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| OUR TEAM |
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The centre is staffed by an experienced transdisciplinary team including Special Educators, Speech and Language Pathologists, Audiologists, an Occupational Therapist and a Physiotherapist. An ENT specialist, Paediatrician, Psychologist and a Family Counsellor are used on a consultative basis.
The MREIC team work collaboratively with other agencies and professionals involved with the child and/or family. |
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| Staff: |
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Maree Rennie
Carol Baker
Debbie Evans
Carla Ferguson
Rebecca Kildea
Caren Matthews-Lane |
Terry Meskin
Mandy Meyer
Cass O'Connor
Geraldine Rutherford
Rikki Stein |
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Maree Rennie
M. Ed. |
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Maree is a Certified Infant teacher and a Certified Teacher of the Deaf.
Maree began her career in South Australia as an early childhood teacher, and quickly moved to teaching hearing impaired children. She then trained as a teacher of the deaf in Melbourne in 1965.
Since that time Maree has worked and studied in South Australia, Victoria, Massachusetts, Papua New Guinea, Canberra and Sydney in the field of special education specifically related to children who are deaf, visually impaired or hearing impaired children who have an additional special need. |
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Whilst working at Monnington Early Intervention Centre in Kew and then at The Royal Victorian Institute for Blind Children in Burwood, Maree’s work led her to receive a Rotary Foundation Scholarship. This took her to Boston where she gained a Masters degree in Education (Deaf, Deaf/Blind and Multiple Impairment) from Boston College.
Maree returned to Australia and began working with the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre in 1990. There her observation of the struggle some children were experiencing to maximise their potential following Cochlear Implantation made her realize that this group of children and their families could benefit from a specialized program. Maree was delighted to be invited to develop The Matilda Rose Early Intervention Centre, where she has worked since it opened in 2001. During her time at MREIC she and her team have developed a creative, holistic, trans-disciplinary approach to improve educational outcomes for children with hearing impairment and additional needs.
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Carol Baker
LCST (Speech Therapy)
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Carol qualified as a speech therapist in London in the late 1970s and has worked with children ever since, in Zimbabwe, England and Australia. She was in private practice in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs from 1984 to 2000. After that she worked with the Department of Aging, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) and The Shepherd Centre before joining MREIC in October 2008.
Carol finds working with preschool children with hearing impairment to be extremely rewarding. She finds it so amazing that children who even 20 years ago had no possibility of developing spoken language can now do so with the development of modern technology (hearing aids and Cochlear Implants) and specialized teaching approaches, in particular Auditory Verbal Therapy. She loves working directly with the children and their families, and loves including music in her therapy sessions.
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Debbie Evans
B App Sc (Physiotherapy), MAPA |
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Debbie graduated in 1979 from the South Australian Institute of Technology. Since that time Debbie has practiced as a paediatric physiotherapist gaining experience in neurology and head injury, Cerebral Palsy and infants and young children with multiple disabilities. She has gained experience working in hospitals, Early Intervention settings, school based teams, DADHC and now her own private practice.
In 2006 Debbie joined the MREIC transdisciplinary team and has worked with the children, their families and staff providing one on one therapy, working within group sessions and presenting at professional workshops. |
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Through Debbie’s expertise children are provided with indidvidualised functional programs to learn to balance, sit, roll, crawl, stand and walk.
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| Carla Ferguson |
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Carla is our Financial Controller and has been part of the Centre since its inception. Carla worked with Carnegie Wylie & Company in the early 2000s, and has a long history of working with the Carnegie family and their various investments and ventures. The Carnegie family are the primary donors of MREIC, and also allow us some of Carla’s valuable time.
Carla keeps all of our management accounts, invoicing, donations and other financial matters in order. She is a highly valued member of the team.
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Rebecca Kildea
Bach App Sc (OT) |
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Rebecca graduated from Sydney University in 2004 with a degree in Occupational Therapy. Since graduating she has worked as a paediatric occupational therapist and now specialises in Sensory Integration. She has a passion for Early Intervention and has experience working with children with disabilities including;
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome and Hearing Impairment.
Rebecca has training in a variety of areas including Sensory Integration and Regulation, the Developmental Individualized Relationship-based (DIR) model (Floortime™), Therapeutic Listening, Therapressure (’Brushing’), the Alert Program and M.O.R.E (Integrating the mouth with sensory and postural functioning.) |
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Rebecca began working at MREIC in 2007 and has enjoyed being a member of the transdisciplinary team that develops and implements individual and group programs. She has provided valuable presentations at workshops for professionals and parents. Rebecca has recently presented to parents and professionals in Bangkok.
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Caren Matthews-Lane
BSc. (Hons) Speech Pathology and Therapeutics |
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Caren trained as a Speech Pathologist at Glasgow University, Scotland. She left University saying that she never wanted to do Speech Therapy again but now has over 20 years experience in paediatrics! Her experience includes working with the Aboriginal Community in Redfern, community itinerant support work in schools and preschools plus over 10 years working with hearing impaired children with Cochlear Implants.
