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Mere Kirihimete Visitor,
Summer is here!
This Hakihea, December newsletter shares information on PD events held, funding grants, our 2020 AGM, the new Strategic Plan and membership rates from 2021.
Message from the Chair
Kia ora
Merry Christmas and wishing you a safe and happy new year with some time to rest and spend with family and friends before 2021 kicks off again. The Board, our Treasurer and Secretary will be taking time off as well over this time in order to be ready and refreshed to action plans in the new year.
This year has resulted in some cancelled and postponed PD events but also some amazing webinars and alternative ways of presenting PD. I am excited to see people's adaptability and the new ways in which ATANZ can provide information and training to our members and people across New Zealand. We have exciting PD opportunities for adults and paediatrics planned for 2021 and look forward to sharing them with you next year. 
We have grown the trial equipment pools significantly over this year in order to keep up with demand for CAT requests. If there is equipment you'd like ATANZ to purchase next year please email us with ideas.
We have had no grant applications this year, so please do think about applying for these next year. The new one-off te reo Māori research grant will also be available for applications in the new year.
Once again, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and thank our members for your support this year.
Ngā mihi mahana,
Jessamy Bell
ATANZ Chairperson
Annual General Meeting and Strategic Plan 2020-2025
The ATANZ board met Saturday August 1st 2020 to review the 2016 strategic plan and identify what we want to achieve and how best to serve our members, the AT and the AAC user community in the coming years. A survey was sent out to members prior to this date in order to support this review process.
The 2020-2025 strategic plan will become available on the ATANZ website. In the meantime we recommend you view the 2020 AGM recording available. LINK HERE
Many of our members did not respond to the survey nor attend the 2020 AGM. Both are great opportunities to have your voices and needs heard and to help guide the future of what ATANZ provides for you.
We would love to hear from our members and users via email admin@atanz.org.nz or Facebook.
Membership Fees
You will be aware of the membership fee increase from attending the 2020 AGM or from linking into the recording above.
January 2021 Membership fees $100
January 2022 Membership fees $110
Also discussed at the AGM is a Koha to the Board of trustees as a way of recognising their contribution to ATANZ with suggested $350 per annum Chairperson gift and $200 per annum Board Member gift. This is being discussed with the Board Accountant to ensure the Trust Deed and IRD regulations are followed.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Funding Grants for Research and Professional Development
No applications for grants were received by the closing date of November 1st 2020.
This year has been a challenging one and has seen many PD events cancelled or refreshed through online and socially distanced means.
ATANZ are looking to support your continuing education through accepting grant applications with a proposed closing date of March 2021.
This is an opportunity to take full advantage of your ATANZ membership by applying for research or professional development funding grants. Head to our website for more.
GRANT APPLICATION HERE
If you would like to provide feedback regarding the proposed deadline please email admin@atanz.org.nz or get in contact through our Facebook page (link at bottom of page)
Te Reo, hanga hapori
community building
Are you or someone you know working on Te Reo resources for people using Assistive Technology or Augmented Alternative Communication? Do you want to set up a sharing group, resource group or SIG but do not know where to start?
ATANZ would love to support people across New Zealand to group together and pool their resources, creating a shared kete.
Get in touch through our email or Facebook, we are keen to support bicultural practice in NZ.
NZ Vocabulary Files
If you are a CAT1 assessor and applying for iPads/iPad mini's with the following apps:
- TouchChat (WordPower 42 Basic, WordPower 48, WordPower 60 and WordPower 60 basic, WordPower 108)
- LAMP
- Grid 3 Supercore
- Grid 3 Vocabulary for Life
- Grid 3 WordPower 60/100
- Speak for Yourself
You are able to request for one of the New Zealand vocabulary files to be loaded on when TalkLink setup the iPad for issue. Please make a note of this on your set-up request form. These are not available for trial.
Professional Development 2020 in review
We were proud to be able to bring to you quality PD events during 2020. We are working on developing an online PD bank so you can view on request PD events held during the year.
Looking back on 2020:
PODD
"ATANZ recently hosted world-first PODD workshops, with Gayle Porter, the creator of PODD, presenting from lockdown in Melbourne to rooms full of people in both Auckland and Christchurch. Gayle streamed in over 6 days, presenting the Introduction to PODD workshop as well as Alternative Access to PODD, and was well received by those who attended."
