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

These events/taining days are really useful for people who need info on

When I replied to this earlier I was thinking of the support I received from my LA, and overlooked the work I did. Like a previous writer I also offer ICT support to students who are referred to the County Outreach service , with whom I am deployed the equivalant of one morning a week, which really is scraping the surface. The main point though is that I am an AST in a special school and when I meet other ASTs they are usually complaining that they do not have enough work to do, I believe this is because schools and teachers are not aware of ASTs and how they can support staff. The county advisory service should have details of the ASts in the county and I am sure there will be one who can do the kind of work you may need. In Ipswich I know of at least 4 ASTs who work in special school. ASts are funded one day a week by Central Gov and cannot be used to teach on that day but to support staff in whatever way they need (obviously within their field of expertise)

  Eileen Perrins.

Sally Barton <sally at congo.f9.co.uk> wrote:
  Can I agree with Judith re the hole in mainstream provision for those of us 
who only have one or two students with extra difficulties. General training 
is provided re students with general learning difficulties or minor needs 
but nothing more.

I have recently been teaching a student with cerebral palsy - I have some 
personal experience and am into ICT so have sorted something out for him but 
as far as a I am aware NONE of his teachers received ANY training!!

Apart from conversations with the senco co-ordinator, who is very busy, I 
wouldn't have a clue where to go to get training .....

(I also had to email the exam board myself to overturn an internal decision 
by our exams office which was detrimental to the student!)

I'm afraid I also don't know how this situatution can be rectified ....
Sally
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judith Stansfield" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 1:20 PM
Subject: RE: [senit] Re: Who is providing you with support in the fieldofICT 
and Inclusion?

> 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 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
>>
>>
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