It was great to see so many people at the Dyslexia Scotland South East Scotland meeting last night, where I was giving a talk on Low Cost Software and iPad Apps to support people with dyslexia. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting quite so many people so I ran out of copies of the handout, listing the programs and apps I was (somewhat ambitiously!) trying to show during the evening. If you didn't manage to get a copy (or want another one), here it is.

I was asked about useful sources of information on developments in technology for learners with dyslexia and other support needs, particularly with regard to the iPad. These days, the internet is full of useful resources and it is easy to get bogged down with information, but there are some key resources:

• The CALL Scotland Blog is a very good starting point, though we don't always have time to keep track of every interesting new development.
• I did a handout listing iPad resources for a Parents' information Day back in November, and have been adding to it since. You can download it from here.
• I'm a big fan of the Pinterest resource created by Lauren Enders

I'll try to add to this list next week.

I was also asked about dyslexia-related apps for Android devices. Paul Hamilton has an excellent blog where he talks about apps specifically for Android devices. His wider blog has information on other apps.

Tobii PCEye Go

Tobii, the world leader in eye gaze and eye control technology, has just announced their most recent Windows computer access product the PCEye Go (Cost £2995). This replaces the PCEye and is 85% smaller (dimensions are 184 x 28 x 23 mm), powered with a single USB connection (no need to be plugged into the mains, making it a portable eye gaze solution) and is easy to use with either a standard monitor or laptop screen.

The PCEye Go has a simple mount with a slim magnetic mounting plate which is taped onto the bottom section of the monitor surround. This plate is designed to remain in place permanently, but given its slim design, should not interfere when laptop screens are closed.

Tobii’s product information describes the PCEye Go as being most suitable for monitor sizes under 19”, but can be used with those up to 24”.

Once we get our hands on one here at CALL Scotland, I’ll be keen to try it out with our different PCs including netbooks and tablets, with the potential for an even more portable communication solution for AAC users!

For those wishing to use eye gaze with a larger monitor, such as within a classroom environment, Tobii have announced that the PCEye Pro will be available later in the year. This is more than twice the length (dimensions are 400 x 28 x 23 mm) making it more suitable than the PC Eye Go for monitors sized 20” or larger, but is described as having an excellent suitability across a wide range of monitor sizes.

In the meantime, the PCEye Go ought to suit the requirements of most eye gaze users, whether a single user transporting between home and school/college/workplace, or swapping between users on the same site with different computers.

 

Inclusive Eye Gaze Learning Curve

Inclusive Technology, suppliers of special educational needs software, has just circulated details of a brand new Windows software suite, Inclusive Eye Gaze Learning Curve, described as:

"a collection of over 54 fun and engaging interactive activities specially created to teach early eye gaze access and develop choice making skills. This collection takes children on the learning curve from assessment and cause and effect understanding through to using eye gaze for communication, learning and leisure".

Useful for teachers and therapists as an eye gaze assessment and teaching tool, the suite comprises 3 CDs, titled Attention and Looking, Exploring and Playing, and Choosing and Learning. Together they are designed to help children to progress from their first steps in using eye gaze, by improving accuracy and understanding of eye gaze, in preparation for using communication and learning software.

With Inclusive Tecnology's excellent track record in providing hardware and software to help people with special needs, this ought to prove another valuable resource for a variety for professionals. 

Can't wait to try this out too!

Cost: £150 for each CD or all 3 for £399.

There is no real shortage of switch accessible software for those children with complex additional support needs - whether due to physical difficulties or learning difficulties – who are unable to use a traditional keyboard and mouse. But do we choose, introduce, teach and use the right software in the right way, at the right time, to suit each highly individual child, and to help them develop their skills and progress towards their full potential?

Maybe not. Sadly, we can still often see a child sitting in school, year–in-year-out with the same software, “practising his switch”.  If it hasn’t ’worked’ by now, we should be looking at how WE have set up the task, not blaming it all on the child! What are we missing? How could we do things differently?

