Technology is only part of the story when assessing ICT needs

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

 

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.

Using Chromebooks for SEND.

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

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.

LGfL’s Space Adventures – designed for everyone?

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

PurpleMash for all Primary Pupils

Whether it’s inspiring writers or boosting creativity in your children, Purple Mash has very much to offer teachers of children with SEND and it is simple to use and loved by all.

PurpleMash is a suite of online programmes that cover almost every area of the computing curriculum and provide templates and tools for every area of the Primary Curriculum. There are activities to practise basic computing skills, like keyboarding & mouse skills; activities to teach online safety, activities to teach phonics and get children reading, writing, listening and speaking. There are tools for counting, graphing, mind mapping, painting. There are activities for problem solving and learning tables. All the tools are brightly coloured, easy to navigate and use; however if you need it there are videos and PDF guidance for every tool. In the teacher’s area is all the documentation you might need: Schemes of Work with lesson plans, assessment tools, suggested timetables, cross curricular links etc.

There are many activities for different subject areas with template and tasks labelled with a suggested age appropriateness but there are lots of ways of differentiating within tasks.Themed writing projects have sentence starters and word banks to scaffold work for some groups.

It is very easy have access to PurpleMash at home. Teachers can set tasks for children to do in class or at home by using 2Dos.

Minimash is the area for children in the Early Years, which might also be suitable for older children working at P levels. It has themed activities and many games and creative activities like music making and painting as well as delightful figures to colour in.

Serial Mash is a collection of online books for children from 5 to 11 with excellent (subject related) themes. They can be read on screen, (background and text colour and size can all be altered if necessary) or printed out as a PDF. Then a collection of activities testing comprehension, spellings, punctuation and grammar all centered on each chapter. (Most books have a new chapter each week.)

 

 

 

Bett 2019 – What’s in it for you?

The Bett Show is back at Excel from 23rd to 26th January, as big and as daunting as ever when it comes to finding what you want. The organisers have created an app to help you get organised which you can find here  https://www.bettshow.com/download-the-official-bett-2019-mobile-app . But to help you get started I’ve had a trawl through the exhibitors and to identify  a few that might help develop inclusive practice in schools.

If you want to see where technology can take us then some of the stands have examples of how it can provide multi-sensory experiences that would be difficult to create through other means. Immersive interactive (Stand H 361 www.immersive.co.uk) build multi-sensory environments with all round projection, surround sound and interactive floors and walls. Whereas a more personal, all-encompassing environment is provided by Avantis with their ClassVR system (Stand C205 www.advantiseducation.com) . You might also want to look at iSandbox (Stand F86 www.isandbox.co.uk) with their promise of a system involving both real sand and virtual reality. Whilst there remain questions over how far VR suppliers have thought about the actual needs of learners with SEND, the potential should be great.

Something else which so far has showed greater promise in the potential than in the practice  is artificial-intellingence (AI). Century (Stand E192 www.century.tech) are offering a learning platform that, ‘uses learning science, artificial intelligence and neuroscience, to create constantly adapting pathways for students.’ Although it may be too much to hope that this extends to SEND.

Another futuristic offering comes from Connect Training (Stand A20 www.connecttotraining.co.uk) who provide real-time avatars to practise difficult conversations in a safe environment. These are intended to help improve performance in everyday job roles. I’m not sure whether this extends to teaching.

Avatars are also the basis for Mind Rocket’s approach (Stand 254 www.mindrocketsinc.com), only here they are used to teach sign language. It is a product developed in Jordan, so it may have a regional accent, but it could be helpful for children and young people, and the adults around them, to learn these skills.

We will also want to keep a record of what has been learnt in school, to provide evidence and to monitor progress. Both Bsquared (Stand C134 www.connectingsteps.com ) and Tapestry (Stand F62 www.tapestryjournal.com ) will be present, and talking about how their products support a post-Rochford approach to assessment.

You might also want resources to help them make progress in the subjects you are monitoring. In numeracy DoodleMaths (Stand E100 https://doodlemaths.com) continues to grow in popularity, particularly for use on tablets and touchscreens, whereas Numberfit (Stand G188 www.numberfit.com) eschews such a sedentary approach for one with lots of movement and activity. Also present will be Jellyjames (Stand A400 www.jellyjames.co.uk) with their Dynamo Maths, specifically targeted at pupils with dyscalculia.

