Not their Policy

[wishingwell]

Need your help,

 

Had a meeting with an ICT Technician in respect of accessing a laptop computer for my asp sons school work. She was able to offer him the Alphasmart Word Processor this was to replace his Starlite (a dated, out sized typewriter which ink can no longer be bought for.)

The school principle and teacher explained that the Alphasmart was not advanced enough for the work he is doing at school (his last year in Primary School.) And that he had developed the appropriate skills to be able to do his work on a laptop. The ITC technician took note of everything and before leaving said the board had a cabinet full of laptop computers not in use and that she could see no reason why he could not receive one. She would speak to her advisory officer and contact the school the next day.

1 week later I received this letter:

Under the Board?s current specialist equipment (including ICT) Policy there is no provision for the allocation of a laptop computer to a pupil in Primary School settings.

His classroom assistant?s hours should be used to assist with written work.

He gets 3 hours assistants per day and is in school for 6 hours. So for the other 3 hours he can sit and watch everyone else work. How is this enabling him to progress at the same level as his peers? He mainly needs help during break and dinner, which is a nightmare for him, how far can the assistant be stretched.

Has anyone else come up against this problem or have you ever heard of anyone getting a laptop from the board at primary level.

 

All advice greatly excepted, and maybe I?ll try for a meeting

 

(I just hope this Policy was not written in stone or it will never change)

 

wishingwell

[bevalee]

Hi Wishingwell

 

Does your son been statemented?

[bevalee]

Sorry should have been 'Has'

[jools]

sorry, can't offer any advice just wanted to say i'm waiting for G to be assessed by an outreach worker for ict support in the classroom.

he isn't dx or statemented yet

 

will let you know once its done, hopefully in the next couple of weeks

[barefoot wend]

Wishingwell

 

My son's ex-school used Alphasmart up until GCSE level - it was one of the top grammar schools in the country and all the children worked to a very high level. How an Alphasmart can be seen as inadequate for a child at primary school baffles me. Admittedly, it isn't as good as a laptop but it functions perfectly well for most school activities. It's also compact, light and simple to use.

 

Barefoot

[call me jaded]

This seems ludicrous. You need to get your hands on the policy to see exactly what it says about access to equipment. I would also ask them to put reasons in writing why your son has been turned down.

[phasmid]

Hi wishingwell.

 

As you keep mentioning 'the board', are you based in Northeren Ireland?

[wishingwell]

Yes he does have a statement,

 

He has proven he is willing to work hard and he has achieved so more than anyone ever expected. Every night I put sticking plasters in his pencil case to wrap over the blisters on his fingers from holding his pencil to tight. His writing problems go on and on, but he is determined to keep up with the other children where possible. Occupational therapy was of no help! Unless I can get something in writing from her to use towards getting him help.

 

Wishingwell

[wishingwell]

Phasmid

 

Yes.

 

wishingwell

[LKS]

Wishing well my son used alpha smart in primary school from year 4. He has just transferred to secondary school and is still using it. He achieved level 5 in all his sats. I think it depends on what your sons problems are, if they are writing and presentation then the alpha smart is more than adequate. Its advantages as already said are that it is light and quite robust. Its disadvantages are that really it is just a word processor and so is only good for text. The problems we are having in secondary school are now more to do with lessons such as maths, science, history and geography. These lessons often have sheets to fill in with very little room. they cause my son a lot of grief. I can only think that your son would need a lap-top if he needs IT to access the curiculum and that most lessons he is unable to do unless he can use a computer. Its a long battle though and there are people who still insist on giving my son handwriting exercises (copying text in your best hand writing) when the OT says there is little chance that he will improve now. We are quite happy with the alpha-smart but we are going to be looking at how this is working for him the older he gets.

[phasmid]

Wishingwell, all I can say is it is ridiculous! He appears to have a need, they appear to have a solution. It ought to be as easy as giving any other child a piece of paper to write on.

 

I'm afraid my knowledge of SEN regulations etc doesn't stretch to N.I. so I can't help beyond sending you my best wishes and good luck thoughts on getting him supported. Short of moving you to England I don't know what to suggest.

 

There must be someone on here with good knowledge of the SEN provision in N.I. who can help.

[bid]

Does the Disability Rights Commission cover NI??

 

I would think they would be able to help if they do cover NI.

 

Bid

[phasmid]

Quite right bid. If the DRC remit covers N.I. then I'd give them a call or drop them an e-mail. Likewise IPSEA.

[streamdreams]

I think you need try and find out the specifics from the school principle and teacher as to why the Alphasmart is insufficient.

 

As an IT person I can think of a lot of very good reasons not to have a lap top ( apart from being nearly twice the price for what you get, our company experiences a 30% failure rate and a 10% theft rate in the 3 year expect life span and that is with adult users) , so it would not surprise me that if the alpha smart is supposed the meet curriculum needs there would have such a policy.

 

Once you have the specifics you will be able to argue the case better. It may help to get the head to argue for you.

 

J

[streamdreams]

I just took some time to look at the alpha smart website to see what exactly these things do. It very much depends on which model you get. Some models are very capable, and other limited to just store text for formatting on a pc later. I can understand the teachers reservations if the offering is one of the limited models.

