[senit] Re: Who is providing you with support in the field ofICT and Inclusion?

Lesley

These events/taining days are really useful for people who need info on
specific products - Inclusive Technology do cover quite a wide range,
especially for special access, but the big hole is for the mainstream
teacher who needs to become aware of the range of products, particularly
to support the learning of those with dysabilities and/or general
learning difficulties

Cheers
Judith
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Judith Stansfield
SEN ICT Consultant
BDANTC (Associate member)
Farm Cottage, 24 East Road, Melsonby,Richmond DL10 5NF
stass at onyxnet.co.uk 
01325 718139   07990572365
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senit-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Tina LaMarca
Sent: 26 January 2007 12:55
To: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: Re: [senit] Re: Who is providing you with support in the field
ofICT and Inclusion?

Lesley-

Though this is a bit of an aside from the question you have posed but I 
thought that I would flag your (and other members) attention to 
intitiatives that commercial companies are doing to support those that 
are supporting schools and teachers in the field of ICT.

I have set up a network of support called Widgit Centres. These are LA, 
NHS or other services and teams that give support, training and advise 
on the use of symbols and our software. I know Clicker and Inclusive 
have simliar schemes. Though I can't speak for them and how they 
delilver support I can tell you that Widgit gives training and resources

to these advisory teams in hopes that they will be able to trickle this 
info down to the people that need it. We recognise how difficult it can 
be for teachers to get out-of-class time to obtain the training they 
need so we are hoping the services will be able to do so in a fashion 
that doesn't always have to include a full day inset (with a big price 
tag included!) And if the services do attach a price tag it is our hope 
that these funds are used to support the delivery of more help, 
resources and training across their authorities or boroughs.

We have a list of our Widgit Centres on our website so our customers can

find out where they can get local help.
http://www.widgit.com/centres/index.htm

And I am always looking to add to this list! If any of you are in an 
advisory position and interested in becoming a Widgit Centre please get 
in touch with me directly.

Regards,
Tina

-- 
Christina LaMarca
Special Education Needs Consultant
Widgit Software, Logotron Ltd.
124 Cambridge Science Park
Milton Rd, Cambridge, CB4 0ZS   
tel: 01223 425558 ext 773
mob: 07770 381514
web: www.widgit.com

Eileen Perrins wrote:

>Lesley
>  apologies first for not replying to your question , below, but for
myself it is due to time pressure that I did not, because as a
practioner I just do not have the time to give  a lot of time and
thought to things that are not directly applicable to my work, this is
an excuse I know as the only way to get things done is to shout out
about it or at least to make a contribution. At the moment I have my
foot up in plaster so have time to read think and reflect . The fact is
I am an AST and a pastoral and subject (ICT ) teacher and all my energy
goes into that. I work in Suffolk and although we do not get huge
support from the county as they are completely geared up for mainstream
they do have a service called slamnet which does include special schools
in its work. I hopefully will be working with SLAMNET to be trained in
the roll out of learning platforms To get in on the ground floor of this
means I will hopefully be able to develop an appropriate platform for my
special
> school, to allow inclusion for the 11-19year olds with SLD and PMLD.
>  The key stage 3 strategy consultants also offer us support even
though it is more to do with  them finding out about special education,
but hopefully I will get help from them next term to help me with a
video project. They also arrange a conference for special schools and
PRUS where we can share ideas. 
>  I also really find this forum invaluable.
>  Eileen Perrins
>  Belstead School
>   
>  Lesley Rahamin <lesley.rahamin at btinternet.com> wrote:
>  Hello everyone
>
>I said I would summarise the responses I received when I asked the
question,
>"Who is providing you with support in the field of ICT and Inclusion?"
>Although very few teachers responded, their provision ranged from
'nothing
>formal' through SENIT to LEAs with good systems in place. More
responses
>came from those providing the support, describing the sort of support
that
>they provided and to whom.
>
>I've ended up with more questions than answers. Here are a few:
>
>Is the LEA support inclusive enough to be appropriate to those working
with
>learners who have physical and/or sensory difficulties or perhaps
profound
>and/or complex learning difficulties? Judith Stansfield asked the
question
>"Is the support for specialists and/or mainstream teachers and do they
allow
>people from outside the area or from independent schools to take part?"
I'm
>pretty long in the tooth now, and perhaps the inclusion movement has
>resulted in a more inclusive attitude by the providers of training to
>mainstream schools, but I remember having to work out for myself how I
was
>going to adapt the content of courses to the students I was working
with.
>
>Is the trend towards commercial suppliers providing separate
information and
>training on their particular products? Clicker Days, Inclusive Days etc
>are successful in providing opportunities, not only to learn about
their
>products, but also for the attendees to talk to fellow practitioners.
Where
>else can practitioners (often isolated from others in similar
situations)
>meet? I am a great believer in email forums such as SENIT but they are
no
>substitute to meeting face-to-face. Becta used to put on conferences
many
>moons ago that provided just that.
>
>Does the support go beyond access technology? How can assistive
technology
>practitioners assess a student's access needs if they do not know what
the
>student is supposed to be accessing? Finding a way of removing the
physical
>barriers to learning is only one part of the solution.
>
>Sean O'Sullivan referred to the questions being asked by Adam Wait and
John
>Galloway and concluded that, ". this is another area in which we could
>fruitfully ask ourselves to not only record what we have had so far,
but
>more importantly, what do we want and need?"
>
>I know what has been most useful for me so far and that is the support
of
>fellow professionals working in the same field. But as to the future...
for
>once this is something that I feel I should not comment on because I
(like
>many others in our field) am approaching retiring age. It is up to
>practising teachers to say what they want, as Sean has done. If we
don't
>ask we won't get!
>
>Thanks to everyone who responded,
>
>Lesley Rahamin
>
>Education Consultant
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Eileen
>
> 		
>---------------------------------
> The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address
from your Internet provider.
>
>
> 
>
>  
>

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