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Early Adoption of New Software, Assistive HArdware

In today's world of technology - and this certainly does not exclude ICT support for additional needs - products always come to the market too early. The first device or application of an idea usually spoils the market for the competition. So the temptation is to release early at all costs.

Early adopters take part in quality assurance.

Think twice before becoming an early adopter. Who is going to benefit?

Visual Impairment

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

Some Uses of Symbols

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 ScannaR documentation

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;