The Autism Hub – Bronte Arns

Elective session

Supporting Every Mind: Executive functioning, sensory preferences and inclusive music teaching

When teaching a music lesson, do you ever notice that some students find it hard to maintain attention, take turns, organise information, or even just start and finish tasks? Music-making is a wonderful multisensory activity, but it can also present challenges for neurodivergent students when it comes to executive functioning and sensory processing.

In this workshop, Bronte will invite participants to consider ways to manage the cognitive and sensory load of engaging in classroom music lessons. Alongside this she will share some strength-based strategies and fun activities to support success for students across a diverse range of learning styles.

Presenter

Learn More

Bronte Arns

Bronte Arns

Music in Me Summit presenter

Bronte Arns is a Registered Music Therapist and National Director of Music Therapy for Giant Steps Australia, schools for autistic students. She brings over 20 years in practice, aligning the relational work of music therapy with the creative arts curriculum in a special education environment. Her area of research has focused on transdisciplinary practice in action within schools, and how this contributes to positive outcomes for neurodiverse students. ​

For many years, Bronte created the Special Needs supplements for the Musica Viva in Schools performing group resources, and she has presented and published widely on ways to make music-making an accessible resource for functional learning and wellbeing. ​

Bronte currently provides mentoring and supervision for professionals working through challenges in engagement with neurodiverse learners. Her passion lies in making practical, motivating tools available for teachers and therapists, and in adjusting these to meet a range of needs within a group.

Hear from the presenter

About The Autism Hub

The Autism Hub provides a central place to access information, professional learning courses and resources developed by Giant Steps Australia.

Giant Steps supports autistic individuals with complex needs and their families through a range of services.

At Giant Steps we spread a culture of caring and professional excellence through our school, adult services and the broader community.  Our transdisciplinary approach integrates both teaching and therapy (music, occupational and speech) throughout all programs which are designed to be motivating, engaging and individualised.

Teachers and therapists work together to create ‘socially and emotionally rich’ learning environments aimed at increasing levels of engagement in learning across all age groups.