Technology to Support Literacy for Learners with Complex Needs

Starts 13th October, 2026 • 8-week course • £360 per individual

Welcome to this CALL Scotland course on Technology to Support Literacy for Learners with Complex Needs. This is an online 8-week course with live workshops on Tuesdays from 4.00 - 5.00pm delivered by Claire Harrison, the CALL Scotland team and guest speakers.

This course would suit anyone involved with supporting children and young people with complex learning needs within a specialist provision, mainstream or special school.

This is an ideal course to undertake as part of practitioner enquiry and will support you in making changes to your teaching practice and ultimately improving the learner experience.

What you'll get

As well as the live face-to-face sessions, you'll also receive a recording of the meeting (and resources) each week.
Weekly Q&A sessions.
Access to a bank of ideas and ready-made resources.
A CALL Scotland (University of Edinburgh) certificate - issued as evidence of your learning.

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About the course

This is an online 8-week course with live workshops on Tuesdays from 4.00 - 5.00pm delivered by Claire Harrison, the CALL Scotland team and guest speakers. This course would suit anyone involved with supporting children and young people with complex learning needs within a specialist provision, mainstream or special school.

Participants will be asked to reflect on what literacy should look like for children and young people with complex learning needs. And in doing so, explore technology tools and strategies that support the development of emergent literacy skills for learners with access and learning challenges. Participants will explore alternative access to reading and writing for learners who use eye gaze, switches and touch and learn about relevant hardware, software and apps for Windows, iPads and Chromebook devices. Participants will be expected to actively participate in the online workshops through discussions and reflective questions.

The structure of the course will be as follows:

Week 1 (13th October): An introduction to literacy & complex needs
Week 2 (20th October): An introduction to Assistive Technology and Alternative Access
Week 3 (27th October: Technology to Support Writing
Week 4 (3rd November): Technology to Support Shared Reading
Week 5 (10th November): Technology to Support Independent Reading
Week 6 (17th November): Technology to Support Alphabetic and Phonological Awareness
Week 7 (24th November): 'Wow!' Tools
Week 8 (1st December): Putting it into practice, where next?

You can expect...

12 hours of online learning
Weekly further reading and information
Weekly Q&A sessions
Access to a bank of ideas and ready-made resources

Also...

This is an ideal course to undertake as part of practitioner enquiry and will support you in making changes to your teaching practice and ultimately improving the learner experience.

Course details

Starts 13th October, 2026.
8-week course (Tue 13 Oct - 1 Dec 2026).
4:00pm - 5:00pm (UK time zone).
£360 per individual.

Course tutors

Claire Harrison and the CALL Scotland team are your course tutors. Who have many years of experience in supporting children and young people with complex learning needs.

How to connect

Our live sessions are delivered using Microsoft Teams and we provide full joining instructions. There are a maximum of 50 participants so everyone can have an interactive collegiate learning experience.

Further questions

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions before signing up: claire.harrison@ed.ac.uk

Aims of the course

Develop an understanding of Assistive Technology and how it can be used to teach reading and writing to children and young people with complex learning needs.
Extend and enhance your knowledge of best practices.
Consider and engage with frameworks and assessments to utilise appropriate technologies to meet different learning and access needs.
Increase your confidence when working with technology to enable curricular access.
Connect and share with other educational professionals.

Learning Outcomes

Identify a range of assistive technologies, resources and strategies to support the development of reading and writing skills for children and young people with complex learning needs.
Explore the latest research and thinking about creating inclusive literacy classrooms.
Apply practical assistive technology skills within your setting to facilitate new opportunities for your learners.
Create a personalised literacy & technology map to help you plan and put what you've learned into practice.

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