Helen Bayldon
Supporting Communicators with Intellectual Disabilities
Dr Jo Watson shared her wealth of knowledge with us, ensuring that informal and unintentional communicators are heard in Aotearoa New Zealand. Engagement during the live chat and on Facebook prior to event was exceptional, enabling space for growth through this experience. Of particular interest during Dr Watson's presentation was the 2016 model of the role of supporters and how documenting our collective understanding of a person's will and preference (and acting on it) can be considered a form of AAC. Collectively documenting with the multi me tool was mentioned https://www.multime.com/
AAC in Adults with Neurogenic Conditions
Over two live online webinars, Dr Sarah Wallace introduced us to the inclusion of AAC strategies in comprehension intervention programs for people with aphasia and people with traumatic brain injury with a deep dive into aphasia friendly technologies for reading, compensatory strategies and modified health materials. Sarah discussed frameworks we can use to guide assessment such as the A-FROM which shares features with the Te Whare Tapa Wha Maori health model. Read more about the A-FROM here "A-FROM in Action"
Towards culturally located te reo Māori AAC
In September Brynlea Collin Stone presented a webinar on her research Ko tōku reo tōku ohooho: Towards culturally located te reo Māori AAC. Over 90 people joined this webinar including AAC users, whānau, kaiako, speech-language therapists and occupational therapists from all over Aotearoa New Zealand. Brynlea's research and findings were inspiring and thought-provoking and there was great kōrero about the challenges and possibilities for providing appropriate services for te reo Māori AAC users and their whānau in a just and equitable manner.
Equipment and Resources
Equipment Amnesty
PLEASE RETURN EQUIPMENT NOT IN USE
TalkLink manage the ATANZ trial equipment loan pool. Both Talklink and ATANZ have had requests for a loan library which can be easily accessed by members. ATANZ are holding an equipment amnesty which will help with building a readily available pool of equipment to be sent out on request.
To help support this loan library please return any AT or AAC equipment you or your clients are no longer using to TalkLink. The more we share the more we gain. Click here to view a list of equipment funded by ATANZ and link to equipment trial request form.
   
A snapshot of some of the new equipment funded by ATANZ in 2020
Support with tablet applications and setting up equipment:
- Complete SETT framework for client.
- Once you have identified options for trial, request equipment for trial from ATANZ using the support form and complete your trials.
- After equipment trials, write an assessment report if you are wanting to apply for funding from MOH. If you are not applying for funding, we recommend that you keep a copy of your assessment notes, in case you are audited by MOH. You need to complete nine assessments over a 3-year period to keep your CAT accreditation. These do not need to result in a funding application.
- Generate a quote: DTSL (supplier) by emailing atinfo@dtsl.co.nz
- Send reports for tablet applications to TalkLink for review, send to: cat1@talklink.org.nz PLUS your quote so this is on file for TalkLink when the equipment gets setup
- Save final report as PDF
- Once report is completed, peer reviewed and quotes obtained, log into Enable EMS portal to complete funding through MOH
- Equipment should be sent to TalkLink from the supplier for setup and asset labelling and will then be sent to the CAT assessor to deliver to the client.
Repairs or like-for-like replacement process:
Submit in the necessary Accessable or Enable repair paperwork. Then, fill in this form, send a copy of the quote and replacement form to cat1@talklink.org.nz so that when the equipment arrives at TalkLink it can be setup correctly. The equipment will then be sent to the CAT assessor to be delivered to the client.
Journal Access
Question from our members survey:
"Does ATANZ offer access to any medical journals/databases e.g. Journal of Augmentative and Alternative Communication? If not, it would be nice to have access to research articles"
ATANZ answer:
Great question and something for the board to discuss. There are currently available national resources through the IHC library and MOE library.
Go to the IHC library and request the journal article you are wanting to view and they will send it to you for free. They also have funding to send out a free book to families.
If you are employed by MOE or MOH you can join the MOE library for free and gain access to journal articles and research through their resource.
Supervision
If you meet the criteria below, please consider submitting an application to be added to the ATANZ supervision database:
1. Have CAT level 1 or 2 registration,
2. Have at least 3 years experience in this field, and;
3. Have completed a minimum of five applications over 3 years
https://www.atanz.org.nz/supervision
Keep in Contact
ATANZ keeps you up to date across multiple platforms and we want to hear from you - whether you have success stories to share, questions, comments, feedback, feed forward or new ideas - let us know.
Next Board Meeting: February 15th 2021
  
As always you can email us at admin@atanz.org.nz
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