Lou Harvey-Zahra was born in South West London and raised in a small village called Stubbington on the south coast of England. Lou obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Liverpool University, a Postgraduate Degree in Education from West Sussex Institute of Higher Education, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Special Educational Needs from Kingston University. Eight years ago Lou completed her Rudolf Steiner teacher training course.
Lou’s passion has always been children; varied work experiences – before teaching – include four years as a Special Needs Camp Councillor in Dallas, Texas and a holiday program facilitator in the UK. These experiences helped to formulate her understanding of children’s behaviours. Lou went on to begin her teaching career in a multi-cultural school in London. Five years later, she moved to Australia.
For the past twelve years Lou has taught in Primary, Special Needs and Rudolf Steiner settings. It was whilst teaching at Western Autistic School, Melbourne, where she first discovered the ‘Least Restrictive First’ strategy to deal with challenging behaviours. During this time Lou began running workshops, culminating in presenting at the World Autism Conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
After having children, Lou pioneered a Saturday Social Skills Club for children with Autism/Asperger’s and their families, which obtained Government funding. Lou and her husband co-founded a Steiner Kindergarten, which has become a successful stream in a Government school.
At present Lou teaches in a variety of schools and runs a Movement and Learning program part time. Lou has been a Playgroup Leader for the past eleven years (and she continues to co-ordinate playgroups in the Melbourne area). Lou runs regular Creative Discipline and Conscious Parenting parenting workshops in Melbourne (Contact Lou for workshop information and dates) and she writes for local parenting magazines and her parenting website skiptomylouparening.com. Her book, Turning Tears into Laughter: Creative Discipline for the Toddler and Preschool Years is published by Five Mile Press. For more information click Books
Lou, children and puppies!
Lou’s passion is raising the next generation, and living on the earth in a more sustainable way. She enjoys camping with her family, walking in nature with her dogs, cooking with her son, teaching amazing children (she meets them every day!), reading and dancing. Lou lives with her husband, two children and twin puppies in Warrandyte, Melbourne. Rusty and Rosie (the puppies) have also been raised with Creative Discipline for their chewing, toileting habits, and general annoying puppy antics!
