[SENco-forum] ICT -presenting info in an SEN friendly way.

Please, please, please - let's not use the word "handicapped".
Viv 

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of
SEN at tringham.net
Sent: 21 October 2006 17:34
To: Becta Senco
Subject: RE: [SENco-forum] ICT -presenting info in an SEN friendly way.

I know better than most being a parent with children with differing
dyslexia that reality never matches any high flown ideals set by the DDA
or any policy, but we have to keep trying.

BECTA had a wonderful government sponsored scheme called the CAP
project.
When the scheme started and it was a great way to plug the gap between
the 'haves' (Statemented children) and the 'have not's' (prior to
devolved budgets anyway) and I know of at least 4 children with severe
SpLD but no statements who now access the National Curriculum and
Literacy independently and without readers or scribes etc., because of
this scheme. They have their own laptops with scanners/printers and
specialist software.

Initially CAP set out to provide communications aids to any child age
5-18 with SEN who were not Statemented.  It was assumed that Statemented
children had legally protected rights to communications aid equipment,
but not all SENco's knew what to put into the LEA box 6 labelled
'communications aids'
in the mistaken belief that this was just for severely handicapped
children requiring switching systems rather than just plain old ICT, and
so even some of them missed out.

Anyway -

When BECTA realised that there were children who were Statemented who
still didn't get the ICT driven equipment that they needed the scheme
was extended to all children.  It was like opening Pandora's box.  Yucky
stuff got out (LEA's desire not to have to pay for electronic equipment
ever again) and all the money got sucked in, leaving a big black hole
where no children get any ICT support.

It is a sad tale and schools are going to have to understand that more &
more children will be in mainstream schooling that require ICT. So they
are going to have to provide, or let parents provide suitable access to
it.  For me personally it means that while 1 child has a BECTA computer
& another will eventually get money via her DSA (Disabled Student
Allowance) to buy a computer it leaves me having to buy and supply two
more laptops for my equally hampered 16 & 10 year olds. It' not fair,
but when is life fair.
Without proper support and teaching they may as well not be in school
for half the subjects.

All I know is that if they don't get the right support now they will not
stay in the Education system long enough to access DSA of their own. The
one who made university eventually has a 151IQ.  But what a waste of a
combined IQ of 397 between the 3 of the others just because the system
cannot teach them in a way that they can learn -SpLD Specific Learning
Difference- and this should not be a disability that excludes them from
the education they need.

Sharon

PS we use IBM x21/31 that weigh about 1kg without the base.  Battery
last 4 hours and that is fine for most days.

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Cook [mailto:richard_cook at blueyonder.co.uk]
Sent: 21 October 2006 15:35
To: SEN at tringham.net; Becta Senco
Subject: RE: [senco-forum] Lindamood Bell/presenting info in an SEN
friendlyway.

Sharon wrote:

ICT also provides an excellent way to support many SEN.  Teachers have
to make lesson plans and find or make worksheets anyway so it should be
possible to provide a copy online to be accessed by pupils.

How?

Reality in my school - (new build 4 years old) - there are four rooms
with ICT, three are used 100% of the time to teach business studies/ICT.
KS3 pupils are in there 1 lesson per week.  There is a bookable ICT room
which is heavily used by faculties.  All other classrooms have one
machine for the teacher to use - register & power point.  Pupils do not
have access to ICT on a lesson by lesson basis.  Classes are taught
enmasse using books and worksheets in the main.

Yes of course there are parts of lessons where multi-sensory approaches
are used, and differentiation takes palce, but to accommodate precisely
all needs to any great extent is a dream at present.

Richard

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