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Whether you're an Assistive Technology user, a parent/family member, a personal assistant, a clinician, an educator, or just someone with an interest in AT, you're likely to find training courses and workshops here to help you get the most out of what technology can offer.

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Whether you're an Assistive Technology user, a parent/family member, a personal assistant, a clinician, an educator, or just someone with an interest in AT, you're likely to find training courses and workshops here to help you get the most out of what technology can offer.

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The assistive technology grant provides funding to schools towards the cost of computers and specialist equipment for educational purposes.

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I've had to fill out quite a few Assistive Technology applications lately as I do this as

part of my AP1 post. Knowing what to include, especially for the questions on page 2 often catches people out. I've had a few people on Facebook and Instagram asking me about it, so in this post, I'll share some tips as well as give a sample of how to fill out the form.

First of all, you'll need the assistive technology application form which is available from the NCSE website here (form 3). Secondly, I would advise you take a look at the Department of Education Circular 0010/2013 which outlines how the grant scheme works.

You will need a professional report from an occupational therapist, psychologist, speech and language therapist or a physiotherapist stating that the assistive technology is essential for the child. Saying that the AT is recommended is not sufficient. If it doesn't say "essential" ask the professional to edit the report.

You can only claim funding for the equipment specified in the professional report. Often reports only specify a laptop or tablet, but if you think the child will need specific software such as Microsoft Office or equipment such as a wireless mouse or headphones, ask the professional to amend their report to include these. I would go so far as to ask them to include a laptop/ tablet case if the AT is to be brought home for homework and anti-virus software if the child will be accessing the internet.

The Department of Education specifies that you must submit quotations for each piece of equipment as per the terms set out in Appendix 1 of Circular 0010/2013. Getting these written quotations is usually extremely time consuming as it requites going in person to shops or emailing them to request that they send you a written quotation. In light of the Covid-19 restrictions to retail and the public health advice to limit movement, I emailed the special education section of the DES to ask if they would take prices from the suppliers websites at the moment instead of a written quotation and they said they would. I printed out a copy of the email from them confirming this and included it with the applications I sent to the SENO. You can email them on specialeducation@education.gov.ie to confirm this too for your own applications. The applications that I have done this for were approved.

Below is a sample of how to complete the questions on page 2 of the application form:

A final tip is to photocopy EVERYTHING for the application before you send it off so you have a copy on file in the school. The NCSE/ DoES have lost applications and on one occasion, the quotes, for applications I have sent in the past. If you have a copy of everything then will save you getting everything together again if they lose it. You will also need a record of where you got the quotes from so that you can buy the equipment once the application is granted.

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NCSE Assistive Technology Applications - Teaching Plans Ireland

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I've had to fill out quite a few Assistive Technology applications lately as I do this as part of my AP1 post. Knowing what to include, especially for the questions on page 2 often catches people out.

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Accessibility Setting All Teachers Should Consider

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* Animal Typing is a simple and funny way to learn touch typing for all ages.
In Animal Typing, the animal you get depends on your typing skills. The faster you type, the faster is your animal (snail, rabbit, horse, etc.). However, be careful, Animal Typing also greatly rewards your accuracy. So, avoid the typos and get the cheetah!

* Use the virtual keyboard or a Bluetooth keyboard.
** A hardware Bluetooth keyboard is recommended. **

* 28 lessons to gradually learn the keyboard keys.

* Also include two sets of 32 lessons designed for kids under 12 years old.

* You could also import your own lessons (add them using iCloud Drive).

* Animated fingers showing the proper typing technique.

* Multiple Keyboard layouts: Qwerty (US/UK), Dvorak, Colemak, Workman, Qwertz (German/Swiss), Azerty (France).
(Kids Lessons are designed for the Qwerty and Dvorak layout.)

* Local user login system to switch between multiple users.

* Possibility to customize the finger typing zones.

* Dictation mode that spells out the words to be typed.

* Include advanced lessons for specials characters (1234... #$%[]...).

Credits:

I want to thank the translators Mr Oscar Céspedes, Mr Amos Del Fabbro, Ms Lingnan Wang, Ms Kwon Nam Soo, Ms Masako Nagano and Ms Hanah Nguyen for the realization of the Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese lessons respectively.
I want to thank Ms Gaylene Sutton for her suggestion and advices in the preparation of the "Kids Lessons" set.
I want to thank the freesound.org community for the sound effects.
Full audio credits:
https://sites.google.com/view/animaltyping/.

* Updated ghosts: you can now play against other user ghosts.
* Updated user login.
* Compatibility with iOS 12.
* Added Cyrillic keyboards.

