"Teaching"

As with all topics, there are a number of websites containing useful information and advice for teachers of those with cognitive disabilities. There is also material written for and designed to be accessible to people with learning difficulties themselves, which is the subject of another Big Tree article.

Information for teachers can include:

1. Education and training for teachers and others
2. National and local policy documents and advice
3. Understanding cognitive disabilities
4. Research information
5. Assistive technology
6. Fora, chat and bulletin boards

Some sites, of course, contain information on more than one of these topics. Others are ´portal' sites, developed to provide a ´gateway' to information services. In addition to information, there are also a number of fora and chat sites, to offer mutual support, information and advice from others working in the SEN community.

Education and training

Educating SEN pupils

An excellent place to start is the SEN Teacher website. It includes resources, freeware downloads, links and documents for those involved in the education of pupils with learning difficulties, autism and other special educational needs. Some of the materials may also be of use to teachers and parents of primary aged children. All material on the site is freely usable for personal or education purposes and distributed under a ´Creative Commons License'.

Another site with teaching materials is that of author Jan Brett. Jan 's site is full of colouring, games, simple number and word puzzles. It appears (the site does not specify) that the main intended audience is primary (non-SEN) children, but there are over 3,000 pages of resources to choose from, and so it is highly likely that SEN teachers will find interesting and appropriate material

An organisation dedicated to using ICT in the SEN curriculum is the Northern Grid for learning.

The web was developed to utilise new and emerging technologies, in particular broadband computer access. It is argued that greater bandwidth enables the delivery across the Internet of multi-media content, which is important to engage sometimes-reluctant learners. The site aims to highlight resources and information that will be of practical use to students, teachers, parents and professionals working with those having learning disabilities. A resources section provides practical help with lesson planning and helping teachers ´find new ideas'. These resources have all been used with SEN students and the aim is to use ICT to enrich the curriculum. Users are invited to contribute material they might have produced.

In addition to curriculum resources, there are links to policy documents, articles of interest, case studies and software reviews.

Still with the National Grid for Learning, its Inclusion site hosts a large number of teaching resources, themed as follows:

1. Supporting specific needs: Students in general, Autistic spectrum disorders etc.
2. Curriculum subject: Art and design, Careers education & guidance, Citizenship etc.)
3. Age or phase of education: Pre-school/early years, Primary, Secondary etc.
4. Designed to be used by: Administrators, Careers Teachers/Advisers, Carers, Civil & Public Servants etc.
5. Planning and management: Curriculum, Development plans, Finance, Human resources etc.
6. Topic: Cognition, Counselling, Testing & assessment, Educational technology/ICT, Technology in practice etc.

The resources include handbooks, lesson-ready materials and advice papers. There is also a facility whereby teachers can email questions on any education subject related to Special Educational Needs (SEN) or Inclusion, for peers to respond.

Schoolzone was set up by a group of teachers and parents in Oxford in 1997, who could see the need for safe, differentiated Internet material for teachers, students and parents.  Schoolzone does not sell anything to schools, is not owned or affiliated to any publishers or other companies, and thus keeps ´a rigorously independent approach to all that we do'. The site includes a searchable database of web resources reviewed by the Schoolzone team. Top retrieved links from a search on ´special educational needs' included:

ADHD online book: This site provides a link to what is described as a ´free online book'. In fact, only one chapter is free.

Inclusion and Special Education Needs in ICT: The BECTA SEN section (since moved to another URL, but a link to the new one is provided)

Kids Health - Body Matters (from the BBC Health site): a ´young and lively' website for children wanting to know how their body works and why. ´This site would be useful for special needs children as well as mainstream children'.

Art and Craft for Special People has been designed to share art and craft projects or activities that have been tried and tested with Special Needs students, including those with cognitive difficulties. The aim of each activity is for the students to learn new skills and concepts, and each one is explained, with materials required and procedure outlined.

Family Village is a ´global community that integrates information, resources, and communication opportunities on the Internet for persons with cognitive and other disabilities, for their families, and for those that provide them services and support'.

The community includes informational resources on specific diagnoses, communication connections, adaptive products and technology, adaptive recreational activities, education, worship, health issues, and disability-related media and literature.

Of particular use might be a section on IEPs (Individual Educational Plans). There are, for example, links to sites with suggestions for IEP goals, such as:

1. for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, at the Untangling Autism Web Site
2. IEP Goals from the Kid Power Web Site
3. Sample Goals and Objectives at the Special Education Advocate site

Sparktop is essentially a site for people with learning difficulties themselves, and includes (free) videos with advice on coping at school, games and activities, a facility to create resources (write, paint, upload photos etc.). It can be, of course, used as a resource for teachers, although the students may need lots of guidance, despite voiced-instructions, icons and other ways in which the site designers have tried to make the site accessible (e.g. when you click on a video title the screen is blank until you then activate a ´Start' button hidden in the bottom-right of the screen).

