SENnet outputs

Thematic reports

Integrating Students with Special Needs into Mainstreaming Classrooms: the role of ICT (2012 thematic report, D2.1)

Universal Design for Learning (2013 thematic report, download pdf 2.3MB)

Tablet computers and learners with special needs (2014 report, download pdf)

Annual reports on innovation

2012 Edition - mainstreaming special needs (download pdf, 0.7Mb)

2013 Edition - digital games (download pdf)

2014 Edition - innovation (download pdf)

Peer learning visits

• Italy, Florence (report)
• Belgium, Brussels (report)
• Denmark, Copenhagen (report)
• Austria, Bad Hofgastein (report)
• Portugal, Lisbon (report)
• Estonia, Tallin (report)

Workshop and seminar reports

• Transforming the Future Classroom: tablet computers as assistive technology, Brussels, 21 October 2014

Keynotes:

·      Tablet computers in schools, and for students with special needs, Katja Engelhardt, European Schoolnet; watch video (9 minutes)

·       Tablets for visually impaired students: early findings, Dr Sue Cranmer, University of Lancaster, UK; watch video (25 minutes)

·       Field evaluation of EdiTouch – the first tablet for SEN/SDL students, Marco Iannacone, Italy (presentation, study); watch video (36 minutes)

·       Tablets and Collaborative Learning, Darryl Bedford, Teacher of the Deaf and Apple Distinguished Educator, London, outlines projects making use of the iPad’s accessibility functions (Can you see sound?, Sensory Learning) and group work assessment (Skills for life)

Case studies (the related videos for each one are elsewhere on this page):

·       Italy: ICT and inclusion: learning together with tablets, Patrizia Lotti

·       Portugal: 1^st year primary school student with special needs, Ida Brandão (Prezi)

·       Turkey: Tablets in mainstream and special schools, Jale Akbas

·      Austria: Tablets in an Upper Austrian special school with integration classes, Ursula Simmetsberger

·       Belgium: A tablet used in mainstream lessons by a visually impaired pupil, Jochen Vrancken

·       Denmark: Using Write to read for creating books at Specialskolen Tejbjerg, Leo Højsholt-Poulsen 

             ·       Estonia: Käo Basic School, Jaanika Aas and Pille Tina-Kuusik

Towards the Inclusive Future Classroom, May 2014

Roger Blamire's presentation

Workshop report

David Sabaté's presentation and website accessibility checklist (David Sabate, ToThom, Spain)

Sal McKeown's reflections on the day

• Is your classroom really inclusive? 29th April 2014, eTwinning webinar recording

• Serious Games and Inclusion, June 2013: Workshop report

Other sources

ICT for inclusion: Research literature review is a comprehensive overview of the findings of studies into ICT and inclusion in schools that identifies some important issues and gaps. It arises from the ICT4i project and is published by the European Agency for Development in Sepcial Needs Education. 

Classroom acoustics: A UK study highlights how optimising classroom environments for Hearing Impaired students benefits and teachers and all students as well. Results (featured in OECD Best Practices for Educational environments) indicated a strong correlation between reverberation (ie echo) and the perceived quality of the teaching environment for speech adn listening.

1:1 computing: SEN-themed 'postcards' (downloadable Word doc) from the EUN-Acer project on the use of tablets in schools

A series of short video case studies of assistive technologies in UK schools, from Inclusive Technology.
 

Inclusion in primary schools: A Danish report shows for the first time in many years that fewer children are sent from the regular public school class and in a special class.

For the first time since the late 1990s schools have succeeded in reducing the number of children being sent away from the regular public school class into a special class.

In 2010, 93.1% of all school children attended a regular class in compulsory school. In 2013 this number was 94.9%, which represents an increase of 1.8%. The results are based on 12 representatively selected municipalities.

We have tried to crack this curve since the late 1990s . We have talked about inclusiveness and inclusion, and nothing happened And then bang! We did it", one of the researchers Niels Egelund reported  to the newspaper Politiken.

The revised rate is due to mainly two things: a change in the law, which means that since August 2012, special education is targeted to only those students who have extensive needs for support, and the fact that many municipalities use economic incentives for schools to keep students with special needs.

At the same time the interim report refutes that municipalities use inclusion as a saving exercise. According to Niels Egelund experience so far shows that the economy follows with students when you start introducing inclusive measures.

So this means that the money that otherwise would previously have been earmarked for a particular student to a particular special class or special school, is being channelled to the school leader's office in the ordinary school," says Niels Egelund, who co-authored the report.

The interim report by the Institute of Education, University of Aarhus, made in collaboration with the National Centre for Social Research. Download the report (PDF in Danish)

A UK report on the impact of virtual schools on reducing the gap between the educational achievement of children in care and their peers: promoting communication between professionals and increasing the involvement of carers in children's education, and helping to improve attendance and reduce exclusions. However, there is little evidence that they are able to reduce the attainment gap between looked after children and their peers. More information in this article.

Identifying Vulnerable Children Online and What Strategies can help them (PDF, 1.3Mb) includes a section on young people with disabilities. Other UK Council for Child Internet Safety reports are here.

Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning: Two Sides of the Same Coin, by David Rose et al.