Category Archives: Dyslexia

Immersive Reader in Microsoft 365

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Immersive Reader is a powerful reading support tool built into many Microsoft programs, including Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams and Edge. The tool provides a set of features that support reading that are particularly useful for people with literacy difficulties. Best of all, it’s bundled with 365 for free!

The features available within Immersive Reader varies between programs, and you can see them on the Microsoft Immersive Reader webpage. They generally fall into:

  • Text-to-Speech. The natural reading voices really are very good.
  • Coloured themes.
  • Different fonts, text sizes and spacing for text.
  • Line focus.
  • Picture support.

Turn on Immersive Reader

Click on “View” and then “Immersive Reader”

Access text preferences

Try the different text preferences.

  • Text size – between 14 and 96 point.
  • Increase spacing – between letters, words and lines of text
  • Font – choose between Calibri, Sitka and Comic Sans
  • Themes – change the background colour. Many learners find black on white text challenging.

Grammar options

And the grammar options…

  • Syllables – break words into syllables to aid decoding.
  • Parts of Speech  – colour and/or label nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Reading Preferences

  • Line Focus – You can highlight one, three of five lines of text. You can move the highlight up or down using the arrow keys on the keyboard.
  • Picture Dictionary – Use Boardmaker symbols when a word is clicked on. Also listen to any word in isolation.
  • Translate – Translate text into one of 100 languages.

As mentioned – Immersive Reader is available in all the office apps. It’s also within the Edge browser on websites that have enabled it. Look out for the Immersive Reader icon in the right-hand side of the address bar.


Enjoy!

Technology is only part of the story when assessing ICT needs

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At one level, determining the technology necessary to improve curriculum access and communication for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) might seem fairly straightforward. Once you have an appreciation of what the learner finds challenging you simply find the technology that can help them meet that challenge.

For instance, if a learner is dyslexic they might benefit from a screen reader to help them decode, maybe a predictor to help with spelling, and possibly a dictation app so they don’t have to use a keyboard. However, each of these comes with a range of variables.

First of all there is the device – or even devices – the learner will be using. This might be determined by what is available in school, or perhaps provided from home, or even purchased by a charity, so might fall short of what would be ideal. Otherwise factors that come into consideration might include whether it needs to be carried around all day (wherein size becomes a factor), or if it needs a particular quality of screen or sound system due to sensory needs. It might also be that more than one machine is needed, perhaps an iPad as a communication aid, a laptop to connect to the school network for academic work, and a mobile phone to help with organisation.

And the device will have an operating system, Windows, Apple or Android. Each of which offer different built in options for improving accessibility. Then there are considerations of whether an app or program needs to be installed, or if it can be web-based and run online. Some schools like to tightly manage internet access, so resources that rely on the internet might not be viable. Whereas the most appropriate software might not be available for the operating system involved. Or even that it is not sufficiently up to date to run it. There are also times when a school will have an earlier version of a programme, or something similar that they have already invested in, so they may be reluctant to invest in anything new.

The age and capabilities of the learner is crucial. There are several resources that will support dyslexic learners, including those built in to operating systems, browser and apps, such as the dictate function in MSWord, or Voice Typing in Google Docs. However, some of these have layers of sophistication that are great for students taking qualifications, but unnecessary for primary pupils.

It is always valuable to get an understanding of how well the learner can navigate a keyboard, or operate a touch screen, and whether they have skills learnt from home use of devices that aren’t evident in school. Parents are similarly important for appreciating wider uses of technology, such as keeping in touch with family and friends, pursuing hobbies, or following particular interests. In school the learner might only exhibit a limited skill set and understanding compared to what they actually know.

Curriculum content, and individual learning objectives for pupils, also make a difference, guiding decisions around aspects like the degree of content that is available, such as differentiated resources, or subject specific vocabulary support. What is it that is going to be taught, and learnt, and what technology will best support this?

It is not only the child or young person’s capabilities with technology that need to be considered. For it to be effective there needs to be a number of elements of support including maintaining it, creating and loading materials, updating it, and operating it. Any technology is only effective if people know how to use it, and learners will often need to rely on the adults around them – both at school and at home – to help them make good use of it.

