Training On Site
We realise that for many of you a visit to Edinburgh for a 'CALL Scotland' based course is not possible. CALL provides training courses on a range of topics. Courses have been designed to help staff:
- Meet the requirements of recent legislation
- Raise awareness of useful materials and techniques
- Provide skills that make better use of technology to address the needs of pupils with additional support needs
CALL Scotland is included on the national Learning and Teaching Scotland register of CPD providers to Scottish education and offers a range of CPD opportunities.
Training can be provided on a full-day, part-day, twilight or Saturday basis, and as one-off courses or as a short series. CALL Scotland has a set of PC laptops that can be used for training, or your own equipment can be used, provided that all the appropriate software is installed and working.
“ Everything was very relevant and some ideas I had forgotten. Really liked the content being so up to date, matching A Curriculum for Excellence – enjoyed group discussions ”
Teacher on Listening to Children Course
Below, is a list of available courses. Remember! This is not a definitive list and any course can be modified to meet your specific requirements or new courses may be developed to meet your particular needs. Just get in touch and ask!
CALL has been working with the Scottish Qualifications Authority to help make exams more accessible for pupils with additional support needs through the use of technology. The SQA has now made this facility available to all schools and centres schools for exams. It is therefore important for teachers to acquire the skills necessary to implement this development.
Using ICT to Help Students with Additional Support Needs Sit SQA Exams and Assessments
reviews the use of ICT for students who have issues with paper-based SQA external examinations, NABs and 5-14 assessments. It looks at SQA assessment policy and procedures, and how papers and assessments can be adapted and accessed using ICT.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- SQA Exam Coordinators in secondary schools
Using ICT to Create Accessible Exam Prelims and Other Resources for Pupils with Additional Support Needs
This hands-on course provides teachers with the skills required to create accessible prelims and practice materials using Adobe Acrobat and other software.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- SQA Exam Coordinators in secondary schools
Schools and local authorities are obliged to consider how they can provide learning and curriculum resources in suitable alternative formats for pupils with disabilities. From April 2008, changes to the CLA licence for schools make it is easier for staff to adapt resources for pupils with dyslexia and other reading and writing difficulties. These courses cover techniques for making accessible learning materials.
Books for All: Making Accessible Resources with Adobe Acrobat
This course teaches techniques for creating accessible learning materials in PDF using Acrobat Pro. The course looks at scanning and OCR; structuring digital books for easy navigation; and methods for making interactive worksheets and assessments.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary and secondary schools
Books for All: Making Accessible Resources with Microsoft Word
This course covers techniques for using Microsoft Word to create accessible print and also electronic learning resources. It covers scanning and OCR; adding structure and accessibility; interactive features; and use of audio.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary and secondary schools
Books for All: Making Accessible Audio Resources
This course considers ways in which iPods and other audio players can be used to allow access to books and other learning resources. We look at tools for making your own recordings and also for generating synthesised audio files from text.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary and secondary schools
CALL Scotland has a particular focus on supporting staff working with children with complex additional support needs and can offer a number of relevant courses.
Basic Communication in Children with Complex ASN
This course reviews the early stages of communication development, including: behaviour as communication, and non-verbal signals; offering and making choices; making our own communication easy for the child to understand; 'total communication’ - gesture, objects, sign, symbols, simple voice output technology; how to record evidence of children's choices and feelings.
All children can communicate somehow - it's our job to work out how! This course should be both informative and fun as we explore different aspects of communication.
Suitable for:- Early Years practitioners
- SfL staff in schools
- Parents
- Workers in many areas of children’s services
Listening to Children
HMIE recently suggested that “approaches to consulting children and young people who lacked capacity to make their views known were not well developed [by local authorities].” The CALL Centre has acknowledged expertise in this area. This course presents practical approaches to seeking the views of children with communication difficulties. The training can be run as a course and/or as a Workshop, allowing staff time to make and adapt resources for their own pupils.
Suitable for:- Quality Improvement Officers and ASL Officers in local authorities
- senior management and SfL staff in schools
Personal Communication Passports
Passports provide a practical, person-centred way to share key information for people who cannot easily speak for themselves. Passports are a good way to record the person’s priorities in order to respect their preferences and ensure consistency of care. This course considers the processes involved in gathering information, looks at ways to create a Passport, including the use of Templates, and considers good practice issues.
Suitable for:- Early Years practitioners
- SfL staff in schools
- Speech and language therapists
- Parents
- Workers in many areas of children’s services
Routes for Learning
Routes for Learning, developed in Wales, is a pack of assessment materials for learners with profound learning difficulties and additional disabilities. This CALL course provides an introduction to, and raises awareness of the pack; raises awareness of various communication and educational approaches and resources potentially useful for learners at this level, linked to areas covered by the RfL pack; and helps staff to make the link between assessment, and IEP targets for their own pupils.
Suitable for:- Staff working with pupils with profound/severe and complex multiple ASN
- Therapists
- Educational Psychologists
Schools generally have a range of technology and software available to enrich the curriculum, but this is not always used to best effect with pupils with additional support needs. These courses will encourage teachers to create accessible and enjoyable resources with standard software and to make better use of specialist software for pupils with additional support needs.
Interactive Whiteboards
This course looks at the issues surrounding the best use of Interactive Whiteboards to support the learning and teaching of pupils with additional support needs. A range of curricular software and websites will be investigated and software that can be used to create resources will be demonstrated. Suitable for:
- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary, secondary and special schools.
Fun with PowerPoint
This course shows how to make personalised and motivating resources in PowerPoint for pupils who are very young, or who have complex additional support needs, perhaps using single switch or touch screen access, using photos, images from the internet, music, recorded speech, animations, etc.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary, secondary and special schools.
Introduction to Boardmaker 5 or 6
This is the latest version of this widely used program for creating PCS symbol-based resources to build a supportive visual environment for pupils with communication difficulties. This course provides a chance to develop your BoardMaker confidence and skills and to get ideas about new resources.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary, secondary and special schools.
Introduction to Clicker 4 or 5
This course examines different aspects of the program which can be used to create grids that can be used to develop literacy skills and enable access to the curriculum.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary, secondary and special schools.
Using Software Tools to Support Pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder
This course considers how standard and specialist software and technology can be used to support young pupils with autism spectrum disorder.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary, secondary and special schools.
TextHelp Read and Write
Several local authorities have site licences for TextHelp Read and Write: this course enables staff to get to grips with the program so that pupils with reading and writing difficulties can be better supported.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary, secondary and special schools.
Accessible Microsoft Word
Learn how to make Microsoft Word more accessible for pupils with additional support needs and how to use features which are built-in but often little known or used. This is an essential course for all teaching and support staff in schools.
Suitable for:- Learning Support staff
- Teachers in primary, secondary and special schools.
