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Agree with you Emily. Access to the number lines in One Note are a nice simple way of supporting children in numeracy and the immersive reader has been a revelation for me, having never heard of it before. Think it could have made a huge difference to some of my children last year and a relief I will now be able to make it available to others going forward.
Thought this was a really simple, practical and effective way of organizing the tools and environment to support children who may need additional help. The smaller group setting and access to both the support teacher and assistive technology could bring children on considerably.
Love this idea Claire and a great way to make class novels or readers more accessible to children who may be struggling. In particular, the line spacing in novels can prove very challenging in the senior classes!
This is an excellent idea Patrick. A great way to use immersive reader and apply the app to texts that the children may be encountering in print. So many features of immersive reader that can assist with children’s reading comprehension.
I really agree with this point and wish this standard received greater focus. There is an abundance of assistive technology now available which can be of tremendous benefit to students but I do feel that more time should be made for CPD in this area, possibly through the provision of Croke Park Hours.
I found the course extremely helpful for providing examples of technology resources that could be used to support children with a range of special educational needs, in particular, children diagnosed with dyslexia. I was very impressed with line focus option available in the immersive reader that was mentioned repeatedly through the course. I had a child with dyslexia in my class this year who would use a ruler to try and help her focus on one line at a time. I immediately thought how helpful the line focus option would be to her in helping to reduce visual crowding which can make reading so challenging for a child with dyslexia. I also thought the picture dictionary in the immersive reader would have been so useful to a visual learner like herself. I think this would undoubtedly benefit many children with dyslexia and assist with reading comprehension. I liked that the math assistant in one note could help provide step by step instructions for children struggling in the area of numeracy.
The SETT ties in very well with a student’s support file. A support file requires a teacher to begin by identifying a student’s strengths and areas of concern and this is also the first step in the SETT model whereby the teacher must seek to identify the strengths and weaknesses in a variety of areas including reading, writing, communication, vision, hearing, mobility an activities of daily living. Completing a support file also requires a teacher to identify strategies to help a student achieve targets set out by the teacher and this ties well adapting the environment so that it is appropriate for the student and providing them with tools that may be assistive (environment and tools and two more areas of the SETT model). Support Plans can act as a method of assessment themselves as they can include checklists of targets. Teacher observation and teacher designed tasks can be valuable in deciding if targets have been achieved.
A teacher in an autism class could create a SETT plan while establishing the class in the school. Some of the points to be focused on could include:
Students: Identifying the strengths of the students and areas they may improve in. The children in the class may be very academically capable and I could introduce reading material from older class settings in order to challenge them in the area of literacy. I may feel that some of the children in the class could benefit from social stories focusing on turn taking and this is something I could spend a lot of time focusing on.
Environment: I could make sure the classroom included a visual timetable and visual prompts to clearly outline the day’s activities for the children in the class. I could also include many objects such as fidgets that would assist with emotional regulation as well as building a special sensory space for the children in a spare space in the school.
Tasks: Tasks for learning could vary widely from literacy and numeracy lessons to social stories and lessons focused on effective communication with their classmates.
Tools: There could be great use of assistive technology in the classroom. The ‘Write About This’ prompt could be used to help out in the area of creative writing. Duo Lingo could be used by some of the children for language learning. One of the younger children in the class could use ABC mouse app to assist with their phonics.
The fact I could focus on both the students strengths and areas for improvement as part of the plan means I could choose appropriate environmental features and tools to benefit the children’s academic and emotional development.
Part 1
My activity would be focused on the following reading comprehension:“C:\Users\35389\Documents\Summer Course 2025\Recount story.pdf”
It would be a reading activity aimed at a child in the senior classes which could be followed by comprehension questions, vocabulary work or a recount writing activity. I would use the immersive reader, which is available in the new Edge browser to support a child with dyslexia to help them comprehend the text. The PDF can be converted to a word document using Microsoft word. Options such as the line focus option will help avoid visual crowding and is one way in which the immersive reader can support a child with dyslexia. It also contains a built in picture dictionary. Some children with dyslexia benefit massively from visual aids and the picture dictionary is a great way of assisting and supporting these visual learners. The ‘Dictate’ option in Word is another assistive technology that could be used to support a child with dyslexia creating their own recount story after reading through the example provided. All they will need to do is talk and the tool will complete their writing for them, thereby reducing stress and worry over spelling.
Part 2
Teachers are most certainly lifelong learners in my opinion. The curriculum has changed three times since I began teaching and the ways in a teacher is expected to deliver on new curriculum objectives are constantly changing. There has been massive advancements in technology in the last three decades and teachers have moved with the times to use these advancements for the benefit of their students. Without CPD, teachers would not have been in a position to do this in an effective manner and students with specific needs would not have been catered for in the bespoke ways they have been.
365 tools such as varied display settings can help children with special educational needs access the literacy curriculum. Tools such as Zoom Text would allow children with visual impairment to access texts that they may find challenging to access without such a tool. The immersive reader, which is available in the new Edge browser will be of huge benefit to children diagnosed with dyslexia. Options such as the line focus option will help avoid visual crowding and is one way in which the immersive reader can support literacy in the SET classroom. The picture dictionary is another aspect of the immersive reader that will help support children who may be diagnosed with dyslexia and who benefit from visual aids/ are visual learners. The translate options are another aspect of the immersive reader that will benefit EAL students. The ‘Dictate’ tool in Microsoft word is an excellent tool for children with dysgraphia as all they will need to do is talk and the tool will complete their writing for them. This is a great way to support these pupils in literacy.
I think there was some great practical options for the use of assistive technology outlined in this module. This includes some low tech options that we provide without too much consideration such as magnetic letters for the teaching of phonics or individual mini whiteboards for use in maths or English lessons. These address the standard of allowing ‘Pupils demonstrate the knowledge, skills and understanding required by the primary curriculum’. These may seem like basic learning resources but their presence significantly improves the learning experience for children in my opinion and their absence can be sorely felt. Other low tech tools such as visual timetables can be hugely beneficial for children with autism providing a simple and clear outline as to what they can expect from their day in school and thereby making the experience more enjoyable and less stressful. This means ‘The teacher selects and uses teaching approaches appropriate to the learning objective and to pupils’ learning needs’, another standard from the digital learning framework. Some medium tech tools such as adapted seating, communication devices or braille translation software can assist children with specific educational needs and so meets the standard whereby ‘The teacher selects and uses teaching approaches appropriate to the learning objective and to pupils’ learning needs’. The incredible value of communication devices was demonstrated to the members of staff in our school when a number of new pupils enrolled in the school after immigrating to Ireland as a result of the war in Ukraine. It is scary to think how difficult it would have been to provide a meaningful learning experience for these children if not for communication devices.
I found the SETT model useful. I like the fact the student’s strengths and weaknesses are assessed across a wide range of areas including in activities of daily living. I firmly believe such activities should receive greater focus in schools. I sometimes fail to reflect on the environment in which teaching and learning take place, focusing more so on the quality of instruction so it is worth reflecting on this regularly as well.
