[Webinar] Special Education Needs (SEN) in Chinese International Education

Dr. Shari Rosen has lived in Shanghai, China since 2003 and has consulted extensively with international schools and families that have children with special learning needs. She is the co-founder and senior consultant at The Essential Learning Group, Shanghai, China. ELG is a social enterprise that provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary developmental assessment and intervention services, and mental health care. ELG also offers a full-day special education school program for children whose needs cannot be met in mainstream schools.

Dr. Rosen has a PhD in speech language pathology and is a Master’s Degree candidate in forensic psychology. She has received several prestigious awards, including the inaugural SENIA Advocacy Award in 2014 and the International Professional Women’s Society’s Social Contributor of the Year Award in 2017. She was selected as one of China’s 2021 Superwomen. Dr. Rosen has a unique understanding of learning disabilities, based on her personal experience as an autistic individual with ADHD who is also the parent of two neurodivergent children. She is passionate about promoting strength-based, neurodiversity affirming practices and teaching.

Dr. Sally Hewat is a certified practising speech-language pathologist, Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle, Australia, Vice President of Technical Services at OST Therapy, China and academic director of the Allied Health School Services program, in Asia. Sally is passionate about supporting the development of health and wellbeing and has a strong belief in the transformative power of human connection that is enabled through one’s ability to communicate. Her 30-year career has spanned various clinical and educational settings in Australia, Canada, North America, and Asia, where she worked in public health, private healthcare, and various governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Fengyi Kuo, DHS, OTR, CPRP, is an occupational therapist actively engaged in program development and teaching at various universities and hospitals across the US and China. Her prior affiliations include Indiana University School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Riley Child Development Center (RCDC) at Riley Hospital for Children, University of Indianapolis, Gannon University in Pennsylvania, MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and Taipei City Psychiatric Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan.

With experience in trauma-informed care, mental health recovery, and community-based program development, she holds certifications as a psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner (CPRP), SibShops trainer, and mindfulness facilitator (TMF from UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior).

Her recent endeavours involve collaborative work with public-private organizations in Southeast Asia, focusing on pediatric and adolescent mental health using a community-based train-the-trainer model. Notably, she was honoured as the recipient of the 2013 American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) Community Service and Volunteerism Award, acknowledging her advocacy in facilitating healthcare access for immigrants and refugees resettled in the United States.