Ronnie Young

“This is easily the best course I have ever attended- there should be a Ronnie Young in every school in the country” – teacher, Leeds.

Ronnie’s passion is in the fulfillment of potential, the removal of barriers and the recognition that everyone is an individual with strengths and weaknesses – but who may just need a different way of doing things (and an attitude change by the rest of the world).

She has been a teacher all her working life. Following seven years teaching English in schools, she spent some time working with excluded students, school phobics and young offenders before going into adult education and then further education. During her fifteen years in further education she specialised in working with students who had failed in schools and it was here that her interest in neuro-diversity and communication barriers was nurtured.

She is now a freelance trainer and consultant with specialisms in several areas. Her son’s diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome in 1997 led her to extensive research on the subject and she has trained extensively on working with autistic spectrum disorders in both educational and public sector settings. Her first book, ' The Asperger Pocketbook' (Teachers’ Pocketbooks) was published in 2009. Other areas of neuro-diversity expertise include ADHD/ADD and dyspraxia – the latter from first hand experience as she is herself dyspraxic.

Other areas of expertise include anger and behaviour management, inter-personal communication skills and management of neuro-diversity, including disability law, working with learning support workers and personalising learning so students can achieve their full potential.

Ronnie has post-graduate degrees in education and inter-personal communication skills. She works largely in schools, colleges and universities, although she also trains in the NHS, the library service, social services and the careers service. She is a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Education, London University and is a practising OFSTED inspector in both schools and the learning and skills sector.

Her training style is interactive and her courses emphasise learning rather than teaching. Above all, her work is full of practical strategies which actually make a difference.

As well as working with us, Ronnie runs her own training and development consultancy “Neomorphosis”, which specialises in the communication skills, management training and working with neuro-diversity.