[Niamh Doyle]

I’m thinking of a group of children with ASD as we have an ASD classroom in our school which I spend some time in weekly. For them, technology can enhance engagement, access, and differentiation in both literacy and numeracy. For literacy, the ABC Kids Tracing and Phonics app are really good. Immersive reader would work well, as would audio books available on reading eggs and visual story apps. For Maths,  resources such as Maths Assistant Maths Duel, Maths Assistant and Khan Academy could be trialled on the small group of students. Of course, it’s not one size fits all. Luckily we have the support in the classroom to try some of these resources out individually in the classroom. We must keep in mind the School Development Planning information of the IEF to ensure we are promoting language-rich, differentiated activities for small-group or individual learning. Collaboration between teachers, parents, and learners is key also. Whole school planning is required to identify and adopt inclusive technologies and teaching approaches for the whole school.

[Niamh Doyle]

That’s a really good idea to have Duolingo as an early finishers task. Something I’ll suggest in my school. Thanks!

[Niamh Doyle]

Part 1:

I believe the SETT framework and the SSP work hand in hand, with the SETT framework being the starting point for the SET teacher. The teacher analyses the student in terms of their strengths, greatest learning needs, learning style etc in conjunction with the SETT framework.  It’s important to take into account the child’s communication skills/needs, their cognitive ability and any sensory needs.  The student’s school environment will be important to take into careful consideration too when completing the SSP and selecting AT with the aid of the SETT framework. Teacher observation will be an important assessment tool to identify the above. Also checklists, work samples, informal interviews with child and parental input if necessary will be key. The best suited AT solutions can then be sourced after all of this analysis.

Part 2:

SETT Plan

Student:

9 year old student with dyslexia diagnosis
Poor phonological awareness
Unable to learn or retain CVCC spelling words
Finds it difficult to concentrate on task for longer than 5 minutes
Enjoys picture books and free writing activities
Environment:

Inclusive mainstream classroom (24 students in total). Access to daily SET support in small group withdrawal. Sits in table group of 4-5 students close to class teacher and whiteboard.

Tasks:

Spellings and phonics activities. Read aloud activities in small groups. Reading for enjoyment during DEAR time.

Tools:

Text-to-speech, colour background and line focus in Immersive Reader. Dictate feature – to support writing through speech-to-text. Noise-cancelling headphones to aid concentration. Picture dictionary to help her engage in weekly spellings.

Reflection

With the headings Student, Environment, Tasks, and Tools, I found this to be a good guide and starting point to identify the child’s needs. Sometimes as teachers, we can feel overwhelmed as to where to start when catering for pupils. AT will certainly provide greater accessibility and engagement for this particular student. From my learning too, I think communication with the pupil themselves is key too. Listen to them, observe them, take time to figure out exactly what they need to succeed and feel more confident and comfortable in the classroom.

[Niamh Doyle]

Unfortunately I don’t have access to immersive reader on my personal laptop at home as it’s very old (word 2016). However, I know that from the videos I’ve viewed on this course and from my own research that it is an excellent and user friendly tool that I can bring into the SET classroom in the coming school year. I will be supporting one student in particular with severe dyslexia. The lesson would be related to magic e words which she finds very challenging. I would prepare a decodable piece of reading on fairies as this is an area of interest for her. I would use immersive reader to enable the read aloud tool for her. I’d turn on line focus (1 line at a time). I would adjust font spacing and background color for readability. The picture dictionary feature would work well to help her with difficult words. After the piece has been read, I would include some questions that she has to answer using the dictate tool in microsoft. She has just received approval for AT so I’m looking forward to being able to support her more with AT in the coming year using immersive reader in particular.

The Cosán framework supports teachers in becoming life long learners. It is vital that we take on this responsibility to continuously grow and learn alongside the diverse nature of our job. Social, cultural and technological changes in schools means we must learn and adapt to an ever changing environment. We are lucky that education centres provide a great variety of upskilling workshops and webinars to support our life long learning. Summer courses also help us in areas that we may know little about. We are constantly learning. This is what keeps the job interesting. CPD plays an important role in helping us to work well in our teaching roles.

[Niamh Doyle]

Brilliant to have that template Catherine, thanks for sharing!

[Niamh Doyle]

Immersive reader is something I never used before but definitely something I will be using going forward in SET and also sharing with my colleagues. It’s going to be beneficial in helping children with dyslexia and visual processing difficulties where they would face literacy challenges on a daily basis. For EAL students, built-in picture dictionary looks very useful. I would hope that these tools would allow students to feel more independent in their work and their abilities.The line focus and colour blocking options are excellent for struggling readers. I would have provided a dyslexia ruler in the past but I can see this tool is much more user friendly for a child with additional literacy needs. We use the Google platform across our school but I see that Pat has shared the link to help with accessibility advice etc. which is great. Screen readers, voice typing and visible supports will be available.  The Reading Coach App is another resource that was shared which I’ve taken a look at and feel I could use in the SET classroom during the year.

[Niamh Doyle]

Claire, thanks for highlighting this. I am thinking of students that I work closely with who may have the same issue. As they get used to it, this might improve but adult support will definitely be required to some extent.

[Niamh Doyle]

As someone who has very little knowledge of AT, module 1 has helped me to understand it’s importance, the types of AT from low to high and how the framework helps teachers to implemenet it most effectively. Gathering data about the student, the environment they work in, the tasks they have to accomplish and the finally the AT tools that would best suit their needs givcs teachers guidance so the framework is very useful in this way. It’s also centred on the child’s needs and their environment. Regardless of the AT used, the child must feel comfortable using it in their classroom environment. I found the case study on Theo helpful in breaking down the SETT framework. The table with heading helped to identify his greatest area of need. This is something I would use going forward.

When looking at the Student Support File, I think the SETT model encourages and promotes a more collaborative approach to planning. Lots of thought and consideration are put into the student’s needs as a starting point. I will be working with a student in SET this coming year who will need AT. I now have a useful guide as to how to best to identify what will suit the child best in reaching their potential. I was glad to note that the Digital Learning Framework recognises that schools are at different stages of making improvements in the effectives use of digital technologies. I think most schools are making big efforts to implement AT but it can be a slow process. Collaborative learning will be key in ensuring the whole school community are confident and competent in their use of AT.

[Niamh Doyle]

I agree that the categories low, medium and high tech were very useful in helping us to realise that some strategies we are already using in the classroom (low) and it also breaks down the next levels of AT that we can look at implementing. It is simplified in a way that we can also share this with our teaching peers which will be so useful for the year ahead.

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