How TACPAC started

Laura joined TACPAC in the Summer of 2019 and bring with her a wealth of administration experience from various sectors.

Laura provides administrative support to the team and its customers and manages the operations of the day to day running of TACPAC.

Laura is inspired by the clients and service users who have benefited by using the resource and is driven by the potential TACPAC has to grow and flourish in communities and schools internationally.

Vanessa is our TACPAC trainer and brings extensive experience as both a practitioner and trainer.

Vanessa has the privilege of carrying TACPAC out with Receivers on a regular basis and sees first-hand the powerful impact that TACPAC can have when delivered with fidelity to its core principles.

Throughout her career, Vanessa has been driven by a passion for communication and language development. She has developed extensive expertise in understanding how communication develops, how it can be affected by a range of needs, and what practitioners can do to create opportunities for meaningful and authentic interaction. Her work has focused on enabling profound communication between individuals and their communication partners, whether children, young people or adults.

With more than 35 years’ experience in Special Educational Needs, Vanessa has held a range of teaching, leadership, advisory and training roles. Her longstanding experience in training professionals, combined with her specialist knowledge of sensory communication and language development , enables her to bridge theory and practice, helping TACPAC practitioners develop the skills and confidence to deliver high-quality, person-centred support.

She maintains a keen interest in developments across the SEND sector, ensuring that her practise remains informed by emerging reforms, current thinking and evidence-based approaches. Vanessa’s role is also in the ongoing development of TACPAC, helping to ensure it continues to evolve while remaining true to its core principles.

Vanessa looks forward to meeting delegates on future training programmes and working alongside them as they develop their understanding of TACPAC. She particularly values the opportunity to share practise, exchange experiences and explore the many ways in which TACPAC can enrich sensory communication and interaction for those we support.

Yvonne is a Speech and Language Therapist who has 22 years of experience working within the NHS.  She specialises in working with preschool children aged 0-3 with complex needs. She works closely with families, Nurseries and other professionals to support the children’s communication development and also their eating and drinking skills.

As part of this role, Yvonne often uses TACPAC with the children on her caseload as she has clearly seen the benefit of TACPAC in developing early communication skills within this client group.

Yvonne has also had many years of experience in delivering training around a range of different topics related to communication and dysphagia and is passionate about delivering training so that the people supporting those with communication needs are best equipped to help them each and every day.

Yvonne is excited to be joining the team at TACPAC as her role combines her love of training with her interest in communication development.

Yvonne will be joining Hilary and Vanessa in delivering TACPAC training and will be assisting in further development work.  Yvonne is looking forward to enabling more people to learn about TACPAC and how it can support those with communication/sensory difficulties.

Smitha joined our team full-time  in 2024 to head up our office in Perth, Western Australia.

For profile information and more on our Australian services please visit tacpacsensory.au