These days, more and more software at the early years and complex learning difficulty level is designed only for mouse and/ or touch screen use. But many learners cannot use this effectively either. We see children in school batting ineffectually with their hands at a screen. On assessment, they often have ‘cause and effect’ understanding long established but have not been able to move on from single hit software, because of access & control issues. Switch access might reduce the physical demand and let the child move on to tasks more suited to his / her cognitive abilities.

This CALL course on 8th March 2012 aims to unpick these issues and will provide insights and, ideas, tools and resources to help us to do a better job with these learners.  We are very lucky to have secured the time of the famous Ian Bean to lead this course, in CALL. Ian is the author of the much-loved ‘Priory Woods’ switch music videos, and is now working as an independent consultant.  Ian is not  a product salesman but an experienced teacher of children with profound & multiple / or severe and complex  additional support needs. He is the author of the Switch Progression Roadmap,  and a highly recommended trainer. CALL provides laptops so that everyone can have plenty hands-on, with expert support if needed.

Lastly, there are iPads. Everyone seems to want to use them, in spite of their high ‘distractability factor’, and regardless of whether particular children can control them effectively or not!  There are many low-cost fun Apps for learners at a sensory / cause and effect level. There are a very few scanning (Bluetooth) switch operated communication Apps. We will look at these on the course (though not in huge detail as this is not the CALL course on iPads, that’s later in the year).

Do please take the time to look up the full ‘blurb about this course. There are still places available and you will get a lovely lunch and a goody-bag of resources put together by both Ian Bean and CALL. Phone 0131 651 6236 or book online here.

Here's a 'changing over to the new Boardmaker Studio?' discussion that I imagine quite a few establishments will be having over the next wee while.

***

Original Enquiry

I have a bit of a predicament and would really appreciate your help! In this city, we are about to refresh all our current computers...There are bound to be issues at refresh with new software and resources being required. The biggest issue for us is Boardmaker. In this special school, we are (I think!) advanced users of Boardmaker Plus!, using it to its fullest potential with lots of interactive activities and creating individualised resources for our children. We even make our communication passports using Boardmaker. However, we are using Mac versions and we need to move over to PC versions come refresh. The burning question is - Boardmaker 6 Plus! for PC or Boardmaker Studio? I have been trialling Boardmaker Studio, and I'm finding it hard to change the mindset of starting from scratch every time, to now using templates and adapting someone else's work / idea. Some of the interactive things I do currently can't be done without actual programming, or importing from the current version. I know you noted some reservations in your blog, and I was wondering if you had  any further thoughts about this?

Boardmaker is a wonderful resource, I could not teach without it, but I don't want to move to a version which is going to be a source of frustration at a time when there are lots of other changes happening.

Thanks in anticipation!

Kind regards

Principal Teacher, Special School

***

Answer from Sally at CALL

Yes this is a big dilemma for you, I understand.  There is no 'right answer' of course, as you already realise - it's a judgement call. And your school is perhaps a bit of a special case, as an 'advanced symbol-using special school'.

If you and your colleagues are finding that you can do everything you want to already with BM Plus, I think on balance I'd advise you to stick with it. Especially if you have cracked the whole interactive speaking, draggable IWB classroom resources bit (which is the sticking point for many others, who still only use BM for printable materials).  And also especially if, as you say, there are going to be lots of other difficult changes to cope with at the same time, concerning the refresh.

CALL has just heard from a PT at another Special School who says that they are sticking with BM 6 Plus! - no plans to change to Studio. Maybe partly money and partly a positive choice.  Indeed, there seem to be people here and in the USA that still use the decades-old original or very early versions of BM  (Mac and PC) quite happily, so there is no obvious need to rush to change to the newest version.

The only thing I can see that you'd lose out on with BM Plus! rather than Studio, is the possibility that more and more of the shared resources available on BoardMaker Share may start to be in Studio not Plus (and the complicated interactive ones are not usually 'backwards compatible') but to be honest I think it will be a long time before that starts to happen, and maybe your school materials are so specialised anyway that that wouldn't affect you unduly anyway. Interestingly, the new add-on 'Pre-Made Activities' (pretty cheap) coming out, see http://www.mayer-johnson.co.uk/pre-made/   - and these may well increase as time goes on - apparently run on their own, and don' t need BM Plus or BM Studio to run.

