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The digital age s schools


The digital age letlets schools levleve theel thl


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n our third look thismonth at SEND and SEND provision n the UK’s schools, SAL MCKEOWN, free ance journalist f


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n our third look this month at SEND and SEND provision i in the UK’s schools, SAL MCKEOWN, freellance journalist for disabior disabillity, education and technology, looks at howon school in Scotland is accommodating all its s’ educational needs through the hn


ity,


education and technology, looks at how one school in Scotland is accommodating all its pupipupills’ educational needs through the considered use o f technology .


ESMS (Erskine Stewart'sMelville Schools) in Edinburgh is one of the largest independent schools in Europe.With around 2800 pupils, it provides for boarders and day pupils and offers over 300 clubs and societies. The Good Schools Guide describes it as: 'a big school with big ambitions.With terrific success stories on every front, not just academically, it is a formidable operation.'


In many ways ESMS is a very traditional school and it is expected that by the time children reach Primary 6 (Year 5) they will be using fountain pens to complete all their written work which will be good enough to display on the classroom wall. As in all schools, some children will not reach the dizzy height of legible blotch-free work so ESMS has invested in technology .


Being inclusive Being inclusive


The school has chosen Promethean Active Panels throughout the school because Simon Luxford-


Moore, eLearning Co-ordinator, has found that they are the best for reducing glare which can distract all children, not just those who experience visual stress.


There are Chromebooks and iPads in


classrooms and Simon works hard to make sure that children use the technology effectively and appropriately, especially those who have dyslexia, dyspraxia or other additional needs.Many children benefit from the Immersive Reader in Windows 10 that reads out text, increases the spacing between words, characters, and lines and chunks words into syllables so children can recognise and pronounce words more easily. He is a big fan of touch typing and has recently bought a 1000 pupil licence for KAZ T yping. 'Ou r old program was very games based,' he said. 'It was noisy, lively and with a strong element of competition.While it was great fun, it was not meeting the needs of children with dyslexia and ASD, as there were too many distractions. KAZ is a fabulous resource which specialises in teaching touch typing skills to neurodiverse learners and our children have seen a very quick result in their confidence and touch typing accuracy.'


Being understood takes pressure off children. Finlay is especially good at mathematics and science but has struggled to show his talent s because of his severe speech problem. He is a fast, very accurate typist and it is a massive relief to him now that he can communicate clearly through the written medium. Sometimes the technology raises sel Jake in Primary six (Year 5) has very poor


f-esteem. his ideas


handwriting. It is slow and laboured and looks like the work of a much younger child as he still prints in capital letters. He has a Chrome Book and is now working faster and producing legible wor k to share with others .


Support for reading Support for reading


Some children read very slowly or don’t get the meaning from the printed word, so the school encourages them to use the online library system. They can download the text as an e-book, and have it read to them so they can keep up with lessons and begin to read more fluently .


30 www.education-today.co.uk.co.uk www For pupils who can decode but cannot get


meaning from text or make pictures in their head, Simon recommends Prizmo Go. There is a free resource and a paid version. Learners can scan a page and the app will read the text back with the words highlighted as they are spoken. 'I have tried this with printed texts from newspapers, textbooks and SRA reading comprehension cards and it works for all,' he said. 'The text is scanned and can be copied/pasted into worksheets or used for close reading activities. The voice speed can be altered to suit the needs and preferences of the listener as well. '


Composing text Composing text


Millie needs support but likes to stay under the radar. She talks well but cannot write or edit her work on paper and doesn't like to draw attention to herself. She likes NeoNotes. The pens and pads look just like a standard biro or fountain pen and the notebook resembles an A4 pad of paper, so she does not feel 'marked out' as being different from others in her class.


She writes her work on paper and the


technology transcribes this into typed text which syncs with a tablet or laptop. Using Office 365, she can listen to what she has written, correct spelling mistakes and insert words she ha s omitted. The advantage is that she can edit her text easily, with no crossings out so it is still legible.


The school has recently adopted Clicker7 which supports brainstorming, simple sentence


dyslexic learners,' sa work. 'Whilst this re


construction and scaffolding for longer pieces of source is especially useful for id Simon, 'it will benefit most


children and is easy to use with a whole class.' But sometimes writing is not the answer, or at least not the only solution. HP Reveal – a piece of augmentative reality software - is free, easy t o use, and a quick and effective way for a child to create a book review. The pupils talk and record their thoughts on a video which is then linked to a hot spot – perhaps a picture of the child holding up the book. Pupils come in, pick up an iPad and scan these images to see what friends, classmates and children from d


2019 ifferent year groups are


Octobe r 2019


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