The Special Needs Fringe 2008

Dates: 9th - 11th January 2008
Venue: Olympia Hilton, Kensington, London
Opening times: 9.30am - 5.00pm

For the eighth year, the Special Needs Fringe showcased technology for those with special educational needs. There was a full resources exhibition with product suppliers and advisory services, new hardware and software to try out, and a programme of seminars to help educators get the most out of their day.

Show organisers Inclusive Technology showed their new ChooseIt! Ready-mades Literacy Series. Each CD has simply presented activities that map directly to the DfES Primary Strategy Letters and Sounds document. Designed by a teacher with over 20 years' experience in primary and special schools, the series is ideal for pupils at the Foundation Stage and KS1 as well as those with special needs who need extra practice.

Visitors also tried out Inclusive's brand new software, SwitchIt! Dinosaurs Extra and SwitchIt! Transport Extra. Each has motivating, accessible activities such as picture building, flash cards and stories, and come complete with extra worksheets, resources and on-screen activities. They are ideal for switch users, although exhibitors could try them out on the height adjustable, Inclusive Interactive Plasma Screen, which was the centrepiece of the company's display.

Launching on the Advisory Unit stand was a free online resource bank called the Plasma Screen and Whiteboard Room. It is designed to inspire, encourage and equip busy teachers with new curriculum materials for pupils working within the 'P' scales. It has downloadable teaching resources, lesson notes, video clips demonstrating best practice, information and links to useful websites for teachers working with students who have severe and profound learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorders. Teachers can also submit their own links and content.

New from Crick Software was Clicker Phonics. This new series of six CDs uses the proven technology of Clicker 5 to develop speaking and listening skills and phonological awareness. Having built this foundation, it then presents a programme of systematic synthetic phonics. The two CDs in the 'Get Ready!' set enable children to discriminate between everyday sounds. They also develop speaking skills as they record their own sounds. At the 'Get Set!' stage, children tune into the sounds of language, focusing on patterns in words and differentiating between their sounds. The 'Let's Go!' CDs follow current recommendations for phonics teaching and give children opportunities for real reading and writing activities.

A new resource for developing pre-reading skills could be found on the Lexion/Frolunda stand. Lexion is designed to help children and young people with dyslexia and other reading and spelling difficulties. The program is widely used throughout Scandinavia, and since its standardisation for use in the UK, has become a common feature in many British schools. Until recently, the program was used with children from six years of age and upward. It now has a whole new section designed to teach pre-reading skills, which has been developed in response to feedback from UK users. These 'Beginning to Read Profiles' support the teaching of children who are at the early stages of learning to read and can also be used with older children who are experiencing difficulties.

There was much to see for those interested in developing communication skills and using communication aids. The ACE Centre North had details of two new projects, one for young children and the other for adults. It is widely recognised that play is essential to a child's overall development, yet for those with communication and physical disabilities, opportunities to play are often limited. Let's All Play is a BIG Lottery funded project delivered by the Centre that aims to explore how assistive technology can enable these children to join in. It involves working with a core group of pre-school aged children and will result in the development of play packs and training materials, which will be available from ACE Centre North at the end of the project.

The No Speech But Lots to Say project will work with adults who have little or no speech, together with their families and carers and voluntary sector staff. It aims to plan, trial and evaluate different systems and strategies to promote the meaningful involvement of those aged 16 or over in developing their local services.

US communication specialist AMDi presented a whole new product line at the event. The Smart Series communication aids have a new Smart Overlay System, which allows overlays to be 'keyed' using a standard hole punch. When the overlay is changed the device detects the hole pattern and automatically changes the level, playing the sounds to match the overlay. The sound is stored on interchangeable flash memory cards, to provide unlimited levels on the device. AMDi also demonstrated their new ready-made Smart/Ease activities, which cover various subjects and come complete with pre-keyed overlays and memory cards with pre-recorded messages.

Visitors to the Smartbox Assistive Technology stand could try out PowerBox 4, a new communication aid based on a tablet computer. It can handle the full range of standard and educational software as well as Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). The system is supplied with The Grid 2 software, which gives access via switches, touch screen or pointing devices to general Windows software, as well as full screen AAC functions.

Among new exhibitors to the Fringe were Chatting Independently and the Signalong Group. The primary aim of Chatting Independently is to train and support young people with a physical disability in the age range of 18-45 years in the use of various forms of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). They help provide them with the opportunity to learn to direct their own lives and become more independent.

The Signalong Group showed a sign-supporting system based on British Sign Language designed to help children and adults with communication difficulties. They have researched and published the widest range of signs in Britain, which are drawn and described following a consistent method that enables users to access vocabulary according to need. Resources published by the charity cater for a range of ages and ability from pre-school and pre-language up to preparation for employment.