In the field of literacy a couple of stalwarts will be present, including Crick (POD1 www.cricksoft.com) creators of the ever useful Clicker range of products, and Texthelp (Stand C141 www.texthelp.com) with their add on toolbar of resources to support literacy, including dictation, prediction and a screen-reader.

More specific support is on offer for both reading and spelling. For the former Yap (Stand C40 www.yapbooks.com) is offering voice controlled books to help develop reading skills, whilst Lexplore (Stand B303 www.lexplore.co.uk ) uses eye tracking to ‘to quickly and objectively determine a child’s exact reading attainment.’ Which sounds like a novel approach. It will be interesting to see how that copes with reading comprehension.

For spelling both The  Spelling Shed (Stand FS141 www.spellingshed.com)  and Magic Spell (Stand FS33 www.brainbox.games) promise fun ways to learn spellings whilst allowing adults to control the focus of the work.

And if science is what you are after then the Wellcome Trust’s Explorify Science (Stand G306 https://wellcome.ac.uk) is said to be ‘inclusive and accessible to all pupils.’

Finally, for older pupils,  there is the all encompassing offering from Your Favourite Teacher (Stand C48 www.yourfavouriteteacher.com) which is an online classroom  aimed at GCSE with ‘a focus on pupil premium, alternative education and targeted intervention groups.’ Which would be a welcome resource if it does what it says on the tin. The content includes videos, podcasts and animations with  interactive activities and quizzes.

Whatever your area of interest there is bound to be something at Bett that’s useful. The challenge is in tracking it down.

 

 

 

Immersive Reader in Office 365

What is it?

During 2018 Microsoft brought out a few changes to both their online product, Office 365, and updated their installed version, MSOffice. Both now have a ‘Dictate’ function, that can operate in several different languages. They also introduced a ‘Read’ function, which, in the installed version is  a button on the toolbar.

However, the most exciting development was the introduction of the ‘Immersive Reader.’ This is available in both versions, however, I think it works best in the online product, so that’s the one I shall focus on here.

It is a tool to aid reading, and to analyse the make up of a text, through a number of easy to use functions. These include text to speech, changing the colour scheme, widening the space between letters, breaking the words into phonemes, and an on-screen ruler to isolate particular lines. There is also a function to highlight different parts of speech – nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs – to focus on them.

Who is it for?

It could be used by both teachers and students. When teaching from the board teachers can use it to make points about grammar, or to focus on spellings.

For pupils it offers ways to customize the text to make it easier to read, or to have it read to them, as well as helping them to make sense of it.

How do I use it?

Using it is fairly straight forward. Opening, or creating, a document in Office 365 puts the Immersive Reader option into the ribbon at the top of the screen. Clicking on this changes the appearance of the screen, taking away the usual toolbar and providing only the Immersive Reader tools, with a ‘Play’ button at the bottom of the screen, and the other options sitting at the side. Operation is simply a matter of clicking them on and off.

For instance, the Text Preferences button allows for enlarging the font, changing it to something that may be easier to read, increasing the spacing, and changing the colour scheme, to high contrast, perhaps, or to a blue background.

The Grammar Options are where you can highlight different elements of the text, and break it down into syllables, and the Reading Options provide the on-screen ruler, in three sizes. There is also an option to link to a Picture Dictionary (using Boardmaker PCS symbols) where hovering over a word brings up an image to illustrate it.

What else is there?

You can probably find a way to provide  all of these functions in other ways. For instance, there are free on-screen rulers that allow you to provide a line focus. Or you can download overlays to change the colour of a screen, and there are now a number of screen readers, several of them free, to use as add-ons in your browser – such as Googlevox.

You could also put a text on a white board and use coloured pens to pick out the  different elements of grammar. Or even load a document in MSWord then use the highlighter tool, in various colours, to provide the same sort of analysis.

What’s useful here, though, is that all these tools are available together,  in a very commonly used product. They are easy to find, simple to use, and serve a very useful purpose, either for accessing the text, or for understanding it better.

Person Centred Planning? What’s that?

Person Centred Planning? What’s that?

It’s a way of approaching planning and reviews that puts the learner at the centre of the process. The 2015 Code of Practice for SEND   talks of it focusing on, “the child or young person as an individual,” and of involving them and their parents in decision-making (Paragraphs 9:22 and 9:23). It is a more holistic approach to viewing pupils than simply focusing on academic achievements and learning needs.

