PhD Researcher
Ginny joined CRAE 2020. She is the Headteacher of The Windmill School, a new specialist school providing the autism specific environment to reduce anxiety and engage individual students’ learning needs.
Ginny completed a BSc in Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, then a PGCE Primary teaching qualification at the Institute of Education prior to her MSC in SEN with Psychological Perspectives also at the UCL Institute of Education, whereby her first encounter with CRAE was through her final MSc dissertation.
Ginny has 20 years’ experience as a teacher and senior leadership positions in autism inclusive schools. Ginny’s research interests sit within the Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Support (SCERTS) Framework, but particularly the aspects of the framework that examine autistic communication.
Ginny is interested in the interactions that pupils have during their school day with staff to better understand which aspects of those interactions are experienced as regulatory by autistic pupils.
Ginny aims to include contributions of staff and pupils to help explain practice, through the meaningful encounters they have during the school day.
Ginny has a professional connection with the National Autistic Society (NAS) working for a short time with the NAS Standards Working Group. Ginny is a member of a multidisciplinary reference group for autism currently collaborating with the expert team to steer the vision and philosophy for autism locally in autism inclusive and autism schools.
Ginny hopes that her research will provide a broader understanding of the elements of the SCERTS Framework around social interactions and the links SCERTS makes with emotional regulation of autistic individuals. She hopes this work will help to understand the role of emotional regulation plays in the broader context of providing effective person centred educational support for autistic individuals.