Kim Avery

Specialist Early Intervention Teacher (Key Worker)

Kim Avery is the Co-Founder of Progressive Connections Early Childhood Intervention Centre.
As an Early Intervention Specialist Teacher and Key Worker, Kim has built on her own professional knowledge for the past 12 years working across disciplines and continuing to attend professional development.

As a Keyworker Kim works with parents, early childhood educators, primary school teachers, inclusion support workers, and other specialists when required such as Speech and Language Therapists, Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Social Workers.

Kim’s formal qualifications from The University of Canterbury are:

  • Bachelor of Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood Education.
  • Graduate Certificate in Management in Early Childhood Education.
  • Post Graduate Diploma in Specialist Teaching endorsed in Early Intervention.

Kim holds registration, certification, and memberships in the following:

  • Qld Teacher Association, (full Teacher Registration)
  • Member of ECEIA
  • Member Autism Behaviour Intervention Association
  • Member of the Hanen Centre®
  • Learning Language and Loving It™ Program, Hanen Centre® supporting educators to learn ways to promote social communication, language, and literacy skills for children 0-5 years
  • 4 I’s to Socialise™, coaching parents to use Hanen Strategies from the ‘More than Words’ Program, for children with Autism and/or Social Communication Delays
  • SPARK Communication™, coaching parents to use strategies from the ‘It Takes 2 to Talk’ Program, for children with communication delays.
  • ABA Therapy Workshop
  • Play Based Therapy
  • Stepping Stones, Specialist Behaviour Program for parents of children with developmental delays and disabilities.
  • Understanding Sensory Processing Disorder
  • Social skills programs
  • Trained in the SCERTS™ Framework to assess children’s strengths and needs in the area of social communication and emotional regulation – areas that children with autism have most difficulty in. We use SCERTS to assess, set goals and monitor a child’s progress.
  • Certified Facilitator for the Abecedarian Approach -Enriched Care-giving, Conversational Reading, and Learning Games
  • Certified Circle of Security Facilitator
  • Certified Facilitator of Smalltalk – Parent Supported Playgroups

Kim’s role is to build the capability of families, caregivers, educators, and teachers to support the child’s learning and development. This happens through optimising everyday routines and learning experiences. The reward for Kim is watching an adult’s capability to support their children grow and empower them to make a difference for their family or early childhood service and then seeing the positive impact on the child.