Even when we have a good grasp of what a child or young person’s learning needs are, and a wide knowledge of all the technological options, the factors we need to consider when making provision for them are much broader. We also need to remember that all of these aspects will change over time, so assessment is seldom a one-time event.

The last factor we should consider is cost. When it comes to a enabling a child or young person to learn there should not be a price tag attached.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Multimedia Authoring, with Shakespeare…

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Year 5  were studying Romeo and Juliet.  There was a small group of children in the class who were really struggling to get  their ideas, responses and their words onto paper alongside the rest of the class. The class teacher thought we might make podcasts with this group eg: interviews with characters, “What is the most tragic thing about this story?”  or video diary entries from the Montagues and Capulet families; but in the end we thought it would work better with multimedia authoring using either Book Creator or Glogster.We decided to use Book Creator.

Book Creator is an app on Windows and iPads which allows the user to include sound files, videos, images, drawings and text  as well as shapes and speech bubbles in their work and is excellent for using across the curriculum. It is  also great for science reports, research journals and comic adventures.

The children enacted and filmed the scenes, and then we interviewed the characters themselves, and interviewed onlookers who “witnessed” the fight between Benvolio and Mercutio. We gave our opinions about why this was almost inevitable, how this could have been avoided, and what the repercussions of the family feud might be.

We edited sound files (voice recordings of the interviews) using Audacity to create news reports of the events in Verona.

Our completed book included the “mobile ‘phone camera footage” of the deadly sword fight, the empassioned appeals for calm from innocent bystanders, interviews with people who knew both families and an official announcment from the Duke of Verona.

If you are doing something like this, also have a look at Glogster which is a cloud-based platform (app and website) for creating presentations and interactive learning. Glogster also allows users to combine text, images, video, and audio to create an interactive, Web-based poster called glogs on a virtual canvas.

            

A list of websites which might be useful for SEND learners at home

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https://www.senteacher.org/  for lots of printables, nets, number lines, clocks, certificates, flash cards, etc

Do2learn https://do2learn.com/ provides thousands of free pages with social skills and behavioural regulation activities and guidance, learning songs and games, communication cards, academic material, and transition guides for employment and life skills.

Doorway Online  https://www.doorwayonline.org.uk/   is a collection of free and highly accessible educational games that learners will find easy to use independently. Each activity has a range of accessibility and difficulty options.  Managed by the Doorway Accessible Software Trust, a Scottish charity.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/   252 free educational interactive teaching resources and activities for Primary/Elementary Schools.  84 free to use fun kids games/activities for kids aged 4 – 11.   170 plus links to free interactive teaching activities, educational games, image and software resources

British Council
https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources/find
Resources for English language learning

The Imagination Tree
https://theimaginationtree.com
Creative art and craft activities for the very youngest.

Nature Detectives  https://naturedetectives.woodlandtrust.org.uk/naturedetect…/
A lot of these can be done in a garden, or if you can get to a remote forest location!

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

https://www.starfall.com/h/

https://www.tinypop.com/special/artpad

http://www.magickeys.com/books/  Online Interactive Coloring Pages

https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

https://www.twinkl.co.uk   This is more for printouts, and usually at a fee, but they are offering a month of free access to parents in the event of school closures. Setting this up is really easy to do – go to www.twinkl.co.uk/offer and enter the code UKTWINKLHELPS

Sites for blind or visually impaired learners can be found here.

Sites for learning at home for SEND children and young people

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Whilst children are at home for extended periods, parents and carers – not to mention school staff looking to guide them – are all looking for quality materials, both online and off, to keep children engaged, and learning. That is as true of children with SEND as with any others.

Given the range of children and young people’s abilities, and the breadth of special educational needs, there is no one site that will cater for everyone, although 2Simple have made purplemash.com available for free during the Coronavirus crisis. PurpleMash covers the whole primary curriculum, with fun resources for literacy and numeracy and all other subjects that can be pitched at many levels. Have a look here for further information. https://2simple.com/free-access/?campaign=3f314708-5ef0-11ea-9175-062a0562a518.   Included in the offer is their online library of digital books (Serial Mash) with associated comprehension, spelling, grammar, punctuation activities.