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) is a comprehensive US site for parents, teachers and researchers. The teachers' section contains advice on section contains articles such as:

1. Monitoring Student Progress, including the use of IEPs
2. Assistive Technology
3. Accommodations for Students with LD (alterations in the way tasks are presented that allow children with learning disabilities to complete the same assignments as other students)

SymbolWorld is a website created by Widgit Software, dedicated to people who use symbols. It has material for all ages and includes personal contributions, stories and learning materials. Although useful for teachers, the site is accessible to learners themselves unaided - incorporating symbols, photos, and having minimal and accessible text. Under the ´Learning' entry there are accessible articles on science and nature life skills cooking humanities literacy different languages and current affairs. There is also an ´interactive' section where learners can play games.

Talking Point is concerned with information about speech, language and communication difficulties in children. It has a range of information and resources for parents and carers of children and also for professionals, including information on:

1. Speech and language development: a guide to stages, from birth to five onwards
2. Speech, language and communication difficulties (SLCD)
3. Supporting children with SLCD
4. Speech and language therapy

The material appears to have been written specifically for the website, by The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) Afasic (an organisation to help children and young people with speech and language impairments) and individual commissioned authors.

Training

An example of training for teachers and others working with SEN pupils is provided by Disability Equality in Education, a ´rapidly expanding charity' that was set up in 1996 to promote inclusion in the education system that ´celebrates and embraces' the differences of individuals. The site contains details of training offered, and also bibliographic details of publications and links.

OnlineInset.net (South Central Regional Inclusion Partnership - SCRIP) at also provides online training to those working with children and young people with special educational needs. It includes ´open access' online course materials, which might be useful.

ALT (The Association for Learning Technology) ALT organises a programme of workshops and conferences. Workshop topics are selected to be of wide interest, focusing on generic issues, in order that participants can readily apply the outcomes of each workshop to their own situation. Topics covered range from institutional implementation of learning technologies, courseware development and electronic lectures, as well as those covering specific software such as assessment tools and learning environments.

The Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA): seeks to improve the quality of post-16 education and training in England , Wales and Northern Ireland , partly through r support programmes for organisations that deliver post-16 education and training. The LSDA It delivers over 500 events a year, including conferences, training, and opportunities for sharing good practice, including overnight residential staff development events and longer-term modules. Many of these courses and events support the embedding of ILT in specific curriculum areas

Talking Point  includes links to organisations offering professional development for those working in speech and language-related work. These include:

1. ican: a charity, a charity that helps children communicate, providing training from introductory courses on speech, language and communication development to more advanced training on theory and approaches to specific difficulties. Training is accessible to anyone working with children with a communication disability
2. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists: the professional body of and for speech and language therapists (SLTs) in the United Kingdom and Ireland . It offers a large range of courses, particularly for continuing professional development (CPD)
3. SENJIT (Special Educational Needs Joint Initiative for Training): is a partnership between the Institute of Education and local authorities which provides short courses, support groups, local training and consultancy for teachers and other professionals working with children with special educational needs.

Policy documents

TeacherNet is a government site covering all aspects of teaching, including professional development management whole-school issues, and research. The section for SEN is primarily concerned with policy and includes a PDF file of the SEN code of practice, which provides practical advice to LEAs, schools, early education settings and others on carrying out their statutory duties to identify, assess and make SEN provision. An SEN Toolkit is also on-site, containing practical advice on how to implement the Code. A report on Disabled Children in Residential Placements is also posted, drawing together information about disabled children in residential placements from social services, education and health, following recommendations in Valuing People

Becta also provide information on government policy and strategy, specifically with regard to the use of ICT in education in its ´Policies and Strategies' section. Documents are available on:

1. Information and Learning Technology strategies
2. Quality and Inspection
3. National and Regional Agenda
4. Legislative Framework

As an example, it describes in detail the Department for Education and Skills' e-strategy 'Harnessing Technology: transforming learning and children's services' that will be implemented across the post-16 sector.

Not surprisingly, the National Grid for Learning is the home for a repository of SEN policy documentsIncluded are:

1. Developing an SEN Policy: series of downloadable files which contain information which will be useful for composing or renewing a SEN policy. The files are based upon the headings in the Education (SEN) (Information) ( England ) Regulations
2. Statutory assessment documents
3. National Publications: DfES and other reference documents for teachers and other professionals working with families and pupils with special educational needs.

