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ACE Centre iPads course

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:52:59 +0100

The ACE Centre in Abingdon held a course today to share examples of how schools and other settings are using iPads, iPods and peripherals and other technologies to support users with special needs.
I had the pleasure of helping with a short presentation given by Vanessa Rogers, who is one of the Speech and Language Therapists who works with us at Frank Wise School. Vanessa’s been doing some great work across the school and is coming up with some great ideas about what can be done with existing AAC apps, and looking ahead at what else would be good to find or develop.
One of the things I’d not been aware of previously, was that one of the leading AAC apps from long-standing developers AssistiveWare, Proloquo2go, is now installed on all the iPads and iPods in Apple Stores.
There were a whole host of thought-provoking presentations, loaded with lots of ideas to follow up on. A couple of links you might find worth looking into would be Will Wade’s blog about AAC apps, and the website for the app Grace, which has been developed through the ideas of Lisa Domican inspired by her two children who have autism, but which (as is mentioned on the website) is by no means limited to users deemed to be autistic.

Steve Jobs; iRP

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 21:11:50 +0100

Just to add my voice to the worldwide tributes.
Lots of people in the ADE community have been commenting on how directly this man’s work and life changed theirs, and I’m right in there with them. Apple, started by Mr Jobs and his partner, Mr Wozniak, has changed the way the whole world works, let alone just a few of us.
The insanely great software and the efficient beauty of the product exemplifies the very best in design thinking. Not superficial trimming, but deep-rooted understanding of functionality. This is what works for pupils with learning difficulties, this is what works for all of us.
Quick add-on link to Stephen Fry’s notable tribute on his blog.

International SEN Conference

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:03:46 +0100

Event: International SEN conference
Location: Business Design Centre in Islington
Dates: 14th & 15th October 2011
Keynote Speakers: (include) Professor Chris Forlin from Hong Kong, Brian Lamb and Marloes Koster from the Netherlands.
I’ll be speaking on Friday 14th about how we’re using iPads across the curriculum at Frank Wise School.

Here’s a bit of the text from the TES website: “Professionals in special educational needs are under fire from all angles: budget cuts, Ofsted criticisms of over-diagnosing, policy changes, and potentially the loss of teaching training courses. The first international TES SEN conference will enable you to hear from the leaders of the sector, those involved in the policy-making, as well as hear international perspectives and relevant experiences to enable you to learn about the most recent developments in the SEN sector and how to navigate successfully the immediate future.”

FWS 50th Anniversary

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:00:17 +0100

Friday, 15th July marked Frank Wise school’s celebration of 50 years since we first took pupils in, way back in 1961.
The school back then, officially opened by Enoch Powell, was under the control of the Health Service, which passed into the Education Service in 1971. The 50th celebration event went off really well, with lots of faces old and new coming together on a very relaxed day.
There are photos on the school website, and I hope to post some on Flickr too soon.

TES Awards

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:45:01 +0100

Frank Wise School was on the shortlist for the TES Awards Special School of the Year on Friday. Although we didn’t win (that went to the New School at West Heath, from Sevenoaks), we were thrilled to be amongst the contenders.
We took three of our pupils with us, and had the pleasure of the company of people such as Hetan Shah and his colleagues from Think Global. It was a tremendous day, and we all came back determined to give it a shot again next year.
Here’s a set of photos from the event on Flickr.