You Need
Over 17,000 Attend Islington Show
by Sal McKeown
The Special Needs London show which takes place in Islington each November is well known for its book awards but it is also the place to launch new SEN software products prior to BETT. This year the emphasis was on updating and refining products rather than new launches.
WordSmith from TextHelp (http://www.texthelp.com) incorporates all the best features of Read and Write. Scan in a document and have it read aloud so it is going to be good for those with little useful a vision or poor reading skills who need access to books or worksheets, as well as online resources. It still has the word prediction facility but also has a word wizard so, if you have forgotten a word, you can flick through a vocabulary list to find it. For example, if the word accelerator eludes you, click on the car vocabulary list to find it. This is going to make it a really good purchase for the ESOL market and those who are concerned with dysphasic learners.
The other good news is that for £299.00, the program can be used for an almost indefinite number of users. TextHelp see this as a good product for libraries where hundreds of people log on. They are now busy developing, Leer y Escribir, a Spanish version of Read and Write which is primarily aimed at the US market but will also be useful for British students studying Spanish for GCSE.
Penny and Giles specialise in input devices for physically disabled learners. Jack Randall and John Ogilvie are the men who know all about switches, rollerballs and joysticks and anyone who has attended a SEN exhibition is sure to have benefited from their impartial, good humoured advice.
This year they are promoting
Large Adjustable Pressure
Switches which can be tailored to respond accurately to different
levels of pressure. Some users have gross motor movements and need a robust
switch which can take heavy pressure; others have limited movement and can only
apply the lightest touch. Large Adjustable Pressure Switch can
accommodate both types of user. You can also use their Jogglebox to
attach two switches so students can develop dexterity with both hands or two
users can participate in a game.
Their latest product, to be launched at BETT is 4Talk, a desktop message device. This is the first of what promises to be the first of several exciting collaborations between Penny and Giles and Inclusive Technology. Watch this space for further news.
Becta demonstrated the Inclusion database, (http://inclusion.ngfl.gov.uk) launched at the Education show in March, and two new mailing lists aimed at teachers of the deaf and professional working with physically disabled learners. They also have a new publication called Breaking Down Barriers which contains lesson plans and case studies showing the value of ICT for literacy, numeracy and creative skills. (http://www.becta.org.uk)
Lots of exhibition-goers were excited by the Widgit product
Inter_Comm. This provides total support for the email user. There are
onscreen writing frames to get you started and you can choose whether to
compose in symbols or text. If you use a standard email program, you can
receive a message sent in symbol format and it will be read as a text message
or vice versa. In other words, users can receive emails in the format which
works for them.
One of the great things about going to an exhibition is that you get to meet the people behind the products. I talked to Kath Balcombe who is one half of KBER, (http://www.kber.co.uk) a company that specialises in software and photocopiable printed resources to help learners of all ages develop their handwriting skills. Handwriting for Windows was shortlisted for a BETT award last year. You can choose your preferred letter shape and have it appear on screen as a sample to be printed and copied. Now handwriting practice can be based on any piece of text: the words of a song from the Web or a chunk of Encarta about a favourite topic. Alternatively, the program will print the text in dotted letters which pupils write over to see how letters are formed and link together.
Finally, on a
personal note, this show saw the launch of my book, Unlocking Potential,
published by Questions Publishing. This is based on a series of articles I have
written over the last year in Special Children magazine. Thanks to all
the software producers who have sent me information and answered queries and
all those special needs teachers who have contributed ideas and case studies.
Hey, this is getting just like the Oscars…
Sal McKeown