However, this is really a whole school / authority strategy issue, not just a choice for you as an individual teacher (or do you have designated responsibility for ICT, overall)?

I think Mayer Johnson's plan is to market BM Studio into schools that have never used symbols before, including Secondary schools, and to push the 'inclusive classroom/school' concept. I believe BM Studio was designed to make things easier for new users (especially teachers wanting interactive materials for IWB use). If a school or a member of staff is just starting out and thinking of using symbols for the first time, I am starting to point them to BM Studio, and they seem to recognise it as being 'like PowerPoint' or 'like Clicker' - and can also see that it could actually replace both of those as well, to streamline down to one single package (which might make it more likely to be used well than staff trying to use three or more packages).

For you, relevant considerations are perhaps (1) the 'user demographic' (sorry!) in the school . Do ALL the staff know and use BM Plus as well as you do? Is there training in it at this 'advanced' level for new staff coming in? Or are there just you / one or two 'experts' and all the others leave you to make all the material for the school?  And if the latter - what happens if/when you and your 'advanced' colleagues leave the school?  You should perhaps consider also what support other than from Mayer-Johnson you and other staff currently use / need / benefit from.  If you share materials with other schools and or have materials made for you by external specialists, then you might want to also consult them on this issue (probably you already have) and think about agreeing an overall strategy rather than potentially going off in separate directions.

And (2) the other software used in the school - and how widely and how well this other software is used?  If the school already has whizzo advanced expert users of Clicker and  Powerpoint then maybe there is no need for another package that does this kind of thing (with symbols inbuilt) but if these are under-used and you you think that some of these functions might enhance teaching and learning opportunities then BMStudio might have something to offer.

****

Finally there are always compromise solutions. I know it sounds a bit mad, but there might be a case to be made for buying a copy  (or some licences) of EACH version, so that different staff who might be at different points of expertise and experience, and might have pupils who are very different, could use the one that suits them best, and also have the opportunity to plan and build a kind of 'Boardmaker Transition Strategy' for the school / authority (for I fear that BM 6 Plus! may be set to disappear completely in a few years time….)

***

Sorry it's so complicated but hope this helps.

Best wishes, Sally

 ***

 

Response from Enquirer

Thank you so much for taking the time to give such a detailed response! I am happy for you to publish this on your blog or elsewhere, as it is a problem others will be facing.

I have a dual role in this is as ICT co-ordinator for my own school, but also as the special schools "champion" (unnecessarily grand title!) on the refresh team. There are 3 of us across the city trialling Boardmaker Studio over the next 6 months, and Mayer Johnson are keen to get some kind of package in place for refresh.

I would say that most staff have a good grounding in Boardmaker, and all classes are using interactive resources. There's probably an "expert" in each class, either teacher or member of support staff.

We don't use Clicker perhaps as much as we should, and are moving towards using Boardmaker for most things, including presentations.

I think your suggestion of using both versions to allow a period of transition is probably the best way forward.

Thanks again for your time and your support.

Principal Teacher, Special School

I have been weaning myself  - slowly  - off BoardMaker 6 and on to BoardMaker Studio. I love many of the clever new 'gadgets' for interactive use, though it's taking me a while to get to grips with some of the more complicated ones. I'll post a more comprehensive evaluation soon.

BUT the most annoying thing is how hard it's getting to simply copy and paste a symbol!

•  In BoardMaker 5 you just did a straight COPY from the Symbol Finder, and then PASTE into another document (nice transparent background)

• In BoardMaker 6, you have to click the symbol out of the Symbol Finder and then, from the drawing screen, Copy and then Paste it elsewhere. In the process, you lost the transparent background and acquired a white square background.

• But in Studio, you have to do all of the following:

File Menu > SetUp and Options > Symbols & Language > Symbol Manager > find the symbol you want > Edit in Image Editor (Paint) > select all > Copy. then Paste (or Save As) elsewhere (again, no transparent background).

(Or has anyone else found a better  / quicker way to do it??? Please tell me!)

