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take ownership of their learning and build their confidence at the same time.
For example, we recently invested in a new assistive reading technology for our pupils called the OrCam Read, which allows them to instantly hear any full page of printed or digital text the device is pointing at, whenever and wherever they are across the school. This tool means that we can instantly remove many challenges for our pupils in and out of the classroom. In an exam scenario, this kind of technology really shines as pupils are often heavily reliant upon another adult, a reader or a scribe to help them. By eliminating that need we can take away the additional stress of having to communicate with another person during exams.
Experiencing how successful assistive technology such as the OrCam Read has been with our pupils has led us to take further steps to look at how we can use digital solutions to enhance our pupils’ lives. We now have a digital champion apprentice at the school, whose sole focus is to try and integrate and support assistive technology. As well as this, in September we recruited our first head of department for assistive technology who is tasked with looking at assistive technology throughout the school and how these tools can be used better by both teachers and students.
Children who struggle with dyslexia have had more hurdles to overcome than simply their learning disability and COVID-19. This has shone a light on how our education system can hold
back some pupils from reaching their full potential. As a nation, we need to be investing in the facilities, infrastructure and technologies that allow dyslexic people in education to learn with the support and independence that will allow them to thrive. Specialist schools and innovative solutions are paving the way for this and with the right backing, we can create an education system that’s inclusive and allows every pupil to be the best they can be.
AI modelling aids communication in the classroom
Researchers have used artificial intelligence to determine the best communication methods for children with autism (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41539-021-00102-x).
They spent 20 half-days in a special school in London that had criteria of autism spectrum condition for admission. There, they observed which strategies three teachers used to communicate with seven children - words, visual images, objects, gestures or physical prompts - and observed how well the pupils responded. In total 5,500 interactions were recorded.
For example, if a teacher was doing a yoga lesson with the whole class, and they demonstrated a particular yoga move by gesturing while also verbally explaining how to do it, and asked the students to do the same. If students responded by doing the move, it was recorded as a positive response. If they didn’t, it was recorded as a non-positive response.
They recorded interactions between teachers and autistic students in the classroom, and then used AI to identify which teacher communications worked and which did not. Using these data, they created a machine-learning model which used the teacher communication strategy and the other collected data items to predict student response.
Once completed, the model correctly predicted what the outcome of the teacher communication strategy would be 70
per cent of the time. By using this AI model it is now possible to select the communication strategy that maximises the probability of a positive student response. This is the AI-driven suggestion that the model presents to a teacher.
Children and young people with autism tend to communicate in different ways to neurotypical people. The extent of neurodiversity and how it might be expressed can vary considerably from one person to another.
The range of challenges that autistic children face in communication exacerbates the difficulty of deriving effective teaching strategies.
Methods such as this research have the potential to help teachers to choose the right communication strategy for a certain situation. By finding the correct approaches to communication, this could make a difference in how children progress socially as well as academically.
SEN116
senmagazine.co.uk
Assistive technology & dyslexia
About the author
Michelle Catterson is the Executive Headteacher of Moon Hall School, a specialist dyslexic school for pupils aged 7-16 years old, where pupils are encouraged to embrace their wonderful and often creative ways of thinking and celebrate and remove the stigma often attached to their dyslexia.
moonhallschoolreigate.co.uk @MoonHallReigate @moonhallschoolreigate