nasen awards 2023

Once again this event provides an opportunity to celebrate success and achievement in the world of special educational needs. A really good evening and food to march. A chance to network with colleagues and to give a shout out to this who often get overlooked in their daily work. I think of the different catagories of awards from innovation in practice to primary teacher of the year with special needs practise.

I was privileged to be a judge again this year. Thanks to John Lamb , BATA’s previouis exec I got invited to this event as “Mrs Lamb” so i was John’s plus 1! Now it’s more established position that we have this award ceremony. Brilliant!

Testimonies

“1’d like to give a shout out to Myles Pilling, BA,M.Ed. and encourage anyone who needs training and support around assistive tech to reach out to him directly. was lucky enough to have several hours of training with Myles thanks to my Access to Work grant. Myles’ training though? Well, it was closer to coaching than training. He didn’t assume. He asked me to show him what I did so he could offer refinements and tweaks.

But the most important thing Myles did was question why I was doing what I was doing; what was the benefit, why was it needed, and if it was what was the most effective way of doing it? No more ‘stick a tech plaster on a Luddite broken leg’ – instead Myles helped me work most effectively with my tech, by helping me figure out when and how I needed it. The absolute best bit? Thanks to working with Myles, I never ever need to do filing again.

Seriously. Never.

Myles helped me set up a system that I would likely never have discovered without him, that allows my work to be recorded and autosaved without a single follow up step.” Leah , Consultant , Search for Serenity

“Accessibility Smyles continues to serve up timely information about the latest and best technology for individuals with unique needs. Always pleased to receive these helpful resources with related links. I share them with parents, educators and others who serve the many with reading and learning challenges. (Thank you, Myles!)” – Jean

“I’ve known Myles for many years, he’s my go-to expert for all this Accessibility, so much so that he’s our resident expert at Anderton Tiger Radio. Whenever we feature this topic he’s always there with excellent advice and guidance, in fact you can listen to him again here from our January radio show https://www.buzzsprout.com/695014/2586430-myles-pilling-talks-about-technologies-for-send-that-have-caught-his-eye-at-bett-2020 Highly recommended, Myles is most definitely one of the top 5 experts in his field in the UK” – Russell Prue, Anderson Tiger

“After one of your recent training sessions, I visited your Techsavvy session and discovered the virtual tour guides. A a result my husband and I enjoyed a splendid trip to Edinburgh. A city I have avoided for a number of years due to its challenges for a wheelchair user due to its very steep streets and cobbles. I think the sessions you have posted are really good and I hoped you would be happy if I suggested these to clients, I am assisting in my volunteering journey. I am also liaising with a local charity who are trying to encourage their older members and I think they too could benefit from your regular hints and tips so would like to suggest they pass on the Techsavvy links. You really are an inspiration.” –

Heather Sneddon

South West Scotland Coordinator , AbilityNet