Category Archives: Techniques & Tips
One, two, three… NO!
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Ian Bean December 8, 2011
Ian Bean December 8, 2011
Many commercial switch training software programs feature a ‘switch building’ level where the learner is required to press the switch a number of times in order to ‘build’ either a pattern, picture or scene. With each press of the switch, another part of the image is ‘built’ until at the last press in the sequence the complete image is revealed and usually animated …
What’s the weather like there?
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Ian Bean November 30, 2011
Ian Bean November 30, 2011
Like many of my colleagues, I’d often thought about setting up a link with an overseas school and running a collaboration project. The children I teach all have severe and complex learning difficulties and to be frank, don’t get out much. Only one of the ten children in the class had ever been out of the country and that was to Disneyland in Paris. …
“Press the switch”
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Ian Bean November 2, 2011
Ian Bean November 2, 2011
You’re probably wondering what these Chinese symbols mean. They are the words ‘press the switch’ written in traditional Chinese. Why am I telling you this? When I worked at Priory Woods School, I used to take pride in just how inclusive my ICT lessons were. We worked hard to ensure that our use of technology was matched to the needs of the student …
Complex Needs and Switches: It Could Be You!
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Ian Bean October 8, 2011
Ian Bean October 8, 2011
I had a lovely day yesterday. I spent it in the company of five colleagues from a special school in the Midlands who had asked me to work with them to develop their use of switches in school. This was a good school where ICT is used in a way which was meaningful and appropriate to the needs of their students and where possible, …
Symbols 101 Part 3
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Ian Bean September 23, 2011
Ian Bean September 23, 2011
“What symbol do I use for ‘pursuant’?” I recently delivered symbol training for an organisation that provided sheltered housing for people with learning difficulties. Like many organisations working in this sector they wanted to ensure that their written communications with their tenants were accessible. They purchased symbol processing software and asked me to help them. The training went the usual way. We looked at …
AAC-RERC White Paper: Mobile Devices and Communication Apps
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Barbara Landsberg September 16, 2011
Barbara Landsberg September 16, 2011
The AAC-RERC (Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center) is a US-based organisation that conducts research, development, training, and dissemination activities to improve options for individuals who rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies. They are often a good source of information and just recently published a downloadable white paper titled “Mobile Devices and Communication Apps“. It presents a measured view of how these apps are …
PODD Success after initially “Not Getting It”
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Barbara Landsberg September 8, 2011
Barbara Landsberg September 8, 2011
Over the past few years, the Spectronics team have been impressed by the inspiring work of Kate Ahern – A US-based special education teacher who compiles the informative Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs Blog – a great repository of useful articles, resources and ideas for teacher of students with severe and multiple disabilities. We particularly liked her recent post describing her journey to …
Symbols 101 Part Two
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Ian Bean August 30, 2011
Ian Bean August 30, 2011
In the previous part we discussed the importance of ensuring the symbols we choose actually communicate the information that we hope to impart. Is it obvious what the symbol means? If not can it be decoded by the child considering their level of understanding or do we need to teach the meaning of the symbol? In this section I want to explore this further. …
Symbols 101 Part One
Posted in Techniques & Tips
Ian Bean August 19, 2011
Ian Bean August 19, 2011
Symbols have been around for many years and it’s very rare for me to visit a school where they are not using one symbol set or another to support their students. From the earliest days when colleagues used to physically draw pictures over words with pencils, the use of symbols has provided support for early literacy, communication and served as a very useful tool …
Making computer files accessible through cloud storage
Posted in Techniques & Tips, Tools & Resources
Charlene Cullen May 20, 2011
Charlene Cullen May 20, 2011
Have you ever been in a situation where you have forgotten your USB stick with important computer files you need for the day? Did you ever want to share a file with someone that was too big to email? Or are you working across different sites and constantly wishing you could access the files you have on another computer? Did you ever want to …
