Course Content

A practical course for education and health professionals, families, whānau, support workers and other interested people. This course looks at ways to maximise the use of low tech communication tools to support people’s expressive and receptive communication skills. It covers the material presented at our face-to-face workshops and more.

  1. Welcome to Communication Opportunities Throughout the School Day!

  2. 1 - Introduction

  3. 2 - Supporting Receptive Lanugage

  4. 3 - What is 'communication'?

  5. 4 - A Robust Language System

  6. 5 - Access methods

Key Details

  • Next course begins: 31 July 2023
  • Course access for 6 weeks
  • Live Zoom discussion in Week 3 & Week 6.

Further Information & Registration

This course is offered once per NZ school term. For more information and to register for the next course, click "Register Now" to be taken to our webpage and registration form.

Register Now

Course Facilitators

Each course offering is facilitated by a TalkLink Trust Teacher and a TalkLink Trust Speech Language Therapist. For Term 3 2023, the facilitators are Helen Brunner (Teacher) & Sarah Doran (SLT)

Helen Brunner

Teacher/Trainer

After completing her Bachelor of Arts in 1994, Helen worked in a wide variety of roles before undertaking teacher training in 2006. In 2012, she was offered the opportunity to work as a Specialist Teacher for ORS funded students, including several with complex communication needs. The experiences she has had working with those students, and the learning and professional development opportunities that have come along with that role, have served to build her passion for working in this area. Many of the students Helen worked with are, or have been, involved with the services provided by TalkLink and she often worked closely with the TalkLink staff to support those students. In 2015 she became part of the TalkLink teacher team - a move she sees as an absolute privilege. Based in Invercargill, she is pleased to be able to provide a more regular presence for TalkLink in the Southland, Otago and Central Otago areas. Helen has maintained her teacher registration, having continued to work in Specialist Teacher role part-time. She completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Specialist Teaching (Complex Educational Needs) in 2014 and her Master of Education (with a thesis in the area of writing instruction for learners with complex communication needs) in 2021. Helen's role as Teacher/Trainer involves assisting users of assistive technology, and their teams, to enable those users to become confident, capable communicators in a variety of contexts. This includes looking at how the technology can be used to support and enhance their presence, participation and achievement in the learning community of their school as well as at home and in the wider community. Helen's particular area of passion is in the development of literacy skills.