Welcome to tonight's #SENDcomputing special #caschat . Please introduce yourself and tell us one interesting fact about yourself. I'll release Q1 in a moment - please answer with the hashtag and A1, A2 etc...
I am Catherine, I am in Sheffield and I am distantly related to Barry Sheene. #caschat#onerandomfact I'm also currently doing some research on computing in special schools - more about this later
Welcome to tonight's #SENDcomputing special #caschat . Please introduce yourself and tell us one interesting fact about yourself. I'll release Q1 in a moment - please answer with the hashtag and A1, A2 etc...
Evening #caschat I am looking forward to tonight as I will be also taking on the computing responsibility for computing at our federation special school in September.
Evening #caschat I am looking forward to tonight as I will be also taking on the computing responsibility for computing at our federation special school in September.
A1 Reading is the struggle, as is verbalising their understanding. Greatest strengths tend to be out of the box thinking and approaches to problems. #caschat
I find some students with Autism excel in coding but struggle with analysis, testing & evaluation as too focussed on getting the code perfect! #caschat
Reading an understanding the problem is huge for our send kids. We have a large proportion of autistic children as we have a DSP for autistism. I find once they understand the problems, and work out the algorithmic nature of it, they fly. #caschat
#caschat A1) it varys vastly on the needs of the student. All students struggle with problem solving but i think it's the vast quantity of the work and tying it all together.
#caschat one of my (vast) thoughts is how i can write a computing curriculum that completely ties all the theory, programming, practical together in a neat little package. Its been a work of years, i'm getting there with KS5 programming
I have found @MicrosoftTeams a great tool for students to collaborate without always having to put their hand up, often SEND students are more confident asking their peers than teacher #caschat
A2 I have been very successful in assessing decomposition using Lego and also tickle app link to sphero to teach block coding with a physical outcome #caschat
#caschat i'm a big fan of onenote. it contains learning tools to aid with dyslexia. i like the idea of the content library. all info stored in one place.
A2. I love going unplugged but I sometimes find that some SEND students can find this too abstract! I sometimes find that printing out/laminating blocks e.g. Scratch blocks & getting Ss to act out the code helps! Also paired programming helps too! #caschat
I have found @MicrosoftTeams a great tool for students to collaborate without always having to put their hand up, often SEND students are more confident asking their peers than teacher #caschat
I have found @MicrosoftTeams a great tool for students to collaborate without always having to put their hand up, often SEND students are more confident asking their peers than teacher #caschat
A2. One small thing I've started to do is to use the Open Dyslexia font a bit more. Either in my displays, or in the work I share on the computer. Little things can means a big change to some of our SEND kids. #caschat
A2. I love going unplugged but I sometimes find that some SEND students can find this too abstract! I sometimes find that printing out/laminating blocks e.g. Scratch blocks & getting Ss to act out the code helps! Also paired programming helps too! #caschat
Well, it's a plain clear font so has little to no impact on those without dyslexia, but for those who do it can make a difference.
It's no harder for me to produce so why not use it! #caschat
Yes, I spoke with someone working with VI pupils who was using it - he said it was great, though a little limited. WOuld like to see in person #caschat
I’ve had google expeditions in, students loved it. It is high impact, but I’m not convinced there’s enough learning in it. It would be ideal if you use it now and again to maintain the wow factor. #CASchat
#caschat I was told by a student some years ago, comic sans won awards in its time for it's clarity and being different to anything that has gone before. I'm a massive fan of Century Gothic myself
Obviously unplugged has been mentioned a lot, and this is great for teaching abstract concepts using familiar topics and concrete objects or movements... #caschat
I do wonder what it brings extra than just wow factor, but I do think VR has huge implications for certain students to experience something that may be difficult in real life #caschat
I’ve had google expeditions in, students loved it. It is high impact, but I’m not convinced there’s enough learning in it. It would be ideal if you use it now and again to maintain the wow factor. #CASchat
Definitely - this came up a lot too in the survey - breaking down complex tasks. And the language of computational thinking can help with describing the learning here - algorithms, decomposition etc. #caschat
A3. Making links to real life situations, helps to remove some of the conceptualisation that is required. Giving explicit and comprehensive instructions #caschat
A3. Always start with physical programming I.e giving each other instructions and following. Progressing to using using physical scratch blocks to move on the wall #caschat
A3. Making links to real life situations, helps to remove some of the conceptualisation that is required. Giving explicit and comprehensive instructions #caschat
#caschat general encouragement of #resilience#growth mindset https://t.co/iDY76l6sGW.L to learn. Also I use awards -cool keyboard, magic mouse,eagle eye glasses- actual belonged up working props for great work
I bought some cheap android phones from amazon that were 39 pounds that were cardboard compatible. We use them for creating our own vr apps using unity #caschat
I love that idea of the props. I think this is why I think CT is great for SEN learners, as it helps them talk about the learning in a structured way #caschat
#caschat general encouragement of #resilience#growth mindset https://t.co/iDY76l6sGW.L to learn. Also I use awards -cool keyboard, magic mouse,eagle eye glasses- actual belonged up working props for great work
#caschat i do a text adventure game in order to plan and develop a game. they have to do the documentation and work to develop modules for all elements, we have discussions about playing to strengths.
A4. Staggered approach to web development, some students are given the basic building blocks and structure setup, who are then asked to model what they can see from the code, others write the code from scratch using a model #caschat
A4. I like @Sonic_Pi for a mixed group as there's such an easy way into it, immediate feedbak, but so much to go at. Just a shame it doesn't work with screen readers #caschat
A4. Gradually building on skills, scratch in year 7, moving to a text based language such as small basic with its intellisense (helps dyslexic students) in year 8 and then something with that support removed in year 9. #caschat
This is perhaps more for those of you in mainstream - do you look at making accessible websites, using MaKey Makeys to create alternative access devices etc? #caschat
This is perhaps more for those of you in mainstream - do you look at making accessible websites, using MaKey Makeys to create alternative access devices etc? #caschat
A5 I've done a project with creating scratch activities, but then looking at making ergonomic or contextualised access devices with @makeymakey and lots of playdoh #caschat
Hi there #caschat sorry i’m so late! A4 Computer Science is about more than just coding. My most inclusive scheme is an ethics and law based one inspired by Ready Player One https://t.co/2jQdwZ6wMi available here
Hi there #caschat sorry i’m so late! A4 Computer Science is about more than just coding. My most inclusive scheme is an ethics and law based one inspired by Ready Player One https://t.co/2jQdwZ6wMi available here
A6 I will publish the results of my survey of computing teachers in SEND settings soon, and hopefully that will help make sense of approaches and give ideas for resources that work well. Keep an eye on twitter and CAS forums... #caschat
Hi there #caschat sorry i’m so late! A4 Computer Science is about more than just coding. My most inclusive scheme is an ethics and law based one inspired by Ready Player One https://t.co/2jQdwZ6wMi available here
A6 So for SEND specific stuff, there are SEND resources on @BarefootComp plus we have some SEND Scratch activities on https://t.co/AxfX8dkpht but in the survey, that was the biggest barrier mentioned to teaching computing - lack of resources for SEND #caschat
#caschat A6 it varies immensely by SEND need - many SEND students thrive at CS! I think it comes down to what is important to the individual to learn and understand and so it’s hard to generalise about best practice.
Can get it working on Mac OS at least: it's not available in a menu, but I set up a custom key in the text to speech settings (speak current selection) and just tried it. Screen reader access to music software in general is a massive barrier!
In reply to
@catherinelliott, @DdR333, @Sonic_Pi, @samaaron