Other sites providing literacy resources include audiobooks from Audible and StoryNory, both online and full of stories (some of which can be downloaded as MP3 files onto devices).

Another generic site that is always worth visiting is the BBC, with both Cbeebies, and Bitesize offering all sorts of educational, developmental, games and activities. You might need to search a bit to find what you want, but they are good quality. Have a browse at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary and https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies to find useful resources.

You might also want materials that can be used away from the screen. TTS group, who provide all sorts of learning materials, have created workbooks for primary pupils to download and use offline. https://www.tts-group.co.uk/home+learning+activities.html

You can also find printable materials at:

If you are looking for on-screen games for literacy and numeracy then the well-established ICT Games, https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/index.html, has lots of stuff for primary aged pupils, that could be used with older learners, too. As always, it is advisable to try out activities yourself to make sure they are pitched at the correct level. You could also have a look at https://toytheater.com/ which has lots of games. As with many free sites, there are embedded adverts here.

For literacy resources there a number of sites that have paid-for content, but who also provide free tasters. The well known Oxford Owl – https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home – have activities for learning to read at home, along with information about how literacy and numeracy are taught in schools. Very helpful for parents wanting consistency for their children.

Then there is Pobble, a site dedicated to supporting the teaching of writing in school, who have created resources specifically for home use. https://medium.com/pobble/simple-and-fun-non-screen-activities-that-children-can-do-at-home-115543cb3b9c .

Another more specialist resource to support literacy is the highly inclusive set of apps and programs from Crick, usually known as Clicker. They are offering free access throughout this crisis. Further information can be found here cricksoft.com/uk

There are also places online that can engage learners with more challenging SEND. For many years Poisson Rouge have been providing playful, exploratory, activities that are engaging without necessarily having a fixed, desired, outcome. The free materials here https://www.poissonrouge.com/free/classic/ are showing their age, as they are largely Flash dependent. However, they are still useful, particularly for children discovering cause and effect, or early language skills.

More specifically targeted at these pupils is Helpkidzlearn. They have wealth of materials on their subscription site, with 10 sample activities available if you register here https://www.helpkidzlearn.com/join-free.

More immediately recognisable as SEND resources are those created by Widgit, known for their software which provides symbolised support to text. They also have some, free, downloadable materials on their site that can be printed out and used as needed –  including on good handwashing, and on dealing with anxiety generated by watching the news. https://www.widgit.com/resources/index.htm A bit of searching will also produce free curriculum materials, such as worksheets on verbs, adjectives, phonics, and minibeasts, along with many others. Start your search here. https://www.widgit.com/resources/literacy-language/language-development/index.htm

Then there is Incredibox. This is a site that is not designed for SEND, it a French site for visitors to explore beatboxing through a number of musical loops. It works for SEND learners, though, by allowing them to interact with the screen and to discover how different elements work and come together. https://www.incredibox.com/ .

 

Some learners will enjoy the opportunity away from school to follow their own interests, and there are a number of sites that have quality materials where they can safely browse. Both Dorling Kindersley, https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/ and National Geographic https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/category/discover/  have videos and articles on a range of subjects. However, the literacy levels can be demanding.

They might also want to spend some time learning to code: www.code.org has many diverse activities at all sorts of ability levels that budding programmers can work through progressively on their own.

Other children and young people will prefer to get ‘hands-on’ and the activities at https://www.redtedart.com/ will help them do just that, with ideas for art and technology projects. Again there are adverts on the site, but there is a wealth of ideas for practical and creative fun.

The internet is a vast resource, and there will be many more sites that provide valuable resources for learning at home, whilst schools are temporarily closed. But they can be hard to find. Hopefully those listed here will provide a useful starting point.

If you need further suggestions for online materials, have a look at this additional list, here . And for blind and visually  impaired learners there are some suggestions here.

The link between touch-typing and spelling

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Motor-memory can often be overlooked when we are thinking of helping children and young people to spell accurately. We will work on visual activities directly intended to embed words in their memories – such as ‘look, cover, write, check,’ where pupils memorise a word, cover it up, write it out and then check their spelling – and ask questions such as, “Does it look right?” But we don’t often ask if it ‘feels’ right.

