Connect Play Learn - Registration Opening Soon!

Over two days (Friday 24 July & Friday 31 July), participants will learn:

• A clear understanding of the PAIR (Phased Approach to Including a Relational Focus) Model.
• Practical strategies to balance developmental goals with relational principles. Tools to engage parents and tailor conversations to their therapy goals.
• Confidence using video review for reflection and feedback.
• Techniques to foster meaningful parent-child interactions and build strong family partnerships.
• Adaptable strategies for applying relational approaches across diverse therapy contexts

Sessions will run from 9:00am to 4:00pm on both days. Catering will be provided. 

Registration will close on the 10th July 2026. 

About the model

Connect Play Learn, underpinned by the PAIR Model (Phased Approach to Including a Relational Focus), provides a clear, practical structure to strengthen implementation of relational practice without replacing discipline-specific approaches. The PAIR Model and accompanying tools also support implementation of the National Framework for Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention across multidisciplinary teams.

Multidisciplinary early childhood intervention (ECI) teams deliver high-quality intervention, yet many services report ongoing challenges with:

• Consistently engaging parents within sessions
• Balancing child-focused strategies with caregiver support
• Translating best-practice relational principles into everyday workflows across disciplines

Many practitioners within early childhood services are trained in relational intervention approaches, including Hanen programs, DIR®/Floortime™, and the Denver Model. These interventions provide strong, evidence-based strategies for supporting parent–child interaction and communication. Connect Play Learn does not replace or duplicate these approaches. Instead, it adds value by providing a multidisciplinary implementation framework that supports consistent relational practice across roles and disciplines.

The PAIR Model is an implementation tool that focuses on how and when to use interaction-based strategies within everyday ECI sessions, including contracting, collaborative goal setting, and integrating discipline-specific strategies over time. This enables ECI practitioners to apply knowledge from existing intervention approaches more intentionally, while supporting shared language, expectations, and parent engagement.

About the Presenter - Dr Jacqui Barfoot

With over 20 years of experience in early childhood intervention, Dr. Jacqui Barfoot (OT & Post Doctoral Research Fellow at UQ) developed the PAIR Model to help therapists embed relational practices into therapy, supporting stronger parent-child connections and aligning with best practice guidelines.