Deirdre Forde

Deirdre Forde is a chartered child and educational psychologist, and assistant professor at MU in Teacher Education, Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education. Deirdre specialises in the area of Inclusive and Special Education. Deirdre is the programme leader of the Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education. She qualified as a primary school teacher and has a broad range of teaching experiences, in both mainstream and special schools. She also worked with the Travellers Youth Service, supporting young people at risk. Deirdre was an Associate Advisor with the Special Education Support Service and was involved in the delivery of continuous professional development for qualified teachers working in the area of Special Education. Deirdre has extensive experience working across a variety of psychological services, as part of a multi-disciplinary team, in both educational and clinical practice. She has worked across youth services supporting the educational, psychological and well being needs of teenagers. She has also worked in family-centered multidisciplinary team clinical environments to support the psychological and educational needs of children and young people. Deirdre is a member of the ALL (Assisting Living and Learning) Institute in Maynooth University, ICON (Interdisciplinary Children's Outcomes Network) and MUSSI (Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute). Deirdre's research and teaching interests include: issues of inclusion and exclusion in education and society, strengths based approaches to support neuro diverse environments, children's voice, relational care, parental Involvement, policy and practice in the area of Inclusive and Special education and inclusive practice in Initial Teacher Education.