Invited Speakers

Dr. Dianne Toe is a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne. She commenced her career as an audiologist with Australian Hearing in 1983.  She went on to complete a Master of Philosophy at the University of Manchester and a PhD in Education at the University of Melbourne. Prior to rejoining the University of Melbourne, Dianne worked at Renwick College at RIDBC (and affiliated with the University of Newcastle) for five years as a research fellow and as the Head of the College. Before that, Dianne worked for nine years as a lecturer in Education of the Deaf at the University of Melbourne. In 2003, Dianne completed her teacher training at RMIT University and then worked as a primary teacher. Dr Toe is actively involved in research and publication in areas that relate to the development of pragmatic language skills in children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

David Billimoria is a Manager in the Student Wellbeing Division in the office for Government School Education which is responsible for a broad range of wellbeing issues as well as students with disabilities in Victorian Government Schools. David is passionate about the use of technology to improve teaching practice and learning outcomes and is supporting the two specialist school participating in the iPad trial.

Bernadette Mulcahy-Bouwman is Principal of van Asch Deaf Education Centre in Christchurch. For the past 15 years Bernie has had close involvement in strategic development of Deaf Education Services in New Zealand. She has been a member of Ministry of Education Working Parties, Steering Groups and National Coordination meetings over this time.

Her Professional experience in the field of Deaf Education has spanned 27 years. Bernie qualified initially as a Speech Language Therapist and then soon after qualified as a Teacher of the Deaf. In the mid 1980s she taught deaf students in base school and unit settings. She then worked for ten years as a Specialist Resource Teacher specialising in Language Development. In this role she supported deaf educators, mainstream schools and families of deaf children throughout the van Asch Region. Bernie went on to lecture Teachers of the Deaf and Advisors of the Deaf in the area of Language Development. Bernie’s particular area of interest in Deaf Education is Early Intervention. She has nine years of teaching experience in this field. Communication and Parent-Child interaction skills are areas she has placed emphasis on throughout her teaching experience.

Pat McGarry is a Senior Project Officer in the Office for Government School Education Directorate and is responsible for the iPad for Learning Trial in Victorian Government Schools. Pat has a particular interest in the use of ICT and Thinking Curriculum, he has previously worked on The Netbook Trial, Ultranet and 3D Virtual Worlds Project.

Anne McGrath is Education Manager at Media Access Australia (MAA) and also works as a Teacher of the Deaf. Anne combines her experience with students who are deaf and those who have hearing impairment, to inform her role at MAA. Media Access Australia’s comprehensive Education Strategy includes the exploration and development of a best practice model for accessibility to captioned educational multimedia. Anne has worked as a primary school teacher in mainstream schools and with the NSW Department of Health. Anne also currently works with the Catholic Education Office Sydney, as a Teacher of the Deaf; and has worked in that role with the NSW Department of Education and Training and the Royal Institute of Deaf and Blind Children. Anne has personal experience of hearing impairment, growing up with a deaf mother and being hearing impaired herself. Anne uses hearing instruments and assistive listening devices as part of her daily life.

David Foster is Principal and Chief Executive Officer of the Kelston Deaf Education Centre in Auckland New Zealand, a position he has held since 2001. The Centre provides a residential school and a range of specialist services to Deaf and hearing impaired students throughout the North Island of New Zealand. At Kelston Deaf Education Centre quality is best expressed through students’ right to be part of a community that promotes full access, participation and achievement. Kelston serves a community that is culturally and geographically diverse.

David previously held management positions in four other schools including eight years served as Principal of two state full primary schools (Y1-8). His early teaching career encompassed primary, intermediate and secondary schools as well as working in both urban and rural communities.

David has a particular interest in quality as the foundation for educational management. He has made a valuable contribution the resolution of a number of complex operational and policy issues. His particular strengths are his ability to synthesise information into possible strategic actions, to communicate with a range of audiences and to provide an objective perspective.

