Author: AccessAbility Smyles

Specialist ICT SEND Consultant, Committed Christian, Loves photography and computing Plays piano and guitar - both badly!

LOOM Chrome extension

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

If you need an excuse to keep using the Chrome browser then look no further than this gem of an extension. Free to use to up to 25 little videos this could be an excellent tool for teaching and learning remotely.

Videos can be shared over social media to LinkedIn, Google mail and X (formily known as twitter). Sadly you have to pay for a download option. Great little tool though. Here is the example I recorded early as an embedded video

Loom in action

What is also good for those who need captions is that it can be switched on and enabled as well as giving real-time reaction emojis. Also comments can be left in realtime to the user.

Episode 76 – Are Smart Plugs really Smart?

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

Do you have difficulty setting up a smart plug to work with your voice? Then listen to this cautionary tale.

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-2mpug-150d385

If you need help with getting your smart plugs connected to a smart speaker then please contact AbilityNet who have nationwide volunteers who can help you for free.

the power of assistive technology

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

The films are released and available for schools and education settings who want to use them. They are free and can be used either as a series or stand-alone episodes each lasting approximately 20 minutes.

Here is a snippet to wet your appetite for this film series

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the power of assistive technology

If you want to learn more of Kiana’s journey them please go to :-

http://bataonline.org/impact and click on “Give Me Access!”

The Power of Assistive Technology-#PoAT

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

Just a couple of hours till the film series “The Power of Assistive Technology ,” is released at 9:00 am on the 21st November. A series of 3 films demonstrating the power of assistive technology to transform the lives of pupils.

To obtain your free access to these films go to http://bataonline.org/impact to sign up .

the power of assistive technology films

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

For the past two years I have been working with BATA ( British Assistive Technology Association on producing films for schools that show the power of assistive technology. These 3 films are for staff meetings, INSET days, Teacher Training and Assemblies. Each film can stand alone or be used as a series. They last between 15-20 minutes to allow time for discussion. For more details and to express an interest go to https://bataonline.org/impact

apps mapping database

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

Since 2017 I have been mapping to the curriculum apps that can be used in teaching and learning. I evaluate them for particular skills such as writing in sentences, what the purpose of the app is and most importantly what the next skill would be. My goal was to make apps more of a progression rather than an end in itself.

I didn’t want this to be just my ideas of what apps are recommended but one where people can share their apps with us to add to a growing database. The result is the App Mapping Database. To date 199 apps have been added to the database. Why not add your favourite app by clicking here

AccessAbility Solutions

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

We are on Google business and Google wants to always search for Accessibility use this link to find the entry:-

https://g.co/kgs/Quf9RR

nasen awards 2023

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

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!

Wiltshire dyslexia association event

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

Resource Handout

WDA Event – Thusrday 5th October 2023 – County Hall, Trowbridge

Assistive Technology Workshop – Arran Smith & Myles Pilling

Microsoft 365 – Learning Tools -https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/education/products/learning-tools

Dictate – Speech to text

Immersive Reader – Text to Speech

Edge – Read Aloud, Dark Theme, Language selections, Background themes

Access to Work

Dragon Speech Recognition – £679 – (cheaper to find Dragon 15  on Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Home-15-0/dp/B07GRDZ3ZJ/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2Y7N1LPJA5J92&keywords=Dragon+speech+recognition+15&qid=1696411880&sprefix=dragon+speech+recognition+15%2Caps%2C65&sr=8-2 )

https://shop.nuance.co.uk/store/nuanceeu/en_GB/Content/pbPage.home

Zoomtext – $85 a year – https://www.freedomscientific.com/products/software/zoomtext/

SuperNova –   £425 https://yourdolphin.com/SuperNova

NDVA – £free – https://www.nvaccess.org/download/

School software

Texthelp Read&Write – £150 https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/products/read-and-write-education/

Clicker – https://www.cricksoft.com/uk/clicker/win-mac

DocsPlus – https://www.cricksoft.com/uk/docsplus

Inspiration 10 – https://www.inspiration-at.com/

Parents Apps

Remember the Milk –  £free – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/remember-the-milk-to-do-list/id293561396

Claro ScanPen – £9.99 – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/claro-scanpen/id994933713

Notability – £free – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/claro-scanpen/id994933713

NTE Hub -£free –  https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/ntehub/id1462397305

Glean – £10 a month – https://glean.co/pricing

iOS Accessibility Settings

Spoken Content – https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph96b214f0/ios

Notes – Scanned documents, Microphone (no wifi needed)

AI Assistance

Bing ChaptGPT –  £free https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-use-the-new-bing-with-chatgpt-and-what-you-can-do-with-it

List of Chrome Extensions for Dyslexic users

Readlax – text to speech and stripped webpage

ProStudy online – research tool for students- especially if you have a Pro-Study account

Voice In – Speech to text

Helperbird – suite of tools to make your web browsing a dream

OneNote Clipper – works with One Note to take screenshots to go straight into OneNote

ReadWrite – research tools

Natural Reader – books and epubs reader

Dictation for Email

Colour Enhancer – colour filters for websites

Lightkey – AI word prediction

Lightkey – AI word prediction

Orbit Note – annotate your PDF’s

Last day in Beirut

Posted on by AccessAbility Smyles

It’s been an amazing time! Check out my podcast – The Smyles Podcast – on the tabs or directly from here.

Great talks . Great people and great hospitality. Thoroughly enjoyed myself here. That may sound strange to you who remember that Beirut had many troubles in the 70’s and 80’s and to an extent that hasn’t completely gone away. There are safe areas but also dangerous ones for Westerners.

But the desire in the young to see good disability inclusion and progress in Assistive Technology is encouraging. I feel, given time, and support the will to realistic change is possible.

There is more that connects us in the connected world than divides us . I hope I can come back again in 2024 . And bit by bit build the world they are anxious to see.