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Current and past projects
The Communication Aids Project (CAP)
"Without their highly professional advice and encouragement, the benefits now being realised through CAP would not have been possible" Chris Stevens, Head of Inclusion, BECTA
CAP was a government funded scheme which ran for 4 years to March 2006. It’s aim was to provide an assessment framework and equipment to enhance the communication and curriculum access of over 6,000 pupils in England.
In addition to direct work with children, the project provided an opportunity to support the development of multi-agency teams to provide local specialist advice and support on communication aids and assistive technology for children with disabilities within schools.
AbilityNet was the largest of the 6 CAP Centres, directly working with over 1,300 pupils, and supporting local teams at all levels:
- multi-agency team formation
- initial training
- on-going professional development for existing teams and individuals.
- sign posting to resources
- sharing models of good practice
- running networking events to bring teams together
- email and phone support
It is clear that the teams and individuals working with pupils at a local level found this support invaluable. The impact on the expertise and confidence of many of these professionals has been profound and the availability of local support across the country has increased dramatically.
South London LSC and AbilityNet : Spring 2006
In Spring 2006 AbilityNet delivered training on behalf of the South London LSC to several adult community education and further education colleges. Staff from different departments were brought together to discuss and learn how best to co-ordinate their support for students with disabilities and additional learning needs to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The content covered ‘The Duty to Promote Disability Equality 2006’, ‘Networking issues for assistive technology’ and ‘Matching solutions to learner’s needs’.
Some colleges also benefited from a clinic day, with staff and students trying out and familiarising themselves with a range of specialist solutions and 5 colleges won Accessibility Starter Kit for Adults.
The project was adaptable enough to suit very different environments.
Merton College, an FE college with a large student population, gathered staff from IT and student support units, staff development, the advice and learning centres, as well as tutors for the training. This led to good discussions with staff able to identify who they needed to speak to over particular support issues. The emphasis was on practical solutions such as enabling students to request roaming profiles through their tutor or over the intranet and how to match solutions to learners needs.
In contrast, Hillcroft College is a small specialist college catering for return to learning students. Attendees at the first training session included a mix of tutors, IT staff, team managers, the director of student learning and the principal. They wanted to help learners with disabilities but had no equipment and weren’t sure where to start. They had supported a wheelchair user in the past but had had to turn away a visually impaired learner needing to use Jaws (screen reading software) as they didn’t have the software. They were able to benefit from a starter kit and used their clinic day to plan how they would use this and the available free adaptations they had been introduced to.
The project highlighted how much staff wanted to support students with disabilities, and how helpful they found it to train together to a common level of understanding, then working out the most effective solutions collaboratively. The clinic days also provided a very effective forum for targeted questions on technology, assessments, implementation and further training and to get advice on how best to develop their services.