Last night was the end of an era for the British educational software industry as Ray Barker, director of BESA, retired.
Ray worked as a teacher, a multimedia publisher and ran an Education Action Zone before joining BESA. He was chair of judges for the BETT awards and was a regular commentator on changes in government legislation which affected the purchasing power of schools.
There are many ‘experts’ in the educational software industry but Ray really knew his stuff. He was a great networker, very pragmatic and found ways of making things work, often against the odds. He was a good friend to the special needs community. He had a particular interest in literacy and was keen to see a division of spoils which gave everyone a more equal chance. He was a very talented political animal and will be much missed. His successor at BESA is Caroline Wright who has a wealth of experience in government departments as well as in the public and private sector.
At his farewell do at the City of London Club, many representatives from the press, software companies, schools and key educational organisations turned out to wish him well.
Pictured here from left to right are are Ann Crick, Sal McKeown, John Crick (Crick software), Ray Barker, Mick Archer (former editor of Special Children magazine), John Galloway (journalist and adviser in Tower Hamlets), Carol Allen (special needs adviser for North Tyneside) and Amanda Peck from Mayer Johnson software
I am just back from a week in Boston and Chicago. I was amazed at the number of fire engines I saw and wondered if we were about to have a second Great Fire of Chicago but Jimmy, the 77 year old taxi driver and self-appointed guide to the city, told me that in the USA fire engines don’t just put out fires, they often act as paramedics too.
When I thought about it , the same thing is happening here. If ambulances are busy in rural areas, often a fire engine will be dispatched and they have always cleaned up after road traffic accidents.
So I was very interested to discover that Texthelp, a company well known for its Read and Write Gold software, is working with the Fire Brigade Union (FBU). Texthelp has long been used in schools, especially secondary schools, and has proved its worth with young people who have problems with reading, writing and the research necessary for compiling projects and revision for exams. But why the FBU?
The answer is that they are now subject to the strictures of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA . They used to be exempt, along with police and prison officers and people who work on board ships, aircraft or hovercraft.
These days firefighters need a lot of training to keep up to date with new procedures. They have to be experts in fire fighting techniques, hazardous chemicals, first aid, dealing with trauma and using breathing apparatus correctly. Modern firefighters also needs IT skills for the administration they have to do such as logging incidents and writing reports.
Trevor Shanahan of the FBU was aware that a number of fire fighters were anxious about their literacy levels and would welcome some help . He had heard about Read&Write GOLD through other unions and invited the company to show what they could offer.
Read&Write GOLD is now used both on the service’s computers and on home computers too. It works with common programs such as Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, and Adobe Reader. It will read text out loud so firefighters can upload training materials and listen to them instead of straining to read them and only get half the message. It is very versatile and is ideal for users with dyslexia as all the settings can be tweaked. Among other functions, Texthelp has an inbuilt dictionary, word prediction and a homophone checker for those common similar sounding words.
Now when I give way to a fire engine, I am much more aware of the hours of behind the scenes training and admin which keep fire fighters on the road. Thanks to Texthelp, those with dyslexia are now a little more confident and competent and that has to be good news for all of us.
This takes place at the NEC on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 June. I am running a session 12.30 -1.30 on the
Saturday called Helping pupils with dyscalculia engage with the numberness of numbers. It will cover the early signs of dyscalculia and how to assessfor the condition. It will present different techniques and guidance for teaching basic numeracy.
Later in the day at 3.30 I will be running Using computer games in the primary inclusive classroom with Donna Burton Wilcock, internationally renowned expert on games and CEO of the very successful Immersive Education. We will be looking at the new demand for gaming in the classroom and how games making can help pupils develop self-reliance, problem solving and critical thinking skills. View and book seminars here http://secure2.eventadv.com/tesmidlands/step1.asp
But enough about me. What else will you see? I hope to go to Carol Allen’s session Supporting visual learners in the inclusive classroom on  Friday at 11pm, looking at how to create an inclusive environment using digital media and visual resources and How we created a 21st century special school on Friday at 2pm run by Maxine Pittaway, head teacher of award-winning special school St Christopher’s in Wrexham.
