Inspirejoyaus

27/06/2025

🎓 Final semester loading...
I’m so excited to be starting the final two courses of the Master of Autism Studies program at Griffith University 😊 This last semester was by far the most challenging of my life, but I had a very special person that needed me to get it done - thanks Mum 🥹💫❤️

So far, I’ve:
✅ Completed 4 course in the Graduate Certificate (40CP)
✅ Completed 6 courses in the Master’s (60CP)
📚 Just 2 more to go to finish the full program! 📚

This journey has deepened my understanding of autism, neurodiversity, developmental disabilities, the lived experience of disability, inclusion, research and neuro-affirming evidence-informed practice—knowledge I’m continuing to apply in supporting the incredible children and families that I work with.

Looking forward to this final stretch and the opportunities ahead! 🤗

*pic - what’s usually happening behind the laptop 🙈🙃👯‍♀️

16/06/2025

✨ Thank you to all my incredible families for your support and understanding over the last 3.5 months as I’ve navigated the toughest of times with my beautiful mum 💕 It has made an extremely difficult time that little bit easier having your support, understanding, words of kindness and thoughtful check-in’s as I’ve travelled frequently to be with mum and dad. I am very, very grateful 🥹🙏 I’ll be back in touch very soon. ✨
On the 12th of June, we said goodbye to our beautiful mum ❤️ Mum had faced a very unexpected fight of her life with true strength, bravery and courage. Amongst countless appointments and hospital visits over the last three months, whenever the doctors or nurses asked how Mum was doing she’d tell them about what a beautiful life she’d had. A loving husband, two beautiful children, a son and daughter-in-law she adored, and four precious little granddaughters. Mum was so grateful for all that she’d been blessed with and counted every single one of her blessings, every day. When others might have been bitter and angry, she was nothing but thankful for the life she had, and her family that she treasured. She made everyone aware that’s what really matters in life. That is a life well lived. What beautiful lives we’ve all had, because of what mum and dad created together.

It was the honor of our lives to be with her as she said goodbye to us…And it gives us all comfort to know that she went so gently and peacefully, that we were all there together, our beautiful little family, together forever, always. Mum, we are so proud of you ❤️

Mum, how lucky we are to have had you as our treasured wife, mum and Gran for as long as we did. We know you’re walking beside us all, each and every day, forever in our hearts. We know how much joy your beautiful little granddaughters brought you and promise that everytime we hug and kiss them, we’ll be hugging and kissing them for you too. They’ll always know what an amazing woman their Gran was 💕💕💕

Rest easy mum. We will miss you forever. Thank you for everything. We’ll love you forever and always 🕊️🙏❤️💐

23/04/2025

Rest peacefully Carla Rinaldi ❤️ An absolute inspiration. It was a privilege to learn from you. Your wisdom, kindness and brilliance have made, and will continue to make, an immeasurable difference in the lives of children all around the world. You are a part of my practice each and every day, both professionally and personally; the biggest influence on my work. Your lessons encompass more than knowledge of education and pedagogy, but understanding what it means to be human; the significance of connection, co-construction, relationships, community and seeing ALL children as competent, capable and active protagonists in their lives. I will always treasure my time spent learning from you in both Adelaide and Reggio Emilia. Thank you Carla 🙏

20/06/2024

A bit of a different Thursday morning today! It was an honour to be invited to Parliament House to meet with Hon. today to chat about my service , autism and early childhood, and what the Malinauskas Government is doing to support our youngest members of the autistic and autism communities. I’m very grateful for Emily’s generosity of time, willingness to listen and her drive to continue to make change in such an important space for our autistic children. Our chat kept coming back to the significance of education and expanding the knowledge of key supports in the lives of autistic children - education is key! Much to learn, and much to look forward to 😊

21/05/2024

✨So happy to accept an invitation to be interviewed on ABC radio about the work I’m so fortunate to be involved in! Thank you ABC Broken Hill🙏🏻☺️✨ Link in bio ⬆️ https://www.inspirejoy.com.au/media

19/05/2024

Very humbled to be nominated and acknowledged as one of Australia’s best educators in todays Sunday Mail! So fortunate to have the opportunity to share with the wider community the significance of early childhood education, inclusion, my own beliefs and to speak a little bit about this service. So important to bridge the research to practice gap, and I’m so committed to providing families with the most contemporary approaches in research and practice ☺️🙏🏻💕

07/02/2024

07/02/2024

As we’ve grown it’s become time to evolve! I always struggled to find a name for my service that encompassed everything I wanted it to convey, but with a little help have managed to do it! I wanted it to reflect the foundation of my approach and words that Loris Malaguzzi called attention to that inspired me throughout my career…”nothing without joy”. It connected to research that was significant to me and guided how and why I do things; research concerning the effect of joy on cognition and learning in children. And FUN FACT - it’s also been very special to be able to keep a little piece of my own name (and family name) in this new brand 🥰 With some expert support from Claudia .designstudio I’m very proud to announce a new name and logo that means so much to me…

Welcome to Inspire Joy - Educational Therapy & Consulting 🤗

Please bear with me as updates roll across social media, website and communications. So excited for this next chapter 🥰

06/01/2024

✨Recently read an article that really resonated with me. Here’s a little summary of approaches that help support young children on the autism spectrum✨

(Vivanti et al., 2022)

*further reading in comments 😉