When children are first learning to read we focus on phonics for decoding, isolating the separate sounds that make up a word. We then reverse that approach to build words, often sounding out the segments and asking them how we will express that on the page. The word ‘Church,’ for instance, will become, ‘Chu, er, chu.’

So we have approaches that focus on the visual memory, and others on  the aural memory, but we often neglect to focus on the motor-memory. How a word feels as we inscribe it. It is one of the reasons for encouraging those who are struggling with spelling to use cursive – ‘joined up’ – handwriting. The theory is that instead of the word being a series of separate letters the brain needs to recollect and reproduce, it becomes one, fluent, movement. For instance, ‘heavy,’ is no longer, ‘H, E, A, V, Y’ – five elements to remember how to scribe, but ‘heavy’ one, continuous, sweep along the line.

This theory has been built in to programs that teach touch-typing, so that by employing the frequent repetition necessary to learn to use the keyboard without looking at it, learners begin to put down words on the screen without having to think about the letters in them. They spell by using the memory in their movements.

One of the earliest resources to use this was Touch, Type, Read and Spell (TTRS). Originally it was a standard touch-typing course involving copying from books that differed from offerings such as those from City and Guilds, by using real words in its exercises instead of drills focused on letter groupings on the keyboard.

Then along came personal computers and approaches like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Whilst it took its time, TTRS eventually went online to become www.readandspell.com . Now available for individuals to use at home, or for whole tranches of pupils to use at school, it still uses as its core vocabulary list the ever influential ‘Alpha to Omega’ spelling course, originally devised to teach dyslexic learners in the 1980s.

It is not the only program to do this. Kaz (www.kaz-type.com)  is a system structured i   n a similar way. Although originally targeted at general learners, it has adapted to include more specialist elements, with features such as the ability to change the font and its size, and or to select a colour scheme that a user might find easier to read on screen.

The important element of this approach to spelling, however, is keyboard fluency. As Kaz point out on their website, “Typing with 2 fingers uses the conscious mind but when you touch type with all your fingers and thumbs, the skill is transferred to the subconscious – leaving the conscious mind free for creative writing and the task at hand.”

There are compelling arguments for all children and young people to learn to touch-type. Removing barriers to their creativity, and helping them too become more productive, is just one more.

Using Chromebooks for SEND.

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Working in Tower Hamlets over the years, amongst other things, we have recommended software for PCs & laptops, apps for iPads & Android devices and more recently resources available for chrome books.

Chrome books are a budget friendly and portable computing option. They use Google Chrome operating system and are designed to be connected to the Internet. They’re an ideal choice if you use mainly browser-based apps.

Chrome books switch on quickly, automatically update and come in various sizes. Their versatility for SEND relies on useful and engaging web apps. Chromebooks have built-in accessibility options that can be adjusted to suit individual needs and have USB ports that allow a variety of assistive devices to be connected. Overall, the accessibility options are quite good, though there won’t be a solution for everybody. In addition to the built-in features of Chrome OS, the Chromebook can use Apps and Extensions to enhance access. Apps are individual, web-based programs and activities, while Extensions provide enhancements to Chrome OS working across a range of web pages and apps, in the same way that extensions add functionality to some other web browsers. Here is a guide to using Accessibility Options on chromebooks from www.callscotland.org.uk

A lot of software that once had to be loaded onto networks is now available online. You can now  find Word shark online and the much-loved 2Simple software  you can now find on their online primary software suite PurpleMash.

All schools have got different systems for making devices available to children. Many schools no longer have ICT suites but use trolleys of devices that can be wheeled around to different classrooms. For ordinary curriculum purposes this is a great idea but some children (particularly those with SEND) need to have a device available to them for their exclusive use at any time.

Schools have got different systems in place for the devices made available to children with SEND. The system needs to be efficient and needs to consider the geography of the building, the whereabouts of the SEND students and keeping the devices charged and ready for use as needed. If you are using iPads and chromebooks it’s vital that your school has efficient Wi-Fi.