Having to follow so many steps means it's a real pain to try and share visual information to communicate with parents or colleagues about which symbols are being taught and used etc.  and to adapt existing materials (eg. in Word) to be more Communication Friendly and Inclusive.

You have to wonder if Mayer Johnson have done this on purpose - they can't just have forgotten to include a Copy & Paste option!

Mind you - frustrated beyond words with this - on another occasion I ended up making my 'presentation in BM Studio instead of in Powerpoint, and it was very nice because it was actually quicker and easier to populate with symbols and other images, and also spoke (in the Scottish voice). So I learned to change my mindset (creak!) at least for that activity.

Which I suppose is the kind of solution that Mayer Johnson are aiming at.....  (But doing 'everything' in BM Studio will be hard for staff in schools that maybe only have one or two computers with it on.)

So  - I'd say Yes  - buy BoardMaker Studio and go for it!  Newcomers to BoardMaker certainly seem to love it. But don't upgrade ALL your copies - keep a secret copy of BM 6 somewhere in school. I'll be sticking with BM V6 for any graphic intensive work, for fast, detailed and fully independent symbol editing control.

A new item in CALL is the Hue HD Studio which includes a webcam and animation software. The animation software (Zu3D) is available for both Mac and PC and the webcam comes in 5 different colours. The webcam can be bought separately so can be used, for example, with other animation software such as I Can Animate from Kudlian, in videoconferencing (GlowMeet) or even as a (very) cheap visualiser or document camera to share documents, science experiments, pupils artwork etc with the whole class. It plugs into the USB port either directly or for greater flexibility usingthe supplied 1.8m cable, has a good quality picture and an internal microphone which picks up sound well. There is also a button on the back of the camera which brings up the snapshot function when plugged into a compouter using the supplied AMCap camera software (WebCam Monitor on a Mac). This can also be used to record video.

Go to the Hue Animation website to see a video of a group of young children exploring the Zu3D software and making their own short video. If you buy the package it even comes with some plasticine to get you started but using plastic models and lego can be quicker to get going. The Zu3D website has ideas for using the software in the curriculum (Learning Tools), a useful video tutorial and a link to download a demo version to try it out.

 

Quite a number of schools in Scotland already have other animation software such as I Can Animate form Kudlian Software. I Can Animate is available for Mac, PC and as an App on the iPhone and iPad. The Kudlian website has links to a tutorial, a number of resources and a link to download a version that can be used for 5 days before purchase (or removal).

For an opportunity for hands on training CALL Scotland is running a half day of workshops on Saturday 1st October and I Can Animate is one of the sessions to choose from. Go to the CALL Scotland training area for more information.

We've recently found out about the Cool Tools for Schools wiki.

This is an amazing resource, with lots of free / online tools that can be used by teachers and pupils (assuming they are allowed access online). Resources are categorised under the following headings:

• Presentation Tools
• Collaborative Tools
• Research Tools
• Video Tools
• Slideshow Tools
• Audio Tools
• Image Tools
• Drawing Tools
• Writing Tools
• Music Tools
• Organising Tools
• Converting Tools
• Mapping Tools
• Quiz and Poll Tools
• Graphing Tools
• Creativity Tools
• Widgets
• File Storage & Web Pages
• Other Helpful Sites
• Teacher Resources

We'll be incorporating some of this (along with lots of other material) into a course on No Cost / Low Cost Software to Support Pupils with Reading and Writing Difficulties to be run at CALL on 2nd June 2011.

CALL has previously alerted folk to the cheap deal on Boardmaker software available through LTS, for Scotland. Since LTS revamped their web site, the page link we gave before has become defunct. Look here for current prices    It's rumoured that the deal may 'run out' once a ceiling number have been sold, so if you want it, perhaps best not to wait too long.

Allan Wilson from CALL Scotland will be demonstrating free / low-cost software at meetings of branches of Dyslexia Scotland in Fife and West Lothian in September. He'll start off by demonstrating a few free utilities to make a computer screen visually easier to read and will then move on to look at a number of free, or low cost text to speech programs that can be used with word processed documents, web pages and other text. There will also be chances to see a free speech recognition program and programs that can be used to help organise your thoughts. There will be opportunities to ask questions throughout the presentation.

