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
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
We are on Google business and Google wants to always search for Accessibility use this link to find the entry:-
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!
Wiltshire dyslexia association event
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
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.
Episode 75 – ABLE Summit
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-cqpnk-14a8ac0
Thoughts and reflections about the conference and what has happened over the last few days here
On the road to bett
For those who don’t know BETT is the premiere exhibition show for educational technology in the UK. Russell Prue is a well-known radio broadcaster at BETT under his business name of Anderton Tiger. I go to his stand and chat with him for about 5 mins every year.
Now he has produced a series of talks called “On the Road to BETT” to wet our appetites for the upcoming show. I feature on the episode below, next to last of the interviewees talking about “The Power of Assistive Technology” film series. Please take a look and watch it.
A busy summer!
I will be setting off for my third visit to Lebanon for the ABLE summit on Tuesday this week. It will be great to catch up with Maha and the team and also friends and colleagues Jeremy Seda and Chris Gautlin.
It’s been a busy summer with preparation for the release of the film series “The Power of Assistive Technology,” now due for the 6th October. Also the wonderful visit to North Idaho for the A11y Accessibility Camp. Really enjoyed that event and hopefully there will be one next year.
I did a podcast with Russell Prue about “The Power of Assistive Technology.” That will be published on the 15th September. Along with a webinar I recorded for Succeed with Dyslexia for the 13th September on Assistive Technology Essential Bitesize.
Assistive Technology bite size
Come and join the webinar next Wednesday where I’ll be sharing what assistive technology can do to help learners with Dyslexia.
AccessAbility Solutions 