Chantelle O'Connor Speech Pathology

27/03/2026

27/03/2026

17/03/2026

🧠 Neurodiversity Celebration Week 🧠

🗣️ This week, we proudly join the global community in recognising Neurodiversity Celebration Week - a movement founded in 2018 by Siena Castellon to challenge stereotypes, broaden understanding, and celebrate the many strengths, talents and perspectives of neurodivergent people.

🗣️ At StoryBox Hub, we believe that sharing stories - and seeing yourself represented in them - is integral. Stories invite empathy. They normalise difference. And they help create the inclusive, equitable cultures this week calls us toward.

🗣️ We’re honoured to feature a growing collection of stories that champion diversity in all its forms, including 'Come Over To My House', 'Bernie Thinks in Boxes' and 'Remarkable Remy'. We’re also proud to celebrate the voices of neurodiverse storytellers such as and - whose honesty, creativity and lived experience enrich our library in powerful ways.

🗣️ Neurodiversity Celebration Week invites us to move from awareness to action - embracing inclusive design and championing meaningful organisational change.

📖 We invite you to explore our Story Box Library collection, start conversations, and take meaningful steps - big or small - towards a world where every individual feels seen, valued and supported. Because when we celebrate neurodiversity, we all grow.

08/03/2026

Hi all.

It's been a day and my brain is not great currently. I know I'm not the only one feeling all the things and trying to juggle life and the horrors.

It feels. Too hard to put words to.

I wonder.
Would you mind sharing something positive or affirming that you have seen happen lately? Maybe in your school, workplace, or home? A sign that things are improving? Even a small one.

So many days it feels like we aren't getting anywhere. But I think the changes are happening slowly.

We're trying so hard.
They have to be happening, don't they?

I have this coming up later in the month.
I hope some of you can join me. This one is for allied health professionals who are wondering what even is their job anymore.

Em 🌈

08/03/2026

Did you hear?

Our founder, Dr. Ross Greene, has a new book coming 2/24: The Kids Who Aren’t Okay: The Urgent Case for Reimagining Support, Belonging, and Hope in Schools.

It’s a practical guide for meeting students where they are: shifting from reactive, behavior-first responses to proactive problem-solving in real classrooms.

Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/Kids-Who-Arent-Okay-Reimagining/dp/B0G6F952XB/

04/03/2026

More Aussie kids will soon be able to enjoy some of Australia’s most popular preschool programs.

From April 13, Australian children and families can enjoy Auslan‑accessible episodes of Bluey’s most popular episodes, Gardening Australia Jr, Ginger and the Vegesaurs, Kangaroo Beach, Fizzy & Suds, Knee High Spies, and later this year, Flower & Flour.

The ABC will continue to roll out more Auslan-accessible preschool titles, series and episodes each year on ABC iview.

03/02/2026

I’m heading back to uni in a few weeks to start my thesis and I thought I’d share some accommodations that have helped me in the past and that I’ll probably be asking for again.

Let’s be real though - the most important accommodation is an accessible process for requesting them.

Support shouldn’t require chasing specialists for reports and multiple appointments all the while we’re attending classes just to have our needs met.

Accessibility that requires forms, proof and multiple appointments isn’t accessibility, it’s another barrier.

30/01/2026

Many people will now have seen the news reporting the mvrd3r of two young children who were also Autistic. This is devastating and deeply upsetting.

As this is discussed publicly, how we talk about it matters. Autistic children are children first. Their disability did not cause what happened and does not lessen the harm of their d3aths.

This post is shared to help keep discussion respectful, factual and safe for autistic people, disabled people, and families who may be reading.

The below tips on how to talk about this in a way that keeps other children safe, and adults accountable, are from Disability Research and from research on filic1de done at Monash University.

Please keep in mind:

• A child’s disability is never a reason for their d3ath. Disabled children have the same human right to life and safety as any other child.

• Avoid terms like “mercy k1ll1ng” or “act of love”. These excuse violence and harm Disabled people.

• Do not describe disabled children as a burden or suggest their life was not worth living.

• Stress or lack of support never makes k1ll1ng understandable. Many of us are stressed and unsupported but we would never do this to our children. There is no excuse or understandable reason for doing this to a child or young person.

• Keep the focus on the children who were harmed, not sympathy for the adult who h4rmed the child or young person.

• Avoid guessing about suffering or quality of life.

On claims this was “not vi0l3nt” or an anomaly:

Killing a child is always vi0lenc3, regardless of method. V1olenc3 does not need to look chaotic or leave obvious injvries. Research shows the method used does not make a case unusual or outside known patterns.

We can talk about system failures and the need for better support while still being crystal clear that vi0l3nc3 towards children and young people is never acceptable.

All Autistic and Disabled children deserve safety, dignity and life.

If this discussion is distressing, support is available:

- Lifeline 13 11 14

- Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636

- Sv1c1de Call Back Service 1300 659 46

In an emergency, call 000.

Chat line links for the above can be found in the comments.

30/01/2026

19/01/2026

Free tickets for families to the DLD Global summit. Such a great opportunity to learn more about Developmental Language Disorder.

🎉 Tickets are now LIVE for the first-ever DLD Global Summit presented with huge support from our Purple Partner Fremantle Speech Pathology and sponsors! 🎉

For the first time, people with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), their families, clinicians, educators, researchers, allies, and advocates from around the world will come together in one global space.

💜 People with DLD and their families can attend for FREE.

💛 Clinicians, educators, researchers, allies, and advocates are warmly encouraged to attend for a small registration fee, helping support the Summit while learning directly from the lived experience of people with DLD.

This is more than a conference. It’s a movement to amplify voices, share evidence, and turn knowledge into real-world impact.

👉 Register now and be part of this landmark event:
https://thedldproject.com/dld-global-summit/ or follow the link in our bio.

Together, we move from evidence to impact.

28/11/2025

29/04/2025

Thinking about this quite a lot.

I'll be speaking on it at Yellow Ladybugs conference in 5 weeks.

I feel like it's a topic that we don't talk about near enough.

Fawning costs us in self-advocacy skill development. Big time. It's rough getting to adulthood and not knowing how to speak up for yourself. Missing those essential skills puts as at such risk.

I don't want that for our kids.

K?

Em 🌈