Great app for all ages

I'm an adult learning to type but it was fun to use. The animals were distracting at first, and a little discouraging at first ( the animal turns into slow animals if you type slow, fast if you type fast. For awhile I was a sloth, crawling pitifully across the ground, and I couldn't go any faster.)

After awhile though, I got used to it, and it was a little bit more fun. The typing method and the example sentences are pretty helpful and converstaional ("I dislike seflies"). Eventually i turned into faster animals, and it's only been a day I've had more success with this than most apps. Thanks for making this!

Good learn to app type for kids

This app is exactly what I was looking for. My only reason for four stars instead of five stars was to say... I have four kids.... it only has a single user setting. So it can't keep track of more than one users progress. Thankfully we do have multiple IPADS (though only a single keyboard that has to be annoyingly re synced to each IPAD each time.)

Thank you for the review. In Animal Typing you can create up to 8 user accounts. You have to touch the user icon in the upper left corner of the main screen. When the app starts it should be the user "Default".
Thank you.

Great app and great customer service

My daughters love this app as the scores and animation are a great motivator. Their scores are improving. This is part of our now, at-home-schooling routine. The developer, Corentin, offers amazing response time to my question and sent me a solution within 25 minutes. Again, great app and great customer service. Test it out to convince yourself but be sure to purchase the real or full version (as opposed to the in-app purchase) if you plan to use family share (e.g., two kids with two iPads).

The developer, Corentin Faucher, indicated that the app's privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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‎* Animal Typing is a simple and funny way to learn touch typing for all ages. In Animal Typing, the animal you get depends on your typing skills. The faster you type, the faster is your animal (snail, rabbit, horse, etc.). However, be careful, Animal Typing also greatly rewards your accuracy.

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To start using Read&Write for Google Chrome in Irish, you can switch over your speech settings with the following quick steps:

1. Open the Read&Write for Google Chrome toolbar in Google Docs or on the web

2. Click more, then the Options gear

3. Under the Speech tab, change your voice to 'Gaeilge Peige

Now you'll be able to use Select to Speak (Play), Click to speak, Hover Speak and Audio Maker to listen to any Irish text read aloud.

Download this support article for step by step instructions on how to access the Irish voice.

Supporting Irish-medium Education

There are currently 40 Irish-medium schools in Northern Ireland. The representative body for Irish-medium Education is Comhairle na Gaelscolaíchta, it's their role to promote Irish-medium Education in the community. We spoke to them about what this new addition to Read&Write means. Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, CEO, Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta, said:

"Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta recognises the value of the technology available from Texthelp in improving accessibility to learning for all pupils and providing opportunities for enriched learning experiences across the curriculum. We are delighted, therefore, that Read&Write is now available in Irish and we wish to congratulate all those involved in ensuring the Irish-medium sector can avail of this invaluable resource! Texthelp have demonstrated that resources like these can be delivered through Irish and we would encourage other providers to follow their lead!"

There are now more than 7,000 students in Irish-medium schools in the North for the first time ever, with this number expected to rise sharply. So, we asked Dessie Tennyson, Head of Irish Medium Stream and Irish at St. Joseph's Grammar School, what impact this update will have on Irish-medium education (IME) students:

"This new update will be of great assistance to all IME students, not only those that have additional learning needs. I love the fact that you were able to get a good clear voice in Ulster Irish! Most students have spent almost 7 months learning remotely and due to the nature of immersive education, I believe that our IME sector has been badly affected. Despite the immense efforts of our IME teachers, it is impossible to provide immersive education while at home. This provision will make a big difference in the years ahead with homework assistance, pupils will be able to listen to the words while they are reading them."

Dessie also pointed out the addition of the Irish voice will not only benefit IME students, but it will also help pupils learning Irish too.

"I believe that this update will provide great opportunities outside of Irish Medium Education. For anyone learning the language, especially at an advanced level, this programme/tool will assist them to read and hear at the same time."
Schools in Northern Ireland have access to our literacy support software, Read&Write through the C2K network. To help students across the country read, write and study with ease and confidence. Find out more.
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Read&Write now supports text-to-speech in Irish

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To start using Read&Write for Google Chrome in Irish, you can switch over your speech settings with the following quick steps: Open the Read&Write for Google Chrome toolbar in Google Docs or on the web Click more, then the Options gear Under the Speech tab, change your voice to 'Gaeilge Peige Now you'll be able to use Select to Speak (Play), Click to speak, Hover Speak and Audio Maker to listen to any Irish text read aloud.