Help - You are not alone!

Where do I go for specialist services?

Your pupil’s difficulties, although rare, are not unique! There are people and organizations that want to help you! Some offer you independent advice; these are listed below. They may be local, regional, national or even international. They can be accessed directly (local ICT advisers, therapists, voluntary support groups) or indirectly (by phone, letter, email, or the Web). Some are briefly described below. Their addresses and other details can be found in Appendix 2 (Contact Addresses).

The ICTS discussion forum

As part of this training programme, ICTS has a Web-conferencing facility on the programme Web site, www.inclusive.net You can make use of this to ask others for information about a specific problem. For more information see Unit A – Communicating with Colleagues.

The ACE Centre Advisory Trust

An independent, non-profit-making, assessment, advisory, training and Research & Development service centre for children and young people with severe and complex physical and communicative difficulties, its constituency is the South of England, The Midlands and South Wales.

ACE Centre North

An independent, non-profit-making assessment and advisory service centre for children and young people with severe and complex physical and communicative difficulties, its constituency is the North of England, North Wales and Northern Ireland.

Becta

Becta is a Government-funded agency with a staff of approximately 100 who work to ensure that ICT supports the Government’s efforts to drive up standards in curriculum subjects, in the teaching of key skills, in institutional effectiveness, and in the development of lifelong learning. Becta’s work is often advisory, developmental and based on partnership with others such as LEAs and the commercial sector. This includes specific work with the Education Departments for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Becta also monitors international developments in ICT.

CENMAC

An independent, non-profit-making assessment and advisory service for pupils with severe and complex physical difficulties, its constituency is the inner London area.

Communication Aid Centres

These are funded by various health trusts. They all offer AAC assessment and information services to adults, children or both. For further details about each contact The ACE Centre in Oxford.

Communication Matters

The UK ‘Chapter’ of ISAAC, this is an association of all those with an interest in Augmentative and Alternative Communication. The membership consists of AAC users, their parents / partners / carers, speech and language therapists, teachers, psychologists, and many others. The benefits include an annual conference, a quarterly newsletter, membership of ISAAC, access to ISAAC publications, networking opportunities, and many other things besides!

ISAAC

A global association of all those interested in Augmentative and Alternative Communication, the membership is made up of all the national ‘Chapters’ and individual members. The benefits include a biennial conference, a bulletin, access to many publications, networking opportunities, and many other things besides!

SENCO Forum

This email forum consisting largely of SENCOs and other special-needs professionals. A very active forum providing mutual help and support for all who sign on, it covers the full gamut of special needs issues.

SENIT Forum

This email forum consisting largely of special needs teachers, advisers, and other special-needs professionals. The focus within this forum, as its name suggests, is I(C)T, providing mutual help and support for all who those interested in ICT matters.

Conclusion

“All our pupils deserve to leave school equipped to enter a fulfilling adult life”

(D. Blunkett, 1998)

For many pupils with severe and complex needs ICT, in the form of computers, software and communication aids, will be an essential ingredient in fulfilling this promise. However, ICT cannot be regarded as an end in itself. Wherever pupils find themselves on the physical, cognitive and communication continuum, the principle of weaving ICT into the fabric of learning – at points where it can be most effective – applies.

Finally, and in no particular order of priority, we conclude this part of the Unit with a checklist of ICT ‘Good Practice’.

• Identification and frequent review of specific learning objectives
• Continuity in target setting
• Consistency in intervention practice
• Teamwork (that includes the pupil and their family)
• Training and Technical support
• Time to think, plan and prepare

Practical teaching activities

Please choose and complete one or more of the following activities:

1. School development plan
Imagine this situation. An otherwise excellent OFSTED / HMI Report on your school has highlighted one significant area of weakness – the rather limited and inappropriate application of ICT (including communication aids) right across the school curriculum and within IEPs. OFSTED / HMI notes the absence of an integral ICT Development Plan. Your head teacher asks you to modify the School Development Plan to include an ICT Development Plan as a first strategic step in improving this situation. Mock up parts of a typical SDP with ‘before’ and ‘after’ sections that demonstrate the changes you think should be made to the existing SDP.

2. Individual Education Plan / Individual Plan
Find two or three pupils in your school with IEPs or Individual Plans, in which there is ample opportunity to include ICT within their prescribed targets. Highlight the weaknesses in their existing Plans and what you feel, in terms of ICT, can be done to improve them. Once again, you might like to complete this activity as a ‘before’ and ‘after’ exercise.

3. Pupil profile
Write a pupil profile of a student you have worked with. Identify a specific set of the educational targets and learning objectives for which you think ICT intervention might be appropriate. Describe in detail ‘how’ this will achieved, ‘by whom’ and ‘when’. Make specific reference to computer equipment, software and communication aids to illustrate your points.

4. Learning objectives (1)
Write a pupil profile of a student you have worked with. Write the learning objectives for a half-term / whole term (as appropriate), showing how ICT is used to achieve these objectives. Write these in such a way that they may be used by all those (for example, LSAs, parents and volunteers) working with the pupil. Demonstrate how you would keep a record of what the pupil has achieved. As a conclusion, show what the future goals in ICT would be for this pupil.

5. Learning objectives (2)
Choose and describe six important learning objectives from various parts of the curriculum. These learning objectives could be cross-curricular and appropriate to more than one of your pupils. Research ways in which ICT as defined in this Unit could be creatively and meaningfully applied to these pre-selected learning objectives. Provide details of the hardware and software you have chosen and explain why you have made these specific choices.

6. Access to the curriculum
Write a pupil profile of a student you have worked with. Choose a curriculum area not already referred to in this Unit (i.e. not Literacy or Numeracy). Write, in some detail, how you would use ICT to help the student access this area of the curriculum.

7. Multidisciplinary team building
Write a pupil profile of a student you have worked with. Interview the other members of the team who work with this student and find out what contribution they feel they can make to the pupil’s ICT needs. Summarize these interviews and then amend the pupil’s IEP appropriately.

8. Choosing software
Imagine this scenario. You are new to a school. The school has limited experience of ICT. You are given a modest budget with which to purchase and establish a core of flexible ICT equipment (computers, communication aids and peripheral access devices) for your classroom. As the budget is limited, the ICT equipment must enable your pupils to grow and expand at their own pace. Write brief profiles of the pupils for whom ICT will be beneficial. Then identify and select the hardware and software you need to make a start. Explain how and why you have prioritized your ‘shopping list’ in the way that you have, making reference to the pupil profiles and their individual needs.

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