My three ‘not to be missed’ exhibitors are:
ActiVise Software ww.bactivebrainsolutions.com). This looks interesting and very timely as we enter exam season. It is a learning and revision software resource for learners of any age and ability studying any subject. The software consists of a framework of six interactive games which can be populated with personalised content.
Texthelp (http://www.texthelp.com ) help will be demonstrating Fluency Tutor which I have seen demonstrated online. It is designed to assess and improve pupils’ reading and comprehension levels and I wrote about it for Special Children magazine in my article on Reading Aloud.
Dore is a Programme (www.dore.co.uk) offered by a company in Stratford upon Avon. It assesses and addresses problems which affect co-ordination, eye tracking and attention span and makes these underlyingskills become more automatic so that children can concentrate better and learn more effectively. Up till now it has only been available for home use but at the show they will be showing schools how they can use their Programme in schools.
With the Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee coming up, there has never been a better time to get young people interested in the news. But what if your children are not good readers? They may end up confined to the TV news which is so transitory that children cannot grasp it, let alone recall it.
News-2-You (http://www.news-2-you.co.uk/) is an online newspaper aimed at pupils who need extra support for literacy. It has been created by special needs company Inclusive Technology, comes out fortnightly and costs just £99 for a single licence. It has speech and symbol support and brings over 200 pages of current affairs, features, activities and stories into the classroom.
Teachers can access News-2-You on an interactive whiteboard for whole class work or print it out for individuals. It has four levels of difficulty. The Simplified version gives a basic overview of the week’s key story topic with SymbolStix supported text. This is ideal for young people with learning disabilities who cannot access conventional print. There are three higher levels so pupils can progress.
In addition to the differentiated levels, there is also a text only version and all levels have a ‘speaking edition’. This means that the students follow the text as it is read aloud. Each word is highlighted as it is spoken.
Each edition features the story of the week which is the focus for a host of activities too. Recent topics including the Frozen Planet, Sports Relief Week, Animal Record Breakers and Star Wars – The Phantom Menace. It also has a World new section which has 2 or 3 substantial articles per fortnight and uses Google Maps to show where each story is taking place.
It is packed full of activities including worksheets for comprehension and literacy activities. But News-2-You is not all about the serious stuff. There is always a joke, a recipe for cookery lessons and some games.
I have just received this lovely comment from handwriting expert Amanda McLeod, “Just to let you know it’s on my table and quite a few parents have looked through and then gone out to buy it. They like its practical nature.”
The McLeod Centre for Learning is in Pimlico (London SW1). It is a centre for children who are under-achieving in English and Maths. Children attend mornings and are taught by specialist dyslexia teachers in small groups, or on an individual basis. Children attend up to four days per week and usually stay for two to three terms. They go back to their main schools for the afternoons.
The Oxford ACE Centre is to close this summer unless there is a change in government policy or an investor comes forward. The ACE Centre Oxford was a pioneer in assistive technology for children and young people who need computer support to help them speak, study and lead their lives with dignity.
If Oxford ACE closes, who will help her?
Oxford ACE has been in the forefront of research, developmental projects, assessments and technology provision since it was set up under a Tory government 28 years ago.
Many young people have benefited from their expertise. One example is Alice who is now 19. She was born with athetoid cerebral palsy. She was a very bright girl but when she started school she could not a pencil or make herself understood. When Alice was six years old she received her first computer. Even so, typing was laborious. She typed very slowly, using just her left hand.
When Alice started her GCSEs she was assessed by the Oxford ACE Centre to see what technology she would need to fulfil her academic potential. She got a laptop with Internet access and voice recognition. This marked a turning point as she could produce work much more quickly and accurately and found the whole process of composition much less tiring. Now she no longer needed a scribe so the school saved money too. Alice is now studying for a degree in Environmental Sciences.
The Oxford ACE Centre was the first organisation of its kind in England and set a very high standard. Its research always focused on the leading edge technologies, most recently eye gaze technology for those who cannot use their hands to navigate a mouse.