Understanding cognitive disabilities

Many websites provide information about a range of learning disabilities and conditions. One such resource is: LD Online, this is a US-based information service in the field of learning disabilities, ´serving more than 200,000 parents, teachers, and other professionals each month'. LD OnLine features thousands of articles on learning disabilities, monthly columns by experts in the field, a free and confidential question and answer service, active bulletin boards. Of course, being US-based, some material needs ´translating' for the UK user - such as school ´Grades' (years) and terms such as ´public school', and the ´Yellow Pages' of experts and services are US-based. Nevertheless, there is much very worthwhile information for the UK user.

The Learning Disabilities Association of America includes articles describing learning difficulties, for both parents and teachers, including:

1. LD Basics: Overviews of several types of learning disabilities, associated processing problems and characteristics plus strategies to help at home and school.
2. Assessment and Evaluation: Critical information on the process used to determine whether a child has a disability.
3. Symptoms of Learning Disabilities: An overview of the diverse set of characteristics which affect development and achievement in people with learning disabilities

Another site with a mix of information, advice, news and links, is that of Mencap. This is one of the UK 's leading learning disability charities, which works with people with a learning disability and their families and carers. The site has information on education, employment, community support and leisure services, news, accessibility advice, and many fact-sheets about learning disabilities, the latter of which may be particularly useful for teachers.

The OAASIS website (Office for Advice, Assistance, Support and Information on Special Needs), part of the Cambian Education Services, includes a large number of fact-sheets about all types of learning difficulties, including: ADHD, Asperger Syndrome, Attachment Disorder, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down's Syndrome, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Epilepsy, Fragile X, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Pathological Demand Avoidance, Prader-Willi Syndrome, Rett Syndrome, Semantic Pragmatic Disorder, Tourette's Syndrome and Williams Syndrome. Each one includes advice on where to find further information, and gives contact details of relevant organisations.

Many web sites deal with specific conditions, rather than trying to provide information about a many different ones, and as such often provide far deeper and more comprehensive information. For example, the Downs Syndrome Educational Trust Information Network offers a huge range of information resources and online services to the Down syndrome community, applicable both in the UK and internationally. It aims to provide information and services for families, carers, professionals and researchers worldwide. Downs syndrome resources include articles from Downs Syndrome news magazines, and full text books available for downloading. The site also includes a range of discussion groups focusing on a variety of issues.

Other similar, though not as comprehensive, are sites hosted by, for example:

1. The National Autistic Society
2. Rett Syndrome Association
3. Prader-Willi Syndrome Association
4. British Dyslexia Association

The National Autistic Society exists to champion the rights and interests of all people with autism and to ensure that they and their families receive quality services appropriate to their needs. The website includes information about autism and Asperger syndrome, the NAS and its services and activities.

Rett Syndrome Association has a somewhat more modest site. Rett Syndrome Association is a national organisation giving help, advice and support to parents, carers, siblings and professionals involved with a child or adult who has Rett Syndrome. The site contains information, advice, news, research findings, and links to other Rett Syndrome resources.

The Prader-Willi Syndrome Association site (has different sections for professionals, parents, people with the condition and ´others' (media, students, employers).

Finally, the British Dyslexia Association site covers the condition in some depth, including the provision of various information sheets and information about dyslexic children. This is primarily intended for parents, but there is much material on schooling which should be of use to professionals. It also has much on courses and other training.

Assistive technology

Many sites dedicated to advising on technology are for teachers or IT specialists. Better Living Through Technology (the new name for senit.org)is a good start. It promotes the use of technology to help people with disabilities. The website is independent, and evaluates various hardware and software either designed for use with SEN learners, or can be adapted for use with them. Also includes tutorials on using IT, and links to commercial Suppliers and Manufacturers of Specialist Hardware and Software Non-profit organisations, and other websites with free activities and tools. educational software, switches and computer access devices, simple communication aids and assistive technology for learners with special needs.

TechDis: holds a series of free workshops, open to anyone working in the UK further and higher education sector, designed to help staff develop ICT materials that are accessible to all. One of the Strategic Aims of TechDis ´to be a centre of excellence for the provision of staff development within the context of technologies and disability'. Much help is provided on the site including a series of ´How to' PDF file booklets, on such topics as:

1. the use of Joysticks
2. the use of Keyguards
3. the use of Special Keyboards
4. the use of Trackballs
5. Windows Built-In Accessibility Functions

Becta, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency is a UK organisation which supports all four UK education departments in their strategic ICT developments. It provides information about using ICT with SEN learners. The site consists mainly of articles on various ICT-related topics such as:

1. How to choose and use a programmable toy or robot: Key features of some programmable toys and robots suitable for school use.
2. How to use technology to access the curriculum: How switches, joysticks, rollerballs and specialised keyboards can enable access to learning.
3. Specific learning difficulties and ICT

There are also links to other organisations which provide information about special needs and ICT.

