Dr. Stuart Aitken

Senior Research Fellow, CALL Centre; Principal Officer (Research & Practice) Sense Scotland

Stuart is a Chartered Psychologist and has been a member of the CALL Centre team since 1987, when he also started with Sense Scotland, a voluntary organisation working with people who are deafblind. The joint posts reflect Stuart's particular specialisms in visual impairment and multiple disabilities, on which he has written several books and numerous articles in these and related areas.

After completing his Ph.D. - a study into perceptual development in blind babies using an electronic sensory aid - a Medical Research Fellowship was awarded to work at the University of California at Berkeley. Tempered with all this theory followed a grounding in practical application in the role of outreach family support worker/ psychologist with the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh for 3 years. A Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship award in 1986 offered exciting opportunities to learn about approaches to visual assessment and service delivery in centres of expertise across Europe.

The mid '80s witnessed the wholesale uptake of BBCs in schools across the UK and the opportunity to work at the CALL Centre was seized. Like other CALL staff, Stuart visits schools in local authorities across Scotland to undertake assessment support in ICT, and to offer training, information and advice. Schools visited include mainstream primary and secondary, special units and special schools. Pupils seen include those with physical disabilities, sensory impairment, learning and communication impairment.

Working with Sense Scotland presents a wide range of operational, policy, information and development opportunities in the area of deafblindness and multisensory impairment.

Recent and current research projects include investigations into optimum font characteristics for low vision pupils who are undertaking formal qualifications; approaches to speech recognition; listening to the views of children with severe communication impairment (a joint Sense Scotland/CALL Centre project).

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