Education technology is making learning easier and more enjoyable for children with special needs. Now that the law insists that mainstream schools embrace children with special needs, increasing numbers of teachers are looking to exhibitions such as the Special Needs Fringe at last January’s Bett Show for inspiration and ideas. One specialist device that stood out at the show was the Sensory Corner, a small-scale, multi-sensory room with various stimuli and cause-and-effect activities. This is often used with learners with apparently limited responses but can also work well for the hyperactive or disturbed child who needs to calm down. Children with a visual impairment can be isolated in the mainstream classroom if they have to sit in a corner with a brailler, CCTV and all the panoply of technology. Telesensory has brought out The Pico and the Olympia portable magnifiers. These can be taken from class to class so the user does not need to sit in a separate area. Among several speech devices on show, Scan4 from Traxsys is a simple communication device that can be programmed with messages and may prove popular with technology-shy teachers because it is so simple.
The Guardian (Education) March 9, 2004.
A father is to sue a comprehensive school for failing to provide his children with proper maths lessons. Richard Sanki, 55, is seeking to recover the £1,500 he spent on home study courses for daughters Gina, 15, and Rachel,14, who are pupils at the Portway Community School in Shirehampton, Bristol. He claims that the girls, both high achievers at maths, were neglected by teachers who spent more time on less able students. Lawyers say it is the first time a British school has ever been sued for failing in a particular subject. Widower, Richard, said: ‘The school had to achieve its performance targets and needed to bring the lower kids up to standard. The education system has let down my daughters in one of the core subjects, maths. Maths is a subject that needs teaching and both my daughters need good grades to pursue the careers they want. I have had to delve into my own pocket because the school has failed them, so I feel it should re-imburse me for paying to remedy its shortcomings.’
Daily Express, March 9, 2004.
A disabled teenager has won a High Court legal battle against his local council to continue his education. The boy, who can not be named for legal reasons, is living with his mother in Holland after she was forced to flee the UK to escape her violent ex-partner. Stockton Borough Council maintained that as she can provide him with suitable accommodation in Holland, it has no duty to house him. The 15-year-old is desperate to take GCSEs in the UK, and says educational facilities in Holland are not as good for disabled children. Yesterday the Council finally ceded to his lawyers’ demands, agreeing to pay for him to live at a specialized lodge until he has taken his exams in the summer.
Northern Echo (Darlington/South Durham), March 18, 2004.
More than 1,600 school-age pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are currently being educated in Northern Ireland — most are in mainstream settings. Parents have argued that the education system has not brought the ‘full spectrum of human difference’ into mainstream and children with ASD are therefore unrepresented. The Department of Education’s Task Group on Autism was established in November 2000 to make recommendations on education provision for children with autism. The group noted that educational provision for young people with ASD had entered a period of ‘rapid improvement in many areas of Northern Ireland’. But there was ‘still much progress to be made before it will be possible to say that all children with ASD are being identified and that their needs are being met’. Minister with responsibility for education, Jane Kennedy, said that she aimed to make all schools autism-friendly, reflecting the need for opportunities for children with ASD to interact and develop their social skills alongside their peers. Ms. Kennedy said ensuring that the right mechanisms were in place to enable the education boards to meet the special educational needs of autistic children was a key priority.
Irish News (Belfast), March 29, 2004.
An English teacher, Susan Elkin, has challenged the ‘special arrangements’ for some students sitting examinations. In a newspaper article headed, ‘Why Must All Have Prizes?’, she said that Edexcel, one of three main examining boards, recorded 18,918 candidates in 2002 whose physical or learning requirements meant they needed access to a computer or special arrangements in order to complete examinations. Of these about 9,000 were also given extra time. According to Ms. Elkin: ‘Special consideration has always — rightly — been available for genuinely disabled students such as blind examinees who need Brailled question papers and a Braille machine to answer on. But if two people take an exam and one can for some reason read or write better or faster than the other, then of course the stronger candidate should get higher marks. Anything which blurs that distinction makes a travesty of the whole system, however sorry one might feel for all the weaker candidates’.
Daily Mail, March 30, 2004.
