Caroline Gray

Director of the ACE Centre Advisory Trust

"I trained as an occupational therapist and worked as an O.T with children with neurological conditions and emotional problems; adults with learning difficulties and was also as a full time lecturer on occupational therapy diploma and degree courses. I taught in a primary school in Uganda for 1 year and have worked with children with disabilities in India, Greece, Romania and Spain.

I have worked at the ACE Centre since 1986 with a three-year break when I returned to university lecturing. At the ACE Centre I have headed the inter-professional independent team involved in the assessment of children who visit the ACE Centre. In the assessments I am principally concerned with the child's seating, control of powered mobility, and access to the technology. In 1997 I started the ACE Centre User's group, termly meetings for children who have visited the Centre. I have also been part of the team who deliver training to either small groups related to a child who has been assessed at the Centre; or in schools on INSET days; or to carry out a school audit. I was involved in a project with the Open University producing multi-media CD ROMs for training purposes. I am involved in the other aspects of the Centre's work such as information provision, research and development and lobbying on behalf of people with communication difficulties.

The ACE Centre (ACE stands for aiding communication in education) is one of two national centres. It was started in 1984 and has on its staff teachers (one of whom is also a physiotherapist), speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, a communication tutor and a vital technical adviser. The Centre is funded by the DfEE through Becta (the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency). It also receives funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and other charities."

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