CENMAC's Podcast: Recent Episodes
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Supporting staff and students to achieve their full potential since 1968.
Welcome to our weekly CENMAC blog post.
Ace Centre Case Study by guest blogger Meghan Ebbage-Taylor (Senior AAC Consultant at Ace Centre)
Before I started working for Ace Centre, I was a teacher. Recently a video about one of my student’s, Megan, was created highlighting her journey of getting an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device which you can watch here.
But it wasn’t just Megan’s journey, it was also mine! When Megan joined my class, she came with a PECs book. She could use it effectively, but it wasn’t very practical – you always knew where she had been as there was a trail of symbols behind her! I felt she had so much more to say so I started to explore a way for her to access vocabulary that would give her the ability to chat with friends and family rather than just request things.
At first, we tried a communication book, similar to Ace Centre’s Developing and Using Communication Book. This gave Megan access to core vocabulary (highly powerful and useful words mainly made