The meetings are relaxed and friendly and are open to anybody to attend - not just members of Dyslexia Scotland.

Dates:

• Markinch, Fife. 7pm, Thursday 2nd September - Memorial Hall, 252 Betson Street, Markinch, Fife KY7 6AA.
• Livingston, West Lothian. 7pm, Wednesday 15th September - West Lothian College, Almondvale Crescent, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 7EP.

It's not too late to book a place at one of next week's free ICT and Inclusion days, run in conjunction with the JISC Resource Centres, though we may not be able to guarantee lunch if you book very late:

• Tuesday 15th June - Invercarse Hotel, 371 Perth Road, Dundee DD2 1PG.
• Wednesday 16th June - CALL Scotland, Moray House School of Education, Paterson's Land, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ.
• Thursday 17th June - The Bruce Hotel, 35 Cornwall Street, East Kilbride G74 1AF.

The Exhibition, featuring many of the UK's leading suppliers of assistive technology and software for pupils and students with additional support needs runs from 9 am until 4pm each day and is accompanied by a series of presentations. Timetables can now be downloaded from the ICT and Inclusion web site, where you can also register to attend.

Late additions

There have been some late additions to the list of suppliers and organisations that will be attending:

• Ink Learning are joining the exhibition in Dundee. They will be demonstrating their Primary Steps Maths and Primary Steps Phonics programs that can be enjoyed using a dance mat. Great fun, educational and good exercise!
• Ability World and Steljes will be coming to Edinburgh and East Kilbride. Ability World will be bringing their innovative, Uni-tech system and Voice Ink software, which enables you to 'print' spoken words and sounds onto your teaching resources and communication boards. Steljes will be demonstrating their latest Smart Table, which brings a revolutionary approach to group learning, and other products.
• Pass IT On / U Can Do IT and the Scottish Sensory Centre will be providing information about their work in the Edinburgh exhibition. Pass IT On provide access to computers for people with disabilities in partnership with U Can Do IT, who provide training. The Scottish Sensory Centre provide training and support for teachers of pupils with visual or hearing impairments. 

 

Many people have recently upgraded to v.6 Boardmaker Plus! Unlike the old Boardmaker, this version speaks and so can be used by pupils for both school work and as a personal expressive communication support (or even perhaps as a full scale AAC system). But some people have been experiencing problems getting the voice to work properly - it seems to 'skip' to the end of the message without speaking it out fully - with both SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 voices. Mayer Johnson's technical support team have released the following 'fix' to correct the problem (which apparently only affects PCs with Windows XP and earlier):

To correct the problem you need to reduce the hardware acceleration on the sound card:

1. Open the Control Panel and double-click Sounds.
2. Click on the Audio tab.
3. In the Sound Playback box, click on the Advanced button.
4. Click on the Performance tab (Win 2000/XP) and Troubleshoot tab (Win 98).
5. Move the Hardware acceleration slider to None. Click on the Apply button, then click on OK.
6. Restart BoardMaker and check the speech.

 

We have updated our quick guide to Low-cost / No-cost Software Tools for People with Dyslexia. This provides information about a selection of mainly free programs that can help people with reading and writing difficulties to access text on a computer. The guide is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to every program that could be useful, but highlights a few that can support people with a range of specific difficulties. The programs listed include:

• Visual support tools: Vu-Bar, RapidSet, T-Bar and ssOverlay
• Text-to-Speech software: WordTalk and Balabolka
• Reading electronic books: Microsoft Reader and Adobe Reader
• Reading web pages: ClickSpeak, CleanPage and NaturalReader
• Engaging with text: ScriptVox
• Organising your thoughts: FreeMind, XMind, Webspiration and Bubbl.us
• Word prediction: Let Me Type
• Speech recognition: Windows Vista.

We do not suggest that pupils in schools should be restricted to using free programs purely on grounds of costs, when their needs may be better addressed by a more comprehensive commercial product such as ClaroRead or Read and Write Gold, but if a school is using Microsoft Word and pupils just need text-to-speech support, why not use WordTalk?

