Child Development Costa del Sol

ABOUT DEMELZA WALL
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Demelza is one of the founders of Shine Child Development. Demelza has worked for the last ten years meeting the social-emotional and behavioural/mental health needs of young people in primary, secondary and private settings working in partnership with multidisciplinary agencies.  Most recently Demelza supports the needs of young people as Thrive Lead; developing, leading and modelling Thrive approaches within a school setting and managing a team.

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She has worked in a variety of roles collaborating with a variety of professionals to ensure that the young person is held at the centre of a multi-professional approach. Her experience allows her to work directly with the student whilst also supporting teams to adopt strategies to promote consistency and containment for the student and their family. She is passionate that we hold all our students in the highest of regards supporting them to be able to feel safe with clear and consistent boundaries. A key part of her role is the development of skills and confidence, enabling them to communicate their needs in an appropriate and clear manner.

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Her practice has given her many opportunities to work with a variety of neuro-diverse students and build a strong knowledge in areas such as ADHD, ADD, Autism, PDA, Attachment Disorder and Trauma. She has gained this from her experience working closely with SENCOs and leadership in the education sector and multi-disciplinary agencies, offering support in Quality First teaching strategies.

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As an experienced Theraplay and Thrive practitioner, Demelza spent her professional career supporting young people to be able to regulate their emotions and learn strategies to manage their behaviour.

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Relationships are at the core of any change. Through her work in a number of schools she has been able to support young people with complex needs, who have experienced a cycle of failure, to be able to not only realise, but achieve their potential.

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Demelza works alongside families as well as teaching colleagues to use strategies that offer containment and safety in relationships.  In order to encourage positive change Demelza leads family Thrive training and family support at home.

ABOUT ANA LEPE

 

Ana is an Occupational Therapist who is passionate about her work with children. She has spent the last 10 years continually studying and learning to improve and offer the most up to date interventions to her clients.

Ana lived in Madrid for 8 years completing her degree at Complutense University, where she also studied Animal Assisted Therapy and Dog training.

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Ana has extensive experience working within Equinetherapy and has completed the full neurodevelopment program: Bobath Foundation specializing in cerebral palsy.

Ana continued her studies to complete two Masters; one in early childhood care: family centered model and the another in evidence-based occupational therapy; specializing her knowledge within handwriting and hand dexterity in children’s development.

 

As an Occupational Therapist Ana started working in a horse club where she gained experience in the treatment of children with different conditions such as Angelman syndrome, down syndrome, autism, ADHD and cerebral palsy.

 

During the following years Ana worked in STOI Jerez, a Children Occupational Therapy Service in Jerez. There, she started combining different treatment approaches such as sensory integration, neurodevelopmental methods and incorporated music therapy into her sessions.

 

Supporting a clinic called Luria, in Jerez, Ana worked with children using a family centered model; creating sensory spaces and routines with the goal towards strengthening and empowering the families to become confident and self-sufficient.

 

Ana currently provides occupational and equine therapy within a horse club in Guadacorte and supports families within Sotogrande and the coast with home and school therapy.

ABOUT AYNSLEY CARTER
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Aynsley is one of the founders of Shine Child Development. She completed her studies in Occupational Therapy at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.

 

Aynsley has had experience working in multiple settings including; hospitals, schools, home-based, community along with private and public child development centres across several countries; New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong and currently Spain.

 

She provides therapy within schools, private clinics and community to assist children/students with sensory integration dysfunction, gross motor, fine motor, visual perceptual difficulties and executive functioning skills. Her aim is to assist children/students to reach their full potential across all environments in life; home, school and community.

 

When working with a child/student, Aynsley will perform an individualised evaluation, customise intervention based on abilities and goals, and regularly review outcomes with the child/student, teacher and their family. She will also provide guidance on how strategies/techniques can be applied in the school and home settings.

 

Aynsley has continued her professional development by completing the following courses: Play Therapy Foundation, DIY Floortime, Brain Gym, Rhythmic Movement Training, SIPT ( Sensory Integration Training), Handwriting without Tears, Therapeutic Listening, Yoga Teacher Training and continues to participate in Neuro-Development courses.

 

Aynsley delivers educational lectures, workshops and seminars to promote and emphasize the importance of understanding children´s learning and development within schools, universities and community centres. Target and goals towards such workshops are to support teachers and parents to feel confident in how to nurture and embrace learning strategies across varying environments.

 

She is a member of the Spanish Association of Occupational Therapy, Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, Sensory Integration Network based out of the U.K. and the Hong Kong Association of Occupational Therapy.

ABOUT JAMES TILLMAN​

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James graduated from the University of the West of England with a BSc Psychology in

2007.After this he built extensive front line experience as a versatile and experienced

professional with 5 years as a teacher in special educational needs schools within the

U.K.

 

James has over 15 years experience of running creative workshops for children and young people in a variety of settings, working predominantly within the arts using music, circus, theatre and film to provide learning opportunities, life skills and therapy to children and young people. As an Arts Award practitioner James was able to inspire young people to grow their artistic and leadership talents. With four awards on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) students gained recognized outcomes from their work.

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Using the arts as an alternative method of engagement James has been able to work with some of London’s hardest to reach students providing SEMH support as well as

opportunities to learn physical skills. This has included work with ADD, ADHD, OCD,

ODD, ASD, Aspergers, Tourettes, SMEH and attachment issues.

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James has achieved excellent outcomes with children and young people with complex

needs. He is skilled in working with those with a history of non engagement and have

been oppositional within their educational, home and social settings. His ability to engage hard to reach children and young people has stemmed from using non traditional creative learning approaches . These approaches have lead to positive therapeutic relationships ,self belief and have given children and young people the tools to set goals , learn life skills , manage emotions and be able to engage with the world positively.

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James has worked in partnership with families, carers and key agencies to deliver person centered support to children and young people through using the Team around the child approach. He has been able to work positively with families and carers to provide consistency and support for both them and their children.

James has furthered his knowledge by completing cpd courses in: Transactional Analysis, Attachment theory, Self-Harm Awareness, Introduction to Mental Health Disorders & Anxiety, Restorative Approaches, ASD Awareness, Domestic Violence, CEOP, PRICE and Team Teach.

 

James supports children and young people along the Costa del Sol through one to one support and Social Circus groups.

ABOUT KATIE SMITH
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Katie is one of the founders of Shine Child Development.  Katie is a fully qualified Speech and Language therapist who provides high quality and evidence-based speech and language therapy for children up to 18 years old.

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Katie graduated from University College London (UCL) in 2007, with an MSc in Speech and Language Sciences. She also holds a BA (Hons) from UCL in Linguistics (2002) and a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate (1999).

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Her experience is with a wide range of children in a variety of settings including clinics, homes and schools. She was previously part of a specialist resourced provision within mainstream schools in Southwark, London and has experience with training teachers and teaching assistants on Speech and Language needs.

 

Katie has continued her professional development by completing the following courses: Parent Child Interaction (PCI), Hanen It Takes Two, Lidcombe Stuttering, Makaton, AAC training, Cochlear Implant provision. She undertakes courses relevant to her current work each year.

 

Katie can deliver educational lectures, workshops and seminars to illustrate the importance of understanding children´s communication needs, learning and development within schools, universities and community centres. These enable educators to feel confident in referring and supporting children in their speech and language needs.

 

She is a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) in the UK and registered on the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) in the UK. Registration number: SL24460.