Caren joined the MREIC team in 2003 and her role includes case managing and working with the MREIC children.
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Caren is a member of the original, transdisciplinary team that developed the holistic approach known as the COMBINE methodology now used at MREIC. She has been highly involved in pioneering the intense group and individual programs tailored to meet the needs of these children and their families.
Caren is involded in developing and presenting at the workshops for both parents and professionals.
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Terry Meskin
BA (Sp & H) Therapy |
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Terry qualified as Speech and Language Pathologist and Audiologist from The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She began her career at a school for the deaf in Johannesburg, providing both speech and language therapy and audiological management for children. This included providing in service training for teachers and parents, fitting of hearing aids and FM systems.
When Terry came to Australia in 1990 she worked as Speech and Language Pathologist at Royal Far West Children’s Home for four years. |
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In 1995 Terry was the first Speech and Language Pathologist to work at The Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre. She was a dedicated Auditory Habilitationist who worked with many severe to profoundly deaf infants and children with their families both pre and post Cochlear Implantation.
Terry has worked at The Matilda Rose Early Intervention Centre since its inception and over the years has been proactive in creating and developing The COMBINE Methodology practiced as a model of Early Intervention for hearing impaired children with additional needs. Terry is passionate that all children with a hearing impairment despite their additional need can learn to listen (if there are no contraindications) using an adaptation of Auditory Verbal Therapy. This has led Terry to specialise in managing the needs of children with Dyspraxia and developing skills to facilitate the development of augmentative systems of communication for nonverbal children.
At MREIC Terry is not only valued for her exceptional work with children and families but also her ability to present at workshops for parents and professionals and presentations of papers at professional conferences both in Australia and overseas.
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Mandy Meyer
BA Dip Sp Ed. MA Ed |
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Mandy Meyer obtained her Masters of Education from Macqarie University. She began her career in Special Education working with young children in primary school settings. This gave her experience teaching many children with a wide range of learning difficulties and sensory issues including hearing loss and visual impairment.
Mandy joined The Matilda Rose Early Intervention Centre in 2006 and is a very valued member of the team. She is always committed to the children and families and willing to share and learn. Mandy has developed in depth knowledge of hearing impairment, child development (including attachment), social connection, communication and language that is invaluable when working with hearing impaired children with additional needs.
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Cass O'Connor
B. Bus, MAICD |
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Cass has been the Commercial Director of MREIC since 2005.
Cass is a finance executive with experience in analysis, corporate advisory, private equity and strategic planning within both the commercial and non-profit sectors. Her main areas of expertise are in the media, entertainment and communications industries, and in disability support issues.
She has worked as an equities research analyst at Deutsche Bank (1980s) and an investment banker at Turnbull & Partners (1990s), Goldman Sachs Australia (late 1990’s) and Carnegie Wylie & Company, now Lazard (early 2000s). She has run her own corporate advisory and investment entity since 1999. |
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Cass does extensive pro bono and not-for-profit sector work, including advocacy for, and provision of strategic advice to, various entities. She was appointed as a founding Director of the NSW Statutory Body, Lifetime Care and Support Authority, in 2006 and has recently had that appointment renewed by the NSW Minister of Finance.
Her other directorships include the ASX – listed Keybridge Capital Limited, McGrath Limited, Goalpost Pictures Limited and Matilda Rose Early Intervention Centre Limited. She is a past director of the Keating Government’s Australia Multimedia Enterprises, the Australian Copyright Agency Limited and the not-for-profit national, digital television network Aurora Community Television.
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| Geraldine Rutherford |
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Geraldine began working at Matilda Rose Early Intervention Centre in January 2009 and is our clinical support worker. She has had many years experience in managing busy school canteens and working as a volunteer in numerous organisations associated with her children and church.
Geraldine assists with therapy groups, maintains our resource centre and helps set up before (and clean up after) therapy sessions. Overall, she manages to keep the Centre a very calm and welcoming environment for the children, families and team members – which is no small task.
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| Rikki Stein |
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Rikki had always been interested in working with hearing impaired children. She has done extensive work experience at RIDBC and began studying Special Education at Macquarie University. After completing two years of study, she decided that she could be of most use to the field in an administrative role, and so completed her Diploma of Business Administration.
Rikki came to MREIC in 2008 after gaining valuable computing, technical and organisational skills in a variety of office environments. For Rikki, this was the perfect melding of her natural talents with her chosen field of paediatric special needs. As Centre Manager, Rikki keeps all the IT, session scheduling, website and general correspondence operating. |
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She loves watching how the children develop with the skill of our transdisciplinary team and having the opportunity to be a part of the organization.
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