One of the disadvantages of a chrome book is that you cannot load special SEND software like Clicker 7 or Dragon “Naturally Speaking” onto it.  So if you have a particular need, you have to hope that there is a chromebook app or extension  that will provide for that need. As far as “speech to text” software goes (like the Dragon software) the problem is solved by Google incorporating Voice Typing as a tool on Google Docs. As far a Clicker is concerned Cricksoft have created Clicker apps for chrome books.

The Clicker apps for chrome book are the same as those for iPad however the pricing is different being. Clicker Apps for chromebook cost £30 for a years subscription for one app and then various degrees of pricing for site licenses. To find out more look at cricksoft.com/uk/clicker/chromebook

Here is a list of Chromebook apps and extensions that can be used by learners with Dyslexia

 

 

Wordshark online – an online update of an SEND perennial

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What is it?

It’s hard to remember a time before Wordshark was available. If you don’t know it, it is primarily used for practice and reinforcement of spellings, particularly for those struggling with these skills, such as pupils who are dyslexic. Although it could be used by learners of all ages for the acquisition of key vocabulary.

It comes with a database of 10,000 words, all with pre-recorded speech, which can be sorted to be used in several different ways. One is the National Curriculum wordlists that pupils are expected to know as they progress through primary school. Another is Alpha to Omega, a scheme designed for those with dyslexia, and then there is the popular Letters and Sounds, or the subject specific words aimed at secondary students. You can also add your own lists if there are words you can’t find, perhaps for a particular topic.

The lists themselves are broken down into appropriate groups, such as CVC, or magic-e, and to aid learning further, words can be viewed with their phonetic make up marked, or they can be split into user-defined chunks.

Along with the wordlists are around 40 games. Once the words to be practised have been selected a number of games are recommended to use, which  can be worked through, or you can open a tab for one of the specific groups: Blend, Segment, Read, Spell, and Patterns. You can also choose specific games you want pupils to use, and assign work for them for  when they log on.

As it is web-based learners can access it from anywhere there is an internet connection, allowing for home and parent/carer involvement, too. The words can also be printed out for study away from the screen.

The whole system comes with a placement test, if you are not sure where is the best place for the pupils to get started, and a monitoring and tracking facility to see how they are getting on.

Who is it for?

The original conception was for dyslexic pupils, but it could be used by just about anyone, with primary pupils following the National Curriculum, or Letters and Sounds, lists, and secondary working on the subject specific vocabulary. With the capacity to add lists it could even become a learning resource for A Level students doing Classics who want to learn Latin or Ancient Greek.

The various approaches to spelling taken, include seeing it then typing it, finding the correct outline shape, bringing chunks together, and even speaking it aloud, all come with  a range of activities. This means that drill and practice becomes less of a chore, and even a bit of  fun.

How do I use it?

Mainly for reinforcement. To provide a range of activities presented in an interactive, varied, fun, way, that makes over-learning acceptable, rather than a drudge. Whilst it will largely be used by individuals, there is the potential to use it with a small group around the interactive whiteboard.

What else is there?

There are quite a lot of apps, programs and websites that provide different approaches to spelling. Where Wordshark differs is in the variety of approaches available, along with the flexibility to choose which wordlists to work from, or to create your own. All with the ubiquitous access the internet offers.  Flexibility, reliability, and availability, are the keywords here.

Using iPads to make a podcast using GarageBand

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Make sure you have GarageBand on your iPad and it will help if you have a microphone that you can connect instead of using the built-in microphone on the iPad. (Maybe even some earbuds with a microphone that is nearer to your mouth.)

Open GarageBand on the iPad, click on the add song button (or the + sign) and select AUDIO RECORDER >  Voice. On the studio view select Narrator.
Right under the control bar (on the right) hit the + sign (Song Sections) and change it from eight bars to Automatic. Tap off the menu. In the control bar tap the wrench, tap “Metronome and Count-in“. Change it to No sound and tap off the menu. Adjust the input level (on the left side) to show as much green as possible and now you can record.

When you press Record, the ruler becomes red and moves along. Touch the stop button when you’re done recording that track.Tap the tracks view icon on the control bar to listen to your track.  Press play to preview and move the play head around to listen to different parts of your track if you need to.

