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Allan Wilson

Personal Communication Passports

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 1st February, 2018

Back around 1990, my colleague, Sally Millar (now enjoying her retirement), was working with an adult with communication difficulties. (We’ll call her Mandy.) Everything seemed to be in place for Mandy to spend a weekend’s respite with a family – her communication book had been upd...

ILF Scotland Transition Fund

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 8th January, 2018

The Scottish Government has announced the opening of the Independent Living Fund Scotland Transition Fund which aims to help young people, between the ages of 16 and 21 living with disabilities, with the transition after leaving school or children's services to be more independent. The maximum ...

Commencement date for Scottish AAC Legislation

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 8th January, 2018

The Scottish Parliament passed the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 back on 3rd March of that year. Part 4 of the Act introduced a legal duty for NHS Health Boards in Scotland to provide communication equipment and necessary support for any person who has lost their voice...

Public Lecture - Presumption of Mainstreaming

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 3rd January, 2018

Professor Lani Florian, Bell Chair of Education, The University of Edinburgh, will be delivering a Public Lecture, entitled 'On the Presumption of Mainstreaming: Ideals and Reality' at 5 pm on Tuesday 16th January 2018. The lecture will be given in the Godfrey Thomson Hall, Moray House Schoo...

AAC and Literacy Survey

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 11th December, 2017

The Communication Trust has been funded by the Department for Education to conduct a research project on the effective teaching of literacy for pupils who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Part of the project is a national survey around practices and experiences for any...

Listening to a Kindle Book on an Android Device

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 8th December, 2017

I had a phone call this week from an adult with dyslexia wanting to use text-to-speech with the Kindle app to help him read books on an Android tablet. You would expect this to be relatively straightforward, but it took over two hours of investigation and I'm still not sure that I found the '...

Survey - How do you Select AAC Apps?

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 7th December, 2017

We have been asked to pass on information about a survey into how decisions are made about selecting an appropriate  App for somebody who needs to use augmentative and alternative communication to express themselves. The survey, organised by James Northridge from the University of Massachusetts...

Using a Reading Pen in Exams?

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 4th December, 2017

Does anybody in a secondary school in Scotland have a pupil who is using a Reader Pen / Exam Pen to help them read text independently? Has this pupil used the Pen to sit prelims, or SQA assessments? Jim Bowen from Scanning Pens is desperately looking for case studies illustrating the use of Reader /...

Simple Sensory Toys for Switches?

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 1st December, 2017

Over the past few years I’ve occasionally reflected on the range of switch accessible toys available for children with complex additional support needs. Companies like Inclusive Technology, TFH, SpaceKraft and Liberator have some excellent toys available, but many have become increasingly comp...

New and Revised iPad App Wheels

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 26th October, 2017

To coincide with the Dyslexia Scotland Educational Conference on Saturday 28th October, we have updated our iPad Apps for Learners with Dyslexia / Reading and Writing Difficulties wheel and will be launching a new wheel, iPad Apps for Learners with Dyscalculia / Numeracy Difficulties. Both can be do...

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