Author: Alastair Fielden
Alastair Fielden 
13.11.16A Week in the Life Series: Episode 2 – “I am going to get it right!”
“Oh, Oh, I know Miss…Miss!” as Jack thinks of a good reason and shoots up his hand in an effort to gain his teacher’s attention. “Yes, Salu, what do you think?” as the teacher scans the room ignoring Jack’s noisy hands-up in favour of one of the ‘quiet’ hands waiting to contribute. Jack, beginning to … Continued
Alastair Fielden 09.11.16A Week in the Life Series: Episode 1 – What is up with that child?
A parent walks wearily up to the school gate at the end of another long day. Already feeling frazzled and wondering how the next four hours or so until bedtime will go today, this parent arrives in time to overhear a small group huddle together, commenting, “That child just seems all over the place, can’t … Continued
Alastair Fielden 31.10.16Note Taking Made Easier – That Syncing Feeling
Following on from the post on Audio note taking, there may be those students who have a preference to type brief notes, yet also need audio to support their note taking and aide their memory. There are a couple of ways this can be accomplished. For those using iPads, AudioNote by Luminant Software, has been around … Continued
Alastair Fielden 31.10.16Note Taking Made Easier – Audio
Settling on the most comfortable and accessible note-taking method for our access needs and preferences is important, yet the choices available to accomplish this can seem bewildering. Note-taking technology has increased the range of options available, along with accessibility options in the system settings of mobile devices, which cover audio recording, dictation, digitized handwriting and … Continued
Alastair Fielden 14.10.16Building Braille Awareness
As part of a local school’s class topic on Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille, Connect staff were invited to work with two classes of six and seven-year-olds to give them experience of what it can be like for those with a visual impairment through a series of practical and engaging activities. During the … Continued
Alastair Fielden 08.07.16Supporting Struggling Writers #2
Words and Pictures The title is a reference for those old enough to remember the name of the educational T.V. programmes of the same name. In the first article we mentioned ‘Talking Pictures’, that is the use of images and video, as a stimulus to help students generate discussion and record their ideas related to … Continued
Alastair Fielden 01.07.16Supporting Struggling Writers #1
In this series of posts we look at how we can support pupils who struggle with writing and look at some resources and ways of working that could be used with a range of ages. In this post we consider general solutions, in further posts we will look at how some specific solutions could be … Continued
Alastair Fielden 10.06.16Supporting SEND – We can still make a difference
Findings from a report from The Key, mentioned on the BBC news site of a survey of just under 1200 head teachers about their views of SEN, highlighted the gap in funding for mainstream schools to effectively support pupils with SEND. The question about mainstream schools having the money, time and training they need to … Continued
Alastair Fielden 25.05.16Bacon Butties and Assistive Technology!
We attended the first ATEC (Assistive Technology in Education Conference) on the 17th May as delegates, wondering what to expect, but with the intention of making connections with other Assistive Technology professionals and coming away with ideas and inspiration. The provision of bacon butties and hot coffee on arrival, after a very early start through … Continued
