Dr Grace and Miss Emma are building an online village community of professionals with the shared vision of a neurodiversity paradigm shift in which labels such as "disability" "difficulty" or "deficit" are reframed with a diversity perspective that takes into account both strengths and weaknesses and the idea that variation can be positive in and of itself.
Village in the Cloud Ltd
Village in the Cloud
COMING
SOON
Time for Change!
UK ND Women-led Specialist Teacher Training and Consultancy
“Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of wiring will prove best at any given moment?” Harvey Blume
Emma and Grace
Emma Hartnell-Baker has a BEd Hons (Early Years specialism) and an MA SEN, and has practical experience of supporting students and educators in a wide range of settings and countries, always driven by her passion for inclusion and thirst for learning.
She has QTS, and has taught as a classroom teacher, launched and managed two large day nurseries offering before and after school care, been appointed by OFSTED as an Early Years Inspector, and supported organisations such as Sure Start to promote children's learning skills, health, and well-being, and social and emotional development.
Emma spent three years working in Reception classrooms to design a replicable ‘approach’ for classrooms, whilst trying not to use the term ‘phonics’ or ‘program’ to avoid becoming embroiled in The Reading Wars.
The goal was to offer intensive, ongoing, and specialised interventions, especially in KS1 when literacy problems and difficulties co-occur with other neurodevelopmental issues, and to continually adapt and improve on these early interventions.
Her focus is on creating a learning environment in which every child is taught as if they are learning to read and spell with dyslexia, to incorporate activities to enable teachers to more easily identify those children at risk of literacy difficulties, and to offer additional support where necessary, all within the classroom setting.
Grace Elliott is an experienced teacher, teacher trainer and assessor with APC, ATS, PG Cert SENCO and AMBDA. After completing a MSc at Oxford University focusing on dyslexia, Grace went onto study for an PhD to further research the causes of poor reading comprehension and the most effective interventions for poor comprehenders. Following this, she has written numerous publications on the topic of poor reading comprehension, and is a member of the Neurodiversity and Disability Special Interest Group for the Thames Valley Police Violence Reduction Unit. Whilst studying, Grace has worked as a Head of Year and SENDCo at a secondary school before moving schools where she is currently pursuing her passion of being an Early Years and Primary School SENDCo. She also teaches and assesses privately across the age range: primary, secondary and tertiary.
Emma and Grace met at the University of Reading - Emma is completing doctoral studies, and Grace was presenting her research findings. They both have lived experiences of being neurodivergent, in an education system predominantly designed by and for neurotypical students and teachers, but also as specialist teachers with vast experience in this field. They both understand how important it is that a place be offered where supportive connections can be made and 'different' ideas shared between professionals - a Village in the Cloud!
