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Courses

Upcoming courses displayed here:

ATANZ is excited to host 

Coaching for Communication Partners

a two-day workshop using the "Empowering Parents for AAC Approach"
for professionals who support children to use AAC

presented by

Sam Brydon

Locations and dates:

  • 8-9 August  2024 Christchurch
  • 15-16 August 2024 Wellington
  • 22-23 August 2024 Auckland

Times:

  • 9 am to 4 pm

About this workshop:

Coaching for Communication Partners is a 2-day professional development workshop that is grounded in the current AAC research.  It provides professionals who work in the field of AAC a framework for coaching communication partners (including parents, family, and educators) in how to use supportive AAC strategies.

The workshop combines information sharing, demonstration, videos, group discussions, and multiple opportunities to practice the coaching skills. Participants will leave with a framework for coaching communicatoin partners, as well as a set of instructional resources.

Day 1

Shares evidence based strategies that have been shown to help children develop their communication skills using AAC and how to break these down into achievable goals

Day 2

Introduces a coaching model that can be used with the communication partners of children who use AAC.

Why is the implementation of AAC often unsuccessful for children?

The strategies needed to support children to use AAC are complex and need to be used with skill and nuance. We know that communication partners, such as parents, family, and educators play a key role in helping to make AAC successful, but they are often not provided with adequate support.

One-off training is not enough! Communication partners benefit from a coaching approach to learn these complex skills and apply them successfully.

Background
Coaching for Communication Partners is presented by Sam Brydon. It was designed in collaboration with Associate Professor Sally Clendon, Associate Professor Tara McLaughlin, and Dr Elizabeth Doell (Massey University) and uses a coaching model that was developed in partnership with Practice Based Coaching Aotearoa

Presenter
Sam Brydon is a speech and language therapist with over 20 years of experience in both the UK and New Zealand, and a passion for AAC. She has recently completed doctoral research that looked at the effects of providing training and coaching support to parents when they were implementing a core board with their children.

 

Cost for the 2-day workshop

  • $400 -  ATANZ members
  • $480 - non-members (remember membership is $110)
  • $240 - Student attendees (i.e., SLT, OT, teaching students) (limited numbers)

Minimum numbers

Each workshop location will require a minimum number of partcipants to proceed.  We'll confirm 2 weeks before the date of each event and offer the option to attend at a different a location or full refund of your ticket if we do not have sufficient numbers. Please keep this in mind when booking any travel and accomodations.

Note We are also hosting Dr Sam Brydon's LAMP workshops in August. Those tickets are under a different event and are appropriate for both professionals and families.

Questions

Please contact us with any questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Invoices will be sent starting 1 April 2024 for this event as our accounts person is on leave until then

 

Event Date 08-08-2024 9:00 am
Event End Date 23-08-2024 4:00 am
Cut off date 07-07-2024 11:00 pm
Capacity 120
Registered 2
Available place 118
Individual Price See ticket types for different prices

ATANZ is excited to host 

LAMP Words for Life & the LAMP therapy approach

a two-day workshop suitable for
all professionals and whānau supporting autistic children who use AAC

Presented by

Sam Brydon

 

Locations and dates:

  • 29-30 August  2024 LAMP Christchurch
  • 5-6 September 2024 LAMP Wellington
  • 12-13 September 2024 LAMP Auckland

Times:

  • 9 am - 4 pm

About this webinar:

This 2-day workshop provides comprehensive instruction on the LAMP therapy approach, which was developed by John and Cindy Halloran, and Mia Emerson, and focuses on specific aspects of communication development with AAC that autistic children need support with.

This therapy approach is particularly suited for use with LAMP Words for Life; however participants will find much of it useful for all autistic children and other children with developmental disabilities when implementing AAC.

This includes information about helping the child to regulate and be ‘ready to learn’, finding shared passions and ‘joint engagement’, the use of modelling and prompting, and helping the child to find joy in communication.

LAMP Words for Life is a communication app that has been specifically designed with autistic children in mind, and is the partner app for the LAMP therapeutic approach, with a focus on learning words through unique and efficient motor plans. This app will be demonstrated and demystified throughout the 2 days, with plenty of opportunities for participants to practice and hone their skills at setting up, modelling, and using in a range of activities.

Day 1: Participants will learn about the theory underpinning the LAMP approach, the importance of multi-sensory convergence, and the 5 elements of the LAMP therapeutic approach, with plenty of opportunities for dicussion and practice.

Day 2: Participants will have the opportunity to explore the app, make changes and edit on the fly, access and use vocabulary builder in a meaningul practice situation. The workshop will then move to problem solving around some of the challenging situations that can present when implementing LAMP with children who have high support needs. This will be followed by a session on coaching communication partners to feel confident when supporting children who are using LAMP WFL. The day will finish with ideas and practice around implementing LAMP WFL in classroom situations.

At the end of the 2 days, participants should feel that they have a good understanding of the LAMP therapeutic approach, the importance of multi-sensory convergence, lots of ideas about how to engage autistic children in activities that promote communication, skills to use and edit LAMP WFL as they implement it with children, and ideas for how they will support the important people around the child, both family and educators, during the AAC journey.

Presenter: 

Sam Brydon qualified as a Speech Language Pathologist in 1993 from Manchester University in England. Since then, she has worked as a social worker and then as a Speech Language Therapist, with over 20 years' experience in the areas of early intervention and, more recently, AAC. Sam emigrated to Aotearoa/ New Zealand in 2007, and has worked for both Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga (Ministry of Education) and then at Patricia Avenue Specialist School. Her passion for evidence based AAC led her to undertake doctoral research with Massey University, starting in 2018. She has completed a year-long research intervention that looks at using a core board with pre-school children with complex communication needs, alongside a comprehensive training and coaching package for their parents. Sam is currently finishing writing up her thesis and is keen to share the exciting results of her research study. She lives with her partner on a remote hill near Cambridge, along with a pack of furry companions.

 

Mininum numbers:

Events require a minimum number of partcipants to proceed.  We'll confirm 2 weeks before the date of each event and offer the option to attend at a different a location or full refund of your ticket if we do not have sufficient numbers. Please keep this in mind when booking any travel and accomodations.

Note We are also hosting Dr Sam Brydon's coaching workshops in August. Those tickets are under a different event page on our website.

Cost

  • $500 for ATANZ members
  • $600 for non-members (remember membership is $110)
  • $300 Parent/whānau attendees (limited numbers)
  • $300 Other/student attendees (limited numbers)

 

Questions

Please contact us with any questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Invoices will be sent starting 1 April 2024 for this event as our accounts person is on leave until then

 

 

Event Date 18-08-2024 9:00 am
Event End Date 30-08-2024 4:00 pm
Cut off date 01-08-2024 11:00 pm
Capacity 120
Registered 1
Available place 119
Individual Price To be confirmed