Tower Hamlets has taken a lead on putting it into practice. A good overview and guidance for putting it into practice can be found here.

How can ICT help?

With person centred planning (PCP) putting children and young people at the centre of deliberations there are many ways that ICT can help.

The use of collaborative tools, such as Google Docs or Office365 can allow professionals and parents to share information prior to the meeting. A Google form could be used to ask for reviews and reports.

Another obvious way it can play a role in this process is in recording and evidence gathering. It has become common practice for staff to capture achievements through the use of photos and videos, including those taken outside of school and at home. An easy way to prepare these for use in a review is to create a Photo Album in PowerPoint. This is very straightforward. Start a new presentation, then choose Insert, and Photo Album. This will direct you to go to the folder where the images are. You select those you want, click ‘Done,’ and they will automatically be placed on one slide each. From there you, or better still the learner, can add captions or record a commentary.

Are there particular resources that will help?

A useful model for appreciating how far a learner could expect to be involved in the PCP process is the Ladder of Participation. This suggests eight levels of engagement.

The bottom rung is ‘Absent,’ where the learner isn’t in the meeting and their voice, their views and wishes, are not considered. Here technology might help the adults present to consider evidence from photos and videos and come to their own conclusions

Next up is ‘Informed,’ where the child or young person is told that a meeting is happening, and about the outcomes, but they are not asked to become involved.

A pupil may be ‘Considered’ when the adults take account of what they think their views are. The absence may be because they are unwilling or unable to participate, but the outcomes should be considered as available for amendment, should the child or young person decide to make their views known at some point. Here technology can help to share the outcomes and be a means for commenting on and changing them if need be.

The child or young person is ‘Represented’ when their views are shared with the meeting either by being quoted, or as a report on choices they have made. For some pupils with more challenging SEND this could be through the use of approaches such as Talking Mats, with its associated app, where questions are based on previous responses and become more granular as information is added. Alternatively a video, perhaps using iMovie on an iPad, or a PowerPoint presentation, could be used where the learner is reluctant to come into the room, so that even in their absence their  voice can be heard.

When they are ‘Consulted’ a child or young person is present at the meeting and is able to answer questions put to them, or they can respond to decisions being made. They might start the meeting with a film or presentation, giving others present a chance to find out more. If they are reluctant to participate in the meeting they might be able to join in through a video-link such as Skype, Facetime, or Google Hangouts.

As a ‘Participant’ in the meeting the learner asks their own questions of the adults present, and contribute to the decision-making. One useful resource for this could be the Rixwiki . This is a secure, online, space for them to post information, not just from school but  from any aspect of their lives, and share it with others. This can just be used as a presentational tool, and it provides a solid scaffold for that, but it also allows for others to contribute and for farther reaching information to be included than might not ordinarily be the case at a review.

When a child or young person becomes a ‘Partner’ they will be helping to set the agenda, to determine outcomes and targets, and even to take a lead on achieving them. Technology can be a useful resource for planning and structuring this participation.

Once they become a ‘Planner’ the learner is able to provide feedback to the adults involved with them on what works, and what doesn’t work, for them, and how  services could be improved. Here technology might help to present evidence, and be used to share information, and provide feedback.

Is there anything else?

Technology helps in many ways. It can;

  • Provide tools for gathering, and sharing, information. Gsuite, Office365, Rixwikis, Typeform, and even Surveymonkey can do this.
  • Give them a voice. For some this might be through a communication app, such as Clicker Communicate, Proloquo2go, GoTalk or The Grid. For others it could mean recording a video or working through a Talking Mats exercise.
  • Demonstrate their achievements and present a fuller picture of their lives. Whilst videos and photos will help here, putting them into a framework such as a Rixwiki will help to structure their thoughts.
  • Presenting their idea and views. Here PowerPoint can be very useful, but there are many apps that can be simple to use, even independently, such as Our Story, Story Creator, Clicker Books, Book Creator, and 2createastory.
  • Let’s others contribute. For instance, people who can’t attend, or fellow classmates, can record a video to share at the meeting.
  • Making information more accessible. Here Widgit’s Communicate InPrint, or Widgit Online can help, or something such as Commtap’s symboliser for PowerPoint. This is a toolbar that will help to add symbols to presentations.

Technology also makes it easier to see progress over time, and to reflect back on previous meetings, not just through the record of the meeting, but also by reviewing the evidence, the photos, videos, work and comments from last time to see what has changed.