ACT for Autism Australia

Gemma and her team provide face to face services in Western Australia supporting children aged 0-16years old pending a diagnosis, or already diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She offers Advocacy, Consultancy and Training services and works in partnership with existing carers and professionals to ensure optimum supports are identified, accessed and implemented effectively.

She specialises in training workshops and creating professional learning experiences for groups and large organisations. Gemma’s team implement holistic Early Intervention and school-aged therapy services, merging the art of teaching, with the science of behaviour and learning to support skill acquisition, social inclusion and independence.

Gemma is an adjunct lecturer at Edith Cowan University and continues to research all aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and is passionate about highlighting practical and measurable interventions that can be successfully implemented in all settings to improve joy and skill acquisition for children. Gemma teaches one day a week for the School of Education and her first full length book is due to be published in late 2022 / early 2023.

Personal Background

Gemma’s teaching career began in the UK as an early childhood and primary school teacher. She emigrated to Australia in 2006 and worked in private and public primary and secondary schools. In 2008 she was nominated for Australian Teacher of the Year and in 2009 she gained Level Three Classroom Teacher Status, based on a portfolio comprising strategies to support inclusion in the classroom. 

Whilst teaching in Western Australia, Gemma also worked as a consultant for an education publisher, writing literacy software and lesson plans and volunteering as a research assistant for the local university. The Department of Education awarded Gemma an academic scholarship to complete a Master of Education by Research which was published in 2014, investigating effective teaching, mentoring and pre-service teacher education.

However, professional experience was not sufficient to support Gemma to navigate the disability sector when her second child was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, requiring the highest level of supports. Fifteen years of teaching experience had not equipped Gemma with the necessary skills and knowledge to teach her son, and so she commenced intensive training in supporting children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is still in intensive training (we never stop learning!) and is passionate about supporting fellow educators and allied health professionals to understand how to teach, communicate with, and maximise social inclusion for all students with ASD.

Gemma’s doctoral research was a practice-based project, documenting more than three thousand hours of progressive Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). The science of ABA is sometimes misunderstood in the context of therapy and education and Gemma is a passionate advocate for embedding scientific principles in all of her therapy services at the same time as prioritising happiness and functional skills. We learn when we are happy.

Gemma is a prize-winning public speaker and enjoys designing tailor-made professional development workshops to meet the needs of each organisation's context. She believes in the need for proactive collaboration, and liaises with a range of individuals and service providers to create and co-present engaging and unique learning experiences for parents and professionals. She draws on the lived experience of parenting two children with very different presentations of ASD and combines this with her experiences as a researcher, therapist, and teacher.

Gemma is grateful to her beautiful children, who inspire her every day to embrace joyful moments, to maintain high expectations and to accept and learn about different ways of thinking and perceiving the world.