Mark Burfield - President
Mark is the father of four young children. The first was born profoundly deaf in 1999, received a cochlear implant in 2001, and she is currently in a public school Hearing Support class. Mark ’s concern is the maintenance and improvement of services for the hearing impaired in the education system and beyond. He is President of the P&C Association at his daughter’s school, Chairman of the scout group that she attends, and works as a Director and Treasurer of entities in Australia of the “Universal Peace Federation.”
Leonie Jackson - Vice President
Leonie is the mother of a very active two year old toddler. Her son is Deaf and attends a bilingual Auslan/English preschool program at Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children as well as the local family day care. Leonie is a Deaf bilingual adult who works for RIDBC as the Assistant Principal of RIDBC Thomas Pattison School. She is a strong advocate for the best educational fit for every deaf/hearing impaired child using all possible avenues and tools available.
Amanda Li – Treasurer
Amanda is the mother of three children. Her seven year old daughter is Deaf and attends a bilingual Auslan/English school in Sydney’s north west. “I’ve had very little experience with deafness prior to my daughter’s diagnosis, it hasn’t been easy and it has certainly opened my eyes to the state of our education system. I believe that parents are the best advocates for our children and by becoming involved in PCDE, I’d like provide support and information to other parents, and help them achieve their goals for their children.’ Amanda practices as a dentist part time, she has recently completed Certificate IV in Auslan and will go on to further study to become an Auslan Interpreter.
Vicki Cox – Secretary
Vicki is the mother of two girls who were both born profoundly deaf. Both have received cochlear implants and attend a Hearing Support Unit. “Prior to children, I had a career in marketing but the difficulties my two children encountered, inspired me to return to university to complete a Master of Speech and Language Pathology.” Vicki now works as a Speech Pathologist with children who have a range of special needs.
Aileen Ryan - Ordinary Committee Member
Aileen and her family live in Raby, Sydney. She has three sons, one daughter and two grandsons. Her daughter has Down syndrome and was diagnoised with a hearing loss at age four. She is in a hearing unit in high school and is dependant on the use of Auslan together with spoken language to be clearly understood. Aileen works with parents and professionals involved with children/adults with speech and/or developmental delay teaching and presenting talks on " key word signing". She has written three sign language resource books and been involved with Makaton Australia for many years. Aileen feels very strongly about sign language support for children during their years at school.
Katrina Marshall - Ordinary Committee Member
Katrina, married to Andrew, is the mother of one happy teenage boy who has mild to severe hearing impairment, an intellectual impairment, plus a number of little issues. He attends a hearing support unit at a public high school. Katrina has found that the best results have come from being actively involved as a family in their child's education. Any educational challenges are best met with an attitude of how can we fix this together. As a member of PCDE, Katrina has found the support of other parents a great help and hopes that by being a member of the Committee, she can support others in the same way. Katrina is currently undertaking a Graduate Diploma in Education to teach science in secondary schools. Katrina and her family live in Kurrajong, in the lower Blue Mountains.
Anna Messariti - Ordinary Committee Member
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