When Mykayla Demarco (GradCert SpecEd ’19) began her teaching journey, she never imagined just how much she’d love working with children with additional needs and complex communication needs. Her creative efforts to ensure every child is included in educational learning experiences at the regional kindergarten where she works has benefitted the children in her care and inspired fellow staff members.
In 2024, Mykayla won the Public Education Award Inclusive Practices in Education Following this, earlier this year she won the SA Premiers Excellence Awards – Leadership in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – Individual for her work with children with special educational needs at a regional kindergarten.
Mykayla says winning the two awards came as a surprise, “Just being nominated meant so much. Especially knowing that my director and the department put me forward.”
“After graduating as a teacher, I worked for a year in a mainstream kindy where I saw children had varying educational needs and complex communication needs in a single classroom. That’s when I realised that, until you’re out in the field, you don’t always see what you missed in your initial training. I also realised I wanted to learn more about working with children with special educational needs, and particularly autism,” she explains.
Living in Port Pirie with a young family and working part-time, the flexibility of being able to complete most of her study externally was why Mykayla chose Flinders.
“I felt really supported throughout my studies, and I developed a deeper understanding of autism and learned about children’s rights under the Disability Discrimination Act. That’s helped me not just in teaching, but in advocating for my students too,” she says.
Finding her passion
Now an educator at Solomontown (Solly) Kindergarten in Port Pirie, Mykayla provides tailored support for children with additional needs, most of whom have autism. There is dedicated space for one-to-one and group work, and the children also spend a large part of their day integrated into the mainstream space.
Many of the children she works with have complex communication needs, and Mykayla and the team use a range of tools to support them.
“Sometimes I have to be a bit of a detective,” Mykayla says. “When a child can’t communicate verbally, it can be frustrating for them. In a single group, I might have one child using eye gaze technology, another using keyword sign, another relying on visuals, and another who uses verbal language. It’s a juggling act – making sure that you’re successfully meeting the needs of everyone in the group, but it’s also what I love most. I was fortunate to attend a Key Word Sign Australia course a couple of years ago and brought my learnings back to share with our team. Our team use key word sign every day now.”
Incorporating Aboriginal language in teaching
There is also a high percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at Solly. Mykayla won her awards for her innovative approach of integrating Aboriginal language, song and key signing to educate and communicate with her students.
“We had a little girl who started her kindy journey completely non-verbal. She would participate in group time using gestures and visuals. One day, during our Niina Wanypatha song, she just stood up and sang it, and signed it, to the whole group.”
That was a turning point. “She started chatting, pointing at words in books. We went from not knowing how much she was taking in to realising she was hyperlexic – reading well beyond what’s expected for her age. Within a year, she’d completely come out of her shell. Her confidence soared, and her family were blown away!”
For others considering a similar path, Mykayla is full of encouragement.
“If you’ve got a big heart, do it. Inclusive education is the best, and we need more people who can advocate for our most vulnerable children”
And what about life in a regional town? “Country people are super cool. You build a whole new family in your community. I’d definitely say: go regional.”