Becta was a victim of governemtn cuts, now Oxford ACE
Chris Stevens, formerly Head of Inclusion at Becta, itself a victim of government cuts, commented, “This is very sad news. Oxford ACE was a trail blazer and set very high standards with its assessments and research. It made such a difference to the lives of so many young people. I worry that the next generation of youngsters with disabilities will not get the same rigorous assessments and decisions about technology support will be made purely on the basis of cost”
I spent the afternoon in Leicester with teachers, teaching assistants, speech therapists and people from the NHS. We gathered together courtesy of Mayer-Johnson to learn more about practical uses of PCS symbols. This covered both print materials for displays or for children to take home as well as activities which have been devised especially for BoardMaker.
Carol Allen and Ian Bean, both national experts in assistive technology for schools, led off with three really good sessions:
• The value of symbolic communication in education – proven theories and practical strategies.
• Explosively exciting supported learning strategies to bring the curriculum to life.
• Symbols for transition & behaviour – symbol based strategies for tackling tricky areas and challenging behaviour.
There was so much to take away from the day. Both Carol and Ian have a fund of stories of children they have worked with. These included the child up a mountain who was so distressed because he had no idea what was happening or whether he would be stuck up there forever. Visual timetables are not just useful in the classroom but for showing what will happen next in real life.
Then we heard about the school which links symbols with physical activities so children walk round the school on a treasure hunt, looking for where copies of a particular symbol are hidden, matching symbols on a piece of paper with the symbols on a hopscotch grid.
We heard about useful life skills work. Put symbols for a sequence on a digital key ring so a pupil goes off to a particular shop to buy certain items and bring them back to school. There is even a symbol reminder than they need to say thank you.
But you can also combine symbols with the animation program Crazy Talk. Take a symbol and make it talk to you so the symbol and the concept it represents come to life. Even better, many children with learning disabilities are able to do this for themselves so it should be within the realm of possibility for most staff.
SEN and EAL resources
Kerry Vacara of Mayer-Johnson rounded up the day by introducing the audience to profiles of different learners and staff. Groups had to decide how to provide support and what symbol resources would help.
For more information about Mayer-Johnson training events see http://www.mayer-johnson.co.uk/seminars/ They can also advise on in house training events.
Carol Allen and Ian Bean also provide training and consultancy. See http://www.ianbean.co.uk/
Classroom resource from Stanley School on the Wirral
Brilliant Ideas for using ICT in the Inclusive Classroom from David Fulton books has just been published. I wrote this with Angie McGlashon who is a great trainer and has her own website . The idea was to show the power of technology to make things happen in a classroom and to give less confident teachers some hints and tips as well as clear How to … sheets.
Young people are growing up in a world where visual images are as important as words. Some pundits claim that YouTube is beginning to challenge Google as a search engine. Digital video and podcasting are immediate and direct but many teachers still rely heavily on discussions, reading and writing even though it disadvantages up to a third of their class.
For technology to take off in a school, it needs to be easy to use and to solve a problem. If reading and writing are barriers for children in your classroom how do you get them to engage with the curriculum? Think digital animations: Newman School a Specialist School for Cognition & Learning in Rotherham did and now they have pupils who know all about King Lear which is pretty unusual for children at KS3.
Using digital video helped focus pupils’ attention at Frank Wise School in Banbury, “Using slow motion has been a great way to draw attention to a key point,” said head teacher Sean O’Sullivan. “For example, we might roll a toy car down a slope and then do it again on a rougher surface to show the impact of friction but if a child is looking away the point is lost. We can play it back in slow motion so they really focus on what is on screen.
Pupils in Redbridge used Nintendogs as the basis for an entire topic, while Longwill School for Deaf Children in Birmingham used Sony PlayStation Portables (PSPs) to improve language development in British Sign Language (BSL)and English. It also made spelling practice more effective and let children transfer news more easily between home and school.
Brilliant Ideas for using ICT in the Inclusive Classroom contains 50 amazing Brilliant Ideas with suggestions of how you can tailor them for different children and different curriculum areas. We also have 20 Brilliant Starters to get you going. Enjoy!