Of the commercial sites online, Inclusive Technology is, perhaps, the best known. It sells educational software, switches and computer access devices, simple communication aids and assistive technology for learners with special needs.

Research

Many sites include research papers or information of interest to teachers. A very comprehensive collection can be found at LD Online, ´In-depth' section (http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/resource-guide.html). This includes a Research Digest, including papers such as:

1. ´Number Sense: Rethinking Arithmetic Instruction for Students with Mathematical Disabilities', a study examining the importance of teaching ´number sense'
2. ´Inclusion and Students with Learning Disabilities', which asks whether the practice of inclusion increases academic achievement for children with learning disabilities
3. ´Transition and Self-Advocacy', which discusses strategies for improving self-advocacy at the transitional (school to work) stage.

The NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) includes a large number of research reports on its site, some of interest to professionals. However, many reports include only an abstract and reference - the full article being charged. Full-text items include:

1. Inclusion and EFA: necessary partners: a conference paper presenting arguments for the inclusion in mainstream primary education of children with disabilities.

Abstract-only entries include:

1. The education of pupils with autistic spectrum disorders up to the end of key stage one (abstract only online)
2. Self-assessment for pupils with learning difficulties (abstract only online)

The Literacy Trust includes material on SEN, including bibliographic records of recent SEN-related research articles. A full abstract of each is provided.

Finally, ERIC (The Education Resources Information Center) is worth a visit. It is a digital library of education-related resources, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. When the ERIC digital library opened to the public on September 1, 2004, the collection consisted primarily of electronic bibliographic records describing journal and non-journal literature selected by ERIC from 1966 - 2003. The collection has expanded to include full-text articles. Search using the keywords ´Special educational needs´ in speech marks, and use the advanced search to limit searches to recent years (the default search includes material from pre-1966!)

Fora and chat

The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities fora is a good place to start, being list of forums which bring together those working with people with learning disabilities, national and local policy makers, service providers and purchasers, parents, carers and people with learning disabilities. Ad with many such sites, it requires registration.

Other sites already mentioned have their own ´chat'/forum facilities. These include Downs Syndrome, the Rett Syndrome Association (a ´Bulletin Board'), Prader-Willi Syndrome, which has several fora, including ones for:

1. Parents/Carers of children aged under 13 years
2. Parents/Carers of teenagers and adults aged 13 and over
3. People with PWS only
4. Brothers and sisters of people with PWS

The US ´LD Online' has fora for:

1. Those Parenting a Child with LD
2. Parenting a Child with ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
3. Adults with LD themselves.

My Special Child' has a number of discussion groups, including:

1. General: ´Post anything that is related to myspecialchild website or children with special needs'
2. In the Media: ´Discuss Special Needs News and Articles here'.
3. Games and Competitions: ´Chat about MySpecialChild Games and Competitions'
4. Interesting Websites: ´Do you know of any Special Needs websites that may be of interest. Post them here'.
5. Fund Raising and Charity Events: ´Post here if you are fund raising or know of any upcoming events'
6. Special Needs Classified Ads: ´Got a piece of equipment for sale, tell us about it here'.
7. The Lounge: ´Sit Back and Relax in the Lounge. You can Talk about almost anything here'.
8. Sports Talk:´Chat about sports and sporting events'

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) website includes an ´LDTalk' section, in which educationalists and other experts are ´online' at specific times to answer queries from teachers and parents. The site is US based and biased, but nevertheless there is a lot of interesting material, including useful web links sent in by discussion contributers. There is an archive of past discussions at http://www.ldtalk.org/

Becta has worked closely with groups of teachers, advisory staff, teacher trainers and researchers to set up a range of focused discussion areas. The majority of these use email and are known as mailing lists. In addition there are a few web-based discussion or conferences hosted by Becta. These are all on the archived pages of Becta, but are still active. Examples are:

1. NGfL mailing lists including:
2. senco-forum: for discussing issues relating to the work of Sencos
3. SENIT:for those with a particular interest in finding out about IT solutions to support pupils
4. SLD-forum: for professionals involved in the education of learners with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties
5. speech-recognition: for those who wish to share practical advice about the use and potential for speech recognition in educational settings

Third-party specialist SEN and inclusion mailing lists:

1. inclusive-education: this list aims to provide a forum to facilitate discussion and collaboration among parents, campaigners, practitioners and researchers in the field of inclusive education
2. dyslexia: this mailing list is for the discussion of issues of particular concern to dyslexics: particular attention is given to computer tools which dyslexics find useful