When a School Changes Its Lens, Students Shine

At O’Connor Education Support Centre in regional Western Australia, something has shifted in the way staff understand the children they work with. It didn’t start with a policy change or a curriculum review. It started with a question: what if the barrier isn’t behaviour - what if it’s vision?

O’Connor ESC supports students with complex communication, sensory, developmental, and learning needs. For Special Education Needs Teacher and Child Development Lead Wendy Dingwall, finding evidence-based tools to identify hidden barriers to learning is central to her work. Discovering the Austin McDowell Foundation - and the Austin Assessment - opened a new door.

A new lens on learning

The Austin Assessment is now used regularly across O’Connor ESC, guiding conversations with families and multidisciplinary teams. For Wendy and her colleagues, it has reframed how they interpret student behaviour and engagement.

“The screening tools, professional learning opportunities and resources have empowered our staff to look beyond behaviour and learning difficulties and consider how vision may be influencing a child’s access to education.” — Wendy Dingwall

This shift in perspective has led to meaningful, practical change. Across O’Connor’s classrooms, staff have introduced a range of CVI-informed adaptations:

• Reducing visual clutter and simplifying wall displays

• Creating clear visual pathways

• Using high-contrast materials and symbols

• Carefully considering colour and complexity

• Building in additional processing time for students

  
  

The results have been tangible. Engagement has improved. Overwhelm has reduced. Students who were once difficult to reach are accessing learning in new ways.

Barriers identified, students supported

“The assessments have helped us identify barriers to learning that may otherwise have gone unrecognised,” Wendy explains, “and have contributed significantly to our efforts to create more accessible, inclusive, and effective learning environments for students with complex needs.”

For the staff at O’Connor ESC, this isn’t abstract theory - it’s practical, classroom-level change that is making a real difference to individual students and their families.

Proud to share their story

O’Connor ESC is telling this story by choice. When approached about sharing their experience as an empowerment story, the response was unequivocal.

“We would actually be very happy for our school to be identified. We see this as a wonderful opportunity to showcase the work being undertaken at O’Connor Education Support Centre and to highlight the positive impact that CVI-informed practice and the Austin Assessment tools have had on our students, staff and wider school community.” — Wendy Dingwall

That willingness to stand behind CVI-informed practice - publicly, with pride — reflects how far this work has come.

A ripple effect reaching further than expected

O’Connor ESC is one school, in one region, thousands of kilometres from where the Austin McDowell Foundation began. But their story is a reminder of something important: when educators are given the right tools and knowledge, they use them. And when they use them, children’s lives change.

“The impact of your work is reaching students and educators far beyond what you may realise, and we are grateful to be part of that journey.” — Wendy Dingwall