviour charts, compliance and overwhelm — and toward genuine understanding, connection and meaningful change.
Created for both primary and secondary educators, this immersive training experience equips teachers with practical, immediately usable, neuroaffirming strategies to better understand, support and empower neurodivergent learners in real classrooms.
Far beyond traditional “sit and get” professional development, Teaching Brilliant Brains blends lived experience, neuroscience, practical pedagogy, humour, storytelling, emotional engagement and hands-on strategies that teachers can implement immediately.
Led by Tony Vallance — award-winning educator, therapist, ADHDer and former “THAT ADHD kid” who struggled in class — this workshop provides an authentic, deeply human perspective on what genuinely helps neurodivergent students thrive. Teachers will leave not just with strategies, but with a renewed lens for understanding the children who need us most.
Participants will develop practical understanding and strategies to support:
- ADHD
- Autism
- Emotional regulation and overwhelm
- Executive functioning challenges
- Rejection sensitivity and emotional distress
- School refusal and disengagement
- Co-regulation and de-escalation
- Rigidity, anxiety and transition challenges
- Connection, belonging and psychological safety in classrooms
Throughout the day, educators will explore:
- Why behaviour is communication
- Why connection is the game changer
- Practical classroom tools for regulation, engagement and participation
- Strategies for reducing overwhelm and supporting big emotions
- Relationship-based approaches that improve learning readiness
- Real-world ways to create calmer, safer and more inclusive classrooms
- Sustainable practices that support teacher wellbeing and reduce burnout
This is not another behaviour management workshop.
Teaching Brilliant Brains is an experiential, emotionally intelligent and hands-on professional learning immersion that educators will still be talking about weeks later — because when teachers truly understand neurodivergent learners, classrooms change. Students change. And teachers leave feeling more hopeful, capable and equipped to make a difference.
If you missed Tony – here is what a few of the participants thought:
“This was fab! As a person with ADHD i have done lots of adhd training and sessions but this was by far the best! really good at re framing and explaining students need.”
“It was the best PD I have ever attended. Tony was very engaging!”
“This has been the best PD I have ever attended. As an ADHD’er myself (undiagnosed), the mother of an ADHD’er 21 yr old with some serious addictions and now teaching for the past few years in the VM space with ADHD students. I have over 25 years of policing and only recently a teacher and feel so privileged that I get to have an impact on these young people. So grateful Tony for the work you do”
“Great to have a neurodivergent presenter, talking about what works. Engaging, informative, practical that will have an immediate impact on my understanding and ability to work with people that have ADHD”
