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

 I totally agree about a central tevhnical support for ICt special needs . As a teacher who has seen the developments from the start- BBC computers etc. it disappoints me that we are still struggling. In the 80s we had SEMERCs -Special Education Microelectronics research centres. These were based around the country- I remember Redbridge, North west , Northeast and 1 or 2 others, The Redbridge one was temporarily supported by the LEA but vatly cut and then lost in the mid 90s . The Nothwest one ultimately became Inclusive technology but as a company rather than a government financed body. It is great to hear that they are still providing support. 

 -----Original Message-----
 From: jeananncraig at ntlworld.com
 To: senit at lists.becta.org.uk
 Sent: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11.02PM
 Subject: Re: [senit] Re: Who is providing you with support in the fieldofICT and Inclusion?

  I agree with Judith absolutely. (Who incidentally set me on the path of interest in SEN/ICT. ) 
 Part of my role (half a day per week ha ha ) is assessing mainstream children with a possible need for ICT support and making suggestions to their schools. I make good use of any training days that are available - such as Inclusive which I can't thank enough for their help. Sometimes I am amazed by the teacher's response to my suggestions- you would think an alphasmart was rocket science to some teachers! 
 I am doing what I can to raise awareness about everyday common solutions but if mainstream teachers could have more training and awareness raising it would ultimately make me redundant - which I wouldn't mind in the least. It worries me that children with difficulties which basic ICT solutions would help, are not getting the help and support they would benefit from. 
 There should be some central technology and ICT agency the classroom teacher can call upon to help provide solutions for the children with specific difficulties and SEN. 
 Best wishes to you all 
 Jean Craig 

 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Judith Stansfield" <stass at onyxnet.co.uk> 
 To: <senit at lists.becta.org.uk> 
 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 <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 
 >> 
 >> 
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