ictsan

Symbols are a basic tool for staff working with pupils with communication difficulties.
- labels
- a means of communicating sequnces including activities that make up a school day
- an alternative to literacy
- support for literacy
- a means of producing games and activities
- a medium for delivering a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)

A good guide to all the currently used sets of symbols and picures for use in communication can be found here- the CALL Centre, Edinburgh University.
Some examples of on-screen materials (printable) for communication can be found at www.symbolworld.org/

Here are some examples of PCS symbols – often known as Boardmaker symbols

I’ve put some pictures of PCS symbols in use in an ictsan flickr gallery-www.flickr.com/photos/ictsan

The life of visually impaired people has been improved by the use of new development in assistive technolgy over the years;

Improvement in the visual appearance of the computer screen and items on it can include;
- changing the accessibility options in the operating system
- changing the font size in documents
- using an alternative browser like Opera or Firefox to give better access to font and image maginfication
- using screen magnification software

Speech output can be added to documents using; WordTalk for MS Word; Screenreading software; utilities like Texthelp or Penfriend

Stand alone devices for the visually impaired
Two main types of hardware fall into this category; Scanner/readers and CCTVs. Actually CCTVs are not really closed circuit televisions any more, but people still call them by this name. Essentially they are cameras which output to a acreen to allow users access to a larger image of; something close to such as a book. Something further away like a whiteboard or work display.

Accessing the computer
VI users benefit from learning to touch type. Some standard software for this purpose are no use to VI users.
They also benefit from being taught to use keyboard shortcuts to computer operations in place of mouse clicks. There is a short list of the most useful shortcuts;
www.educationict.org.uk/ictsan/resources/keyboard-shortcuts.pdf

Access to the Curriculum
Large Print Books
There is a greater emphasis now on making the curriculum more accessible rather than providing tools to improve things for VI pupils.
If schools cannot but a book in large print format, they have the right under UK copyright legislation to create an accessible version of a book for a pupil (VIP Copyright Legislation 2002).

DAISY books
A book can also be made into a talking book. Of particular interest to VI users are DAISY books ( Digital Accessible Information Systems). These books can be listened to on dedicated DAISY players (adapted CD/MP3 players) or else on a computer with DAISY reader software installed.

For some examples of assistive technology and immaginitive use of ICT see the photogallery; www.flickr.com/photos/ictsan/sets

The ScannaR is a very useful equipment for visually impaired people. It scans a page of a book, turns it electronic text and reads it out. It is in fact a computer with no screen or keyboard running a sophisticated piece of software.
The documentation that comes with ScannaR is thorough, but it does not present the functions of the equipment in the order that a user is likley to need it. The documentation created by Jo King is an exemplary piece of work in the way that it explains the way to use the Scannar.
Download it from here;

It is possible to carry out almost any operation on a Windows computer without using a mouse. However, these operations are rarely taught in school. It is far easier to teach the mouse clicks and menus that are required. However certain users are likely to benefit from being taught the keyboard shortcuts as standard.

These include visually impaired users who probably cannot see the pull down menus well, if at all. Also some users with fine motor difficulties find it easier to control the computer through the keyboard.
Here is a guide to some of the more useful shortcuts.
Here is one created for visually impaired users.
For all users, an operation like cut and paste can be carried out more swiftly.
Ctrl+C – Copy to Clipboard
Ctrl+V – Paste from Clipboard

Here is a a catalogue of freely available Clicker 4 grids. These are installed in all SBC primary schools networks. This catalogue allows you to record the grids that you find useful, so that you can find them when you need them. Believe me, you need something like that to refer to – and here it is!
Clicker List of Activities – click here