PS. Our good friend, Craig Mill from the JISC Regional Support Centre in Edinburgh has recently created a new software tool, MyStudyBar, which brings together some of the programs listed above (and others) to provide a comprehensive package to support literacy skills. Definitely worth a look!

Just a reminder about another source of great and FREE resources! Have a look at the Plasma Screen and WhiteBoard Room created and managed by the Advisory Unit Computers in Education, which offers freely downloadable "Whiteboard resources for pupils with SLD, PMLD and ASD".  Most of the resources are in Powerpoint, some are for SMART notebook (free player downloadable). They are all designed for interactive use on a large screen (doesn't mean you couldn't also use on a small PC) The resources are organised under curriculum headings and include a number of very basic activities for learners with complex additional support needs. also links to other useful blogs and websites with resources. This is one of those websites I keep forgetting about, but whenever I remember and look at it, I think WOW, that's GREAT!

Another interesting application demonstrated at Communication Matters, Oska is designed to offer a variety of alternative input methods to custom designed keyboards.

The software basicaly allows you to design your own keyboards and attach an input method (such as a switch) to control that custom keyboard. Thus, users are able to operate a PC in a way that suits them. Methods of input range from mouse, keyboard and switch to head and mouth stick. Since the keyboards are custom designed you can have any key perform almost any action; open and close a program such as Microsoft Word or open another custom keyboard specifically designed for an application or game. You can even move the keyboard around the screen if it's in the way. Some great features can be designed into the keyboards and the editor is surprisingly easy to get to grips with. Although, that is from a 'techy' point of view!

The package is free to developers but clients wishing to use the keyboards have to purchase the Oska suite for £159 from Claro Software.

I shall describe 2 methods demonstrated at Communication Matters:

Scroll Wheel Scanning

Using a standard UK on-screen keyboard you can use the scroll wheel on a mouse to operate a switch/scanning system. You scroll (as fast or slow as you wish) the column or row back and forth and click the scroll wheel to select. i.e.

• scroll to the desired column using the scroll button;
• click to select the column and then scroll to the desired row;
• click to select the key you require;
• repeat the process.

TenKey Mouse

Using the numeric keypad at the right of a computer keyboard or a keypad such as the Kensington Pocket Keypad. The keyboard is separated into  9 sectors of 9 keys (9 x 9) and you press 1 - 9 on the keypad to select a sector and then 1 - 9 to select a key.

The advantage of this method is that the user could eventually memorise the key presses for every key and no longer need to look at the keyboard to type.

I like The Grid 2 software for pupils who have really complex communication and writing difficulties. Amongst its many good features, I especially like the symbol supported prediction, for users who really have barely any spelling ability at all, maybe just initial letters - but who still want to speak out and get their thoughts down on paper - and who are building their confidence to bridge from symbols to keyboard and words. (You can do this with Clicker and Penfriend combined but it can be a bit fiddly.) The Grid 2 does everything that Clicker does - and more - in some ways more elegantly and with more versatility. But one criticism I've heard voiced is that The Grid 2 doesn't allow you to do that much-loved Clicker 'right click' trick - ie you 'right click' to get the spoken preview of the word in the cell, to check what it is, before you decide whether to select it or not (and then hear it spoken out 'properly' as it is sent up into the document/message bar.

Well - you CAN!! It's just ridiculously well hidden as a feature, in The Grid 2. Here is how to do it:

• Go to User settings
• select Input settings>pointer>tooltips
• select "right click to speak tooltip" (it may already be selected)

You will also then need to go to Speech Settings, to select a private voice, as this is the speech that will be used on a right click. (I think this is the bit that most people don't know - I didn't!) If you can, discuss with your user whether he /she'd like the right click prompt to speak in the same or a different voice as the left click select.

Also discuss whether the volume should be the same or different. Clicker doesn't allow you to vary these, but The Grid 2 does (so the user can have a quiet little prompt that nobody else can hear). I suggest you set the volume on the Private voice at about 50% (if the volume on the Public voice is 100%) - this can be changed to suit.

Learn more about The Grid 2