Margaret Charlton has broad experience as a Psychologist in clinical and research fields.  Margaret is Consultant Psychologist to Taralye Oral Language Centre for Deaf Children, and to the Paediatric Cochlear Implant Programme at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.  Margaret is the Psychologist in a multidisciplinary Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnostic team in the Department of Developmental Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital.  Margaret is a Senior Research Fellow with Monash University and works in a research team at Monash Medical Centre assessing the development of preterm children and of other children who received Neonatal Intensive Care.  Margaret also works in private practice.  Since 1999, Margaret has been Principal Researcher in an outcome study of implanted children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder, a study which she conducts at the Eye and Ear Hospital.

Dr. Jill Duncan studied Speech Pathology, Audiology and Deaf Education with Professors Richard and Laura Kretschmer at the University of Cincinnati.  She has been a practicing auditory-verbal therapist since 1988 when she worked at the Helen Beebe Speech and Hearing Centre with the esteemed Helen Beebe in Pennsylvania, USA.  Dr Duncan has the senior administrator in two well-known programs for children and students with hearing loss - one in South Australia and one in the USA. She has held an academic position at Deafness Studies Unit, University of Melbourne. Dr Duncan is currently Conjoint Senior Lecturer and Head of Graduate Studies at the RIDBC Renwick Centre. In addition to authoring many articles and chapters, she recently co-edited the book, Auditory-Verbal Practice: Toward a Family-Centered Approach (2010) and co-authored the book, Adolescent with Hearing Loss: Auditory (Re)habilitation (2012).

Dr. Louise Paatsch is a senior lecturer at Deakin University in the Faculty of Arts and Education. She is a teacher of the deaf with over 20 years of experience. From 1998 to 2009 she was a lecturer at the University of Melbourne training teachers of the deaf in the areas of spoken language, speech production, and speech perception. During this period she also worked as a research assistant in the department of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne on a 5-year longitudinal study which investigated the spoken language skills of school-aged children with hearing loss.  In 2007, Louise completed her PhD following her Master of Education at the University of Melbourne.  She is currently involved in research at Deakin University in the areas of multimodal literacies and teaching literacy pedagogy.  Her other research areas include investigation of pragmatic skills and narrative skills of children and adolescents with hearing loss, examination of academic, linguistic and literacy outcomes of  children and adolescents with hearing loss, and investigation of home literacy practices and language skills of pre-school children.

Dominic Power has worked as an audiologist for 10 years, in community health, at The Eye and Ear Hospital, and The University of Melbourne where he supervises and lectures to Master of Audiology students. He has been involved across all areas of diagnostic audiology including hearing assessments of children and adults, measuring dizziness/balance function, facial nerve assessment, and non-invasive intra-cranial pressure testing.  

A bit of a technology tragic, he is intrigued by new technology and different types of implantable hearing devices and has been involved in the Bone Anchored Hearing Aid Program at the Eye and Ear Hospital since its inception in 2004. He has followed with interest the evolution of the BAHA technology, the refinement of the surgical technique and especially the effect that the BAHA has on people’s (and their families’) quality of lives and how it can be more than just a “different type of hearing device”.

Associate Professor Gary Rance is an audiologist, a full-time researcher/teacher at University of Melbourne and a part-time sculptor.  He is Director of Academic Programs for the Department of Otolaryngology, coordinates the Master of Clinical Audiology Program and currently holds the Wagstaff Research Fellowship in Otolaryngology. His research areas have included various aspects of auditory evoked potential measurement (notably the clinical application of auditory steady-state responses), cochlear implant outcomes in children, and the perceptual characterization of hearing impaired children.  Most recently, he has been a leader in the field of auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) responsible for the first publications to describe this form of hearing deficit in newborn babies

Ellen Panjari is the Manager of Early Intervention at Taralye. Taralye is an Early Intervention Agency providing a home, community and centre based program to families of young hearing impaired children throughout Victoria.

She has been a Teacher of the Deaf for more than 29 years. 

Ellen worked with Indigenous children and their families in Darwin and remote communities in the Northern Territory, as well as working within the Deafness Studies Unit at the University of Melbourne contributing to a range of research projects. 

As the Parent Adviser for Preschool Hearing Impaired Children, Ellen was involved in the provision of Early Intervention services to families for more than 15 years in both the Western and Northern Metropolitan regions of Melbourne.

Ellen has a specific interest in working collaboratively with families from a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background and in particular, supporting the needs of newly diagnosed families.