You can order the book from Routledge
I listened with mounting disbelief last week at BETT as Michael Gove, Secretary Of State for Education, revealed his total ignorance of what happens in schools today. Watch the whole of his speech here
Michael Gove
He said, “The fundamental model of school education is still a teacher talking to a group of pupils. It has barely changed over the centuries, even since Plato established the earliest “akademia†in a shady olive grove in ancient Athens.
A Victorian schoolteacher could enter a 21st century classroom and feel completely at home. Whiteboards may have eliminated chalk dust, chairs may have migrated from rows to groups, but a teacher still stands in front of the class, talking, testing and questioning.”
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Maybe that’s what they do at Eton. I don’t know. I don’t go there. But hang on a moment. Hasn’t he been visiting academies and free schools lately? Maybe that’s where he saw these antiquated methods.
This week I have interviewed a primary teacher about using Skype, a secondary teacher about putting videos on a learning platform so they can be seen on the other side of the world. Meanwhile in Sidcup pupils at Burnt Oak School are working in groups using MissionMaker from Immersive Education to create games and learning how to include triggers that make things happen on screen.
I know that the teachers I talked to for my new book Brilliant Ideas for using ICT in the Inclusive Classroom don’t stand in front of a class and talk. They have too much of a sense of survival. They would be slaughtered.
Mr Gove, you need to get out more.
Brilliant Ideas for using ICT in the Inclusive Classroom by Sal McKeown and Angie McGlashon is now available from the www.routledge.com/education site
Next week marks the last BETT at Olympia. I have been doing BETT for so many years that I can remember when it was at the Barbican!
Last year marked a downtown in the fortunes of so many companies, especially small businesses providing for low incidence special needs. Inclusive Technology has just published their accounts for last year showing a fall in profits and the loss of 8 members of staff. For the first time in many years, they are not running the Special Needs Fringe at the Hilton.
There is still plenty for Sencos and other special needs staff to look at but be warned – you will have to be prepared to walk as it is so spread out.
Odd from Oddizzi
For primary and early years have a look at two new subscription based resources. Oddizzi from Little Travel Bug is on stand P47. It lets children learn about the world and visit far flung places from the comfort and safety of their own classroom. Two little globe trotting characters, Odd and Izzi, introduce children to different countries with extra information being provided by teachers and travel writers. Best of all, it promotes links between classrooms across the world so children get the inside story about how people live in other countries.
Q&D (B39) is launching a new version of their busythings.co.uk online subscription service for early years and SEN children. This is a words-free version which has icons and pictures and has been designed for use by children all over the world. For children who are learning English, try Langeroo, (SW68), an interactive programme with activities and games to help children learn vocabulary and construct sentences.
Any place, any time audio
One of my favourite products is returning to BETT this year. Storyphones (V35) an MP3 digital audio system in a robust and colourful headset is a great way of ensuring Anywhere Anytime audio. They have story books but also can be used for music and movement lessons, for teaching French and for working with young children who have language delay.
For older learners who need extra support with reading and writing have a look at ClaroRead for PC V6 (ClaroRead for Mac V5) on stand SN64. This software offers text-to-speech and scanning so any piece of writing can be turned into a file which can be edited or read aloud by a computer or other device. Rival company Texthelp (SN70) will be showing cloud based versions of old favourite Read&Write GOLD which can be used with iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, as well as PCs and Macs.
Those about to start university may benefit from a new Higher Education dyslexia screening tool that Iansyst will be showing on stand SN05. Also take a look at WordQ on SN13 which offers word prediction alongside any standard writing software. The company claim that it will only take 15 minutes to learn the ins and outs of this program and that it features, ” a carefully thought-out design that aids literacy without getting in the way.”
If you are looking for resources for children in special schools, have a look at the special needs zone where many of the more specialist companies congregate. nasen is running the information point on stand SN15 and can offer advice on what to see. Make sure you visit the Ablenet stand SN82 to see Ian Bean deliver his best practice sessions.
Finally do come to my seminar. Angie McGlashon and I are presenting Brilliant ideas to use ICT in the inclusive classroom at 1.30 on Wednesday 11th January SEN Theatre, in the West Hall. This is full of practical advice and case studies from schools which are making great use of technology.
At his farewell do at the City of London Club, many representatives from the press, software companies, schools and key educational organisations turned out to wish him well.
