Triggered by Transitions such as exams, changing schools or homes, Happy Talk Trust addresses what we believe to be the root cause of suicide, self-harm and harming others, i.e. neurodiversity.
Our Holistic Approach Covers:
- Dyslexia (3): Read
- Dysphasia: Comprehend
- Dysgraphia: Write
- Dyspraxia: Coordinate
- Dyscalculia: Calculate Arithmetic
- Dysnomia: Recall and Connect
- ADHD of the brain – Fight
- ADHD of the body – Flight
- ADD of the heart – Freeze
- ODD or Good Orderly Direction
- Autism – In control to feel OK
Comorbidity – 2+ of above: Amplify strengths to Release your SUPERPOWERS
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Hamilton Based ~ New Zealand Wide

Hands-on workshops with experienced facilitator across 3 educational sectors:

Strengths based; careers focused training that is aligned with MoE priorities:

Fully Funded ~ TA PLD ~ 2023 ~ See DYSCO Training
What the terms mean

Dyslexia: Orthographic, Visual, Phonemic: The battle to read, process and comprehend text (mental)
Dysphasia: The battle to comprehend and react or reply/speak appropriately (mental + physical)
You may see…
Children: Usually put in remedial reading groups (Mainly because they don’t have strategies for dysphasia)
Adults: Often do not fully understand what they sign their names to e.g. about their health & possessions.

Dyscalculia: The battle to comprehend and calculate arithmetic
(mental + mental)
Dysnomia: The battle to remember and
recall words to speak
(mental + physical)
You may see…
Children: Usually don’t learn and understand basic number facts such as numbers that make 10 & times tables.
Adults: Often cannot budget for necessities such as clothes, food and shelter e.g. 80% of prison inmates,

Dysgraphia: The battle to align thoughts & muscle movement to write, type & spell (mental + physical)
Dyspraxia: The battle to plan and co-ordinate movement with thinking
(physical + mental)
You may see…
Children: Usually miss-spell simple words and many struggle with computers and on-line learning.
Adults: Often cannot fill in forms for supplies & services e.g. Drivers licence, WINZ support.
200+ Adults Trained ~ Benefitting (est) 3,000 Children

DYSCO Founder Click here to see her story

Results/Feedback ~ Ngā Kura ā Iwi o Aotearoa (Re: Maths/dyscalculia) example:

Youth Ambassador

What the Trust does
Happy Talk Trust is the don’t wait, self-referral service tackling transitions for 10-24 year olds. e.g. changing schools or starting jobs.
Alongside tips and tools to assist with reading, writing and arithmetic (maths), the training teaches youths / rangatahi how to reduce anxiety, raise self-esteem and self-regulate so they don’t ‘explode’ or worse still ‘implode’.
What inspired The Trust
When 12-year-old ‘Hat’ talked 10-year-old ‘Hoodie’ out of taking his life by suicide, Happy Talk Trust was born.
Triggered by transitioning from primary to Intermediate school, the root cause of Hoodie’s decision to take his own life was his neurodiversity e.g. his battle to conquer his dyslexia (read), dysgraphia (write) and dyscalculia (Mathematics) and realise his inherited (whakapapa) of greatness.
Despite coming from two totally different walks of life, Hat used a strategy he had learnt five years earlier to help Hoodie. Being a typical primary school aged child, Hoodie would take the word and advise of a peer of a similar age over that of an adult.
Also, Hat inadvertently named the strategy “I’ve Got Your 6”, when he translated Andria’s gesture of “you’ve got this” to mean the WW2 gunners / pilots term of “I’ve got your back”.