Sheridan Howell is a qualified Early Childhood Teacher and Teacher of the Deaf, who has worked in the field of early years education for over 25 years. Her area of interest is best practice in the early years for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, including family centred early intervention, communication opportunities and collaborative partnerships with families and professionals. Sheridan’s passion for working with children who have a sensory disability came from lived experience as a parent of child who is deaf.

Sheridan is currently in the role of part time Professional Experience Coordinator with the NextSense Institute and Teacher of the Deaf at Yeerongpilly Early Childhood Development Program in Brisbane, Queensland.

Sheridan holds a Master of Special Education (Hearing Impairment) from Griffith University, a Graduate Diploma in Education (Early Childhood) from the Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland.

Andrew Kendrick has worked extensively in the field of Auditory-Verbal Therapy over the past 27 years. Andrew’s work as therapist, consultant, lecturer, and publisher has given him the opportunity to live and work in Australia, Singapore and China. During this time Andrew has gained significant experience in working with children, parents, teachers, therapists, audiologists and other related professionals across cultures. In Singapore he was director of a Cochlear Implant Program providing pre and post cochlear implant support. As Program Development Manager for The Shepherd Centre, a large non-government auditory-verbal intervention centre in Australia, during this time the organisation established an internal training and mentoring program and external professional development courses as well as delivering improved accountability across the organisation for children’s outcomes. Across Asia Pacific he has supported the development and delivery of training programs for professionals, as well as establishing the Beijing Training and Education Centre, introducing AVT and improved paediatric audiology to China. In his role as Global Rehabilitation Manager for Cochlear Ltd, Andrew developed and drove the rehabilitation strategy for the company to ensure candidates, recipients and professionals are well supported across the globe.

Trudy has been a Teacher of the Deaf since 1998. She spent several years working in inclusive classroom settings before becoming the Advisory Visiting Teacher: Hearing Impairment for the Mount Isa and Longreach Districts in Queensland. She worked as an Auditory Verbal Therapist, supporting children and families in rural and remote settings and became a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Cert. AVT in 2007. Trudy then took on the role of State-wide Education Advisor: Hearing Impairment for the Department of Education in Queensland which she held for three years. She was then and has now returned to the role of Manager of Continuing Professional Education at NextSense Institute (formerly Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) Renwick Centre) for 6 years after working as a global Rehabilitation Manager at MED-EL, based in Austria for 2 years in 2016-2017.