(To add another track press the + on the bottom left of the screen. If you need to record your voice again choose “narrator” and check that the settings are as they were before.)

When editing you can move the tracks around by touching them and sliding them with one finger and if you want to zoom into the track you put two fingers on the screen and pinch them apart.

To see more options for different parts of the track you can double tap on the track and a menu option comes up which includes Split. If you swipe down somewhere on your timeline it will split the track. The yellow bars on the end of each region allow you to trim the ends of each of the recordings.

You can add music tunes as a background tracks. There are some built-in to GarageBand but it is possible to import your own tunes. Choose another track with the same settings then choose the Loops icon on the control bar and choose Audio Files, and drag in the audio file that you want.

To edit the music, slide the side bar (next to the track) over to the left to show the title of the track, the solo & mute buttons,  the metre and the volume.

Tap the microphone icon  and select Automation. On the top left of the screen slide the pencil over until the button is red. Click on the timeline to create automation points to create slight raises or decreases in the volume. When done slide the pencil to lock the automation points.

Listen to the entire episode to make sure you don’t need to do any more editing and then you can share your track. It will save into the “My Songs” folder. It saves as an .m4a file and so can be loaded onto Podcast Central on the London Grid for Learning.

 

LGfL’s Space Adventures – designed for everyone?

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In 2018  the London Grid for Learning published online a resource for primary schools created around a sci-fi story of a young woman undertaking a journey to the moon for a mining company. Set not far into the future, the story is told in a series of talking head videos as the mission gets underway, as the astronaut, Taz collects rock samples on the moon, and then as it goes alarmingly wrong on her way back to earth. It is an exciting, engaging story, that comes with a wide range of resources to help with differentiation in the classroom and to make it inclusive for all learners.

The videos themselves were shot using a professional actress, so the various emotional states the astronaut goes through are well-portrayed, helping children to understand how she responds at different points in the story, and her associated feelings.  They are kept reasonably short and will work as engaging lesson starters.

Each video is sub-titled so learners with hearing impairments can enjoy the story, but this may also help those who are learning English as an additional language by linking words to text. And it makes it easier to follow a noisy environment.

They also come with transcripts, either to download for further study or re-enactment in the classroom, or  for use with screen readers for visually impaired learners to follow what is going on. Similarly each episode is also written as a chapter of story, so it can be studied as a book. In order to make sure this is accessible to more pupils in the class the story is also available in an ‘easy read’ format, with shorter sentences and a less demanding language level, but still with the core elements of the story present.

Then there are the audiobooks, designed so pupils can follow each chapter as it is read, or listen to it as a standalone story. Useful for visually impaired learners, but also helpful for those who are dyslexic, new to English, or even those who simply like having stories read to them.

Beyond this the resource comes with ready made worksheets, including some that are simplified and created using Widgit symbols that help with decoding the text.

It’s not just  the printed materials that are symbolised, the website itself has the Widgit Point system activated, so any word on the web-page that the viewer hovers the  mouse pointer over will activate a pop-up glossary with the Widgit symbol for that word, to help with decoding. Other accessibility option include a choice of using the Dyslexie font that is said to make reading easier for those with dyslexia, and a switch to a high contrast  colour scheme – helpful for some visually impaired users.

Of course, travelling into space also supports study in subjects other than literacy, so additional materials include lesson plans, starter presentations, and worksheets for Computing, Maths, and Science, too. Whilst these are not differentiated or adapted for SEND, there are some useful activities, particularly in computing. These latter activities are built around the trip to the moon, with learners creating animations in Scratch. To get them started there are explanatory videos, files of code to work from, and assets such as rockets and re-entry capsules so that they can focus on the code rather than creating the  individual elements of the project.

There is a lot of material here, much of it deliberately created with learners with a broad range of challenges in mind. There content is interesting and engaging, and it can be used as a launchpad for many creative hours in the classroom. The only potential downside is that you need to be a London Grid for Learning (or Trustnet) subscribing school to get access. But that is over 95% of schools in the capital. To find out if you are one go to www.sainfo.lgfl.net