Author: AccessAbility Smyles

I have become AbilityNet’s county co-ordinator for Wiltshire  which means that I will be  work ing with a team of volunteers who help people use their computers. In particular, we work with individuals who may need help due to their disability and additional needs. This is about hardware and access. I have known of the work of AbilityNet for many years and as a local WiltsOnline Digital Champion it seems a natural direction to take to increase my experience in the voluntary sector.

I also aim to do some paid work with them in the form of assessment as  a freelance consultant which would increase skills in the area of DSA and broader disabilities than my specialism of learning disabilities. This would mean more face to face assessment and problem solving.

I am seeing my first client in my voluntary role next week!

Just been working with the app Green Screen which is very easy to use. I like the paintout option which is useful if you don’t have a green screen cloth! I was able to use a video that played with different images being usee as the screen. Just use the paint brush from the editor. Have fun!

Thanks to Jenny Wise I have  just put on a list of interesting websites that may interest those who home school educators and  SEN teachers . Here is what Jenny wrote:-

“Hello!

As a homeschool teacher and the parent of an autistic child, I’ve learned a lot about how important it is to pay attention to the individual needs of every student — especially special education students, who may need specific classes or individual help to be successful.

It can be tough to know the best approach when reaching out to those with special needs, so I’ve done some research to help educators and families get started. Would you be interested in sharing them with your audience (https://aas123.com/resources/helpful-resources-for-parents-and-teachers-of-special-education-children/ )

For students of all ages:
Creating the Optimal Environment for a Kid with ADHD

Suggested Classroom Interventions for Children with ADD & Learning Disabilities

The Life-Changing Impact of Autism Service Dogs

Addressing Special Education Needs for Students Learning English as a Second Language

22 Tips for Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

50 Must-See Blogs for Special Education Teachers

The Ultimate Guide to Water Safety for Parents and Caregivers of Children with Autism

Teaching Your Child About Peers with Special Needs

And here are a few that high school and college educators, parents and students will find helpful:
Teaching College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism and Addiction: Coping with and Treating Your Dual Diagnosis

Choosing a College: Planning for Teens with ADD

College Resources for Students with Disabilities

I hope these will make a positive impact on special needs children, educators, and families!

For further details go to http://www.SpecialHomeEducator.com

Came across a fascinating site which is doing great work in gesture and movement. James is using a wealth of resources . I particularly like the Kinect ones and will be trying them out myself on my laptop! Thanks James! Respect!
senclassroom.wordpress.com

Groups in Office 365 works great when you are in an Office 365 business setup with lots of colleagues. I would like to work with external to my organisation colleagues around the UK for specific roles. Here is what I am discovering. You can establish a group email to write to but not access other of the tools like files, shared calender and notebook. Admin ( owner of the site can) but not a user. You can email to the group address – useful for tracking emails and receive emails to the group like a distribution list.

As organisations grow and need smarter ways of handling email’s then this kind of facility is useful compared to scrolling through hundred’s of email. Groups.io is one that has a lot of the tools and more than the Yahoo groups that people use. If using a site like groups.io forwarding from the group email is essential to smooth running which is part of the setup procedure. But to operate the file and calender you need to go to groups.io rather than having it integrated into your chosen emailing system. I like groups.io and use it for BATA.

I found this useful article on Groups in Office 365:-

http://en.share-gate.com/blog/groups-for-office-365

This won’t win pun of the year but the adage “simple is best” applies to using this one page website. Having a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to web building makes sense to me. This is good for self-promotion and making one message get across to your audience very clearly and attractive. It can lead toother more detailed and structure information. It is free to build and therefore attractive to education, professionals and parents alike.  To see my strikingly website click on the link below:-

aas123.strikingly.com 

Just to say some useful information has come through from Special World  here is the link :- 
Special World News – April 16

It’s a joy to recommend a local company near where I live! The C-Pen reader is a portable OCR scanner that can work as a file storage device, text to speech listening tool and audio recorder to name but a few. I suggest you check out their new website for what these pens can do. Approved for use in exams by the JCQ the exam pen will enable pupils to access exam papers for themselves. The pen allows a struggling dyslexic reader to have text decoded into speech by scanning a line of text. But the pen does much more than that and enables pupils to access definitions of words, store audio files, etc. A student on a course I was running the other day said she wished she had had one of these earlier in her career as its technology that really enables.

http://www.readerpen.com

Microsoft’s Power BMI is a free add on to Office 365 users. It enables you to integrate project management tools amongst other things to allow you to analyse your information. I have just used it  to integrate Insightly which is my free project management tool. I can see in a chart form how my opportunites & projects are doing and how many of them are converting into work.

Now I agree this isn’t specifically special needs and I am speaking to a much narrower audience. The reason being that professionals may wish to use these framework tools to ask more salient questions such as the progress on a project of new technology or teaching and to be able to analyse as a snapshot in time.

HelpKidzLearn have been given the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2016. Well done!

HelpKidzLearn Queen’s Award

	The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: 2016
	HelpKidzLearn wins 2016 Queen’s Award for Enterprise. HelpKidzLearn is delighted to announce that we have received the most prestigious business award in the UK – the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2016, in the year when Her Majesty The Queen celebrates her 90th birthday and the 50th year of the awards. The award is specifically for HelpKidzLearn and the impact it has had with children with Complex Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (CLDD) in the UK, United States and 146 other countries. READ MORE HKL Social Media HelpKidzLearn | info@helpkidzlearn.com | www.helpkidzlearn.com