 

best of luck

 

Julian

[Ian Jordan]

there is another method of reducing problems with pencil grip

Try contacting Lee opticians in Warren point and asking if your son can try the optimeyes, it will often stop problem immediately.

his tel number is

02841 753030

[nvapid]

Often times it is easier if you can get him a "laptop" yourself

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Toshiba-Libretto-70C...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

this is one of the first "notebooks", runs full windows 98 and office 98. It has two pcmia card slots so can easly be set up with a LAN network connection, wireless and bluetooth.

 

with this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Toshiba-Libretto-Por...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

you can add an extra mouse, monitor...

 

 

both under �50.00

[streamdreams]

there is another method of reducing problems with pencil grip

Try contacting Lee opticians in Warren point and asking if your son can try the optimeyes, it will often stop problem immediately.

his tel number is

02841 753030

Ian pleas tell us more. What is/are optimeyes is ther a web page on this, I wounder if it might work for my son.

 

Julian

[streamdreams]

Second hand laptops are quite a good route to go, and probably the one I would take, but please be aware that they can suffer the same sort of battery problems as mobile phones. Replacements can be very hard to find, and are often costly to buy when you can find them

[wishingwell]

Thanks for all the possitive feed back, your opinions are a great help and I'll look into all of them.

 

I'll let you know what I fnd out.

 

 

 

wishingwell

[Zemanski]

streamdreams,

 

Ian is an expert in visual dyslexia and the optimeyes clinics do testing and fitting of specialist lenses based on his research - a bit like the irlen syndrome testing and glasses but more science involved.

 

if you look up optimeyes you will get some confusing links because other opticians use the name but if you look up Ian Jordan you will get links to his visual dyslexia stuff and links to the optimeyes clinics through that. I think they're actually called orthoscopics

 

http://www.orthoscopics.com/

 

the clinics are based mostly in the south at the moment. If you're up north you may have to do with irlen which isn't so good but does help, or some opticians are using another, sort of half-way house, called the colorimeter

 

http://www.ceriumvistech.co.uk/colorimeter.htm

 

Zemanski

Edited October 3, 2005 by Zemanski

[streamdreams]

streamdreams,

 

Ian is an expert in visual dyslexia and the optimeyes clinics do testing and fitting of specialist lenses based on his research - a bit like the irlen syndrome testing and glasses but more science involved.

 

if you look up optimeyes you will get some confusing links because other opticians use the name but if you look up Ian Jordan you will get links to his visual dyslexia stuff and links to the optimeyes clinics through that. I think they're actually called orthoscopics

 

http://www.orthoscopics.com/

 

the clinics are based mostly in the south at the moment. If you're up north you may have to do with irlen which isn't so good but does help, or some opticians are using another, sort of half-way house, called the colorimeter

 

http://www.ceriumvistech.co.uk/colorimeter.htm

 

Zemanski

Zemanski

 

awesome , will check all that out

 

thanks,

 

and thanks to Ian

 

J

[streamdreams]

http://www.orthoscopics.com/

Is that link right it does not seem to connect for some reason

 

J

[Zemanski]

link's working fine on both our computers (the other's a mac so sometimes behaves differently) - you could try looking up othoscopics in google - UK pages

 

Zemanski

[UltraMum]

http://www.orthoscopics.com/ worked fine on my Mac but the other one came up with a 404 error

[littlenemo]

sorry - case sensitive on the mac

 

http://www.ceriumvistech.co.uk/Colorimeter.htm

 

Zemanski

[wishingwell]

Hi,

 

Thanks for all the support everyone.

 

Sent an e-mail to the DRC awaiting a reply,

Spoke a lady IPSEA, she was a good help and so was all the information you lot have sent. I have my letter written and sent. I?ll wait on their reply,

It is illegal to have a closed policy of any kind for children with special education needs; every child?s needs are individual and must be addressed accordingly. (Legal Advice)

 

Have an appointment made for Josh tomorrow morning with the orthoscopics.

Started his practice in N.I. last month.

 

Ian he was really impressed to hear that you had recommended him, THANKS.

 

I?d heard about this a couple of years ago. But was told it was only in England.

 

I?ll let you know how it goes. Very excited!

 

Really lucky to have found this site I?m no longer on my own and it?s a big relief!

 

 

wishingwell

[jilly2003]

hi, my son got a local authority laptop whilst in year 6 it is a brand new top of the range Dell which he just arrived home with one day .When he transfered to senior schol they werent even aware he had been issued one.Whilst in juniors I mentioned alpha smart and the Senco stated she wanted him to have a laptop and get used to it as when at seniors the work would be more complex .The laptop was issued purely as his written work was impossible to read,he now uses part of his statemented hours at school to improve his laptop skills,the laptop is used for his exams.

[Zemanski]

wishingwell,

 

hope it works out well - I wish we could do it but I'm going to have to go with the colorimeter for mine.

 

basically I can get the kids tested in town and get the glasses for about �200 for the 2 of them.

to go to an orthoscopics clinic would be over �500 plus we would have to travel there by public transport, nearest is over 100miles from us, and pay for accommodation for 4 people - being low income we could probably scrape the �500 but not the rest.

 

ho hum

 

booked in for wednesday

 

love to hear how it goes and what's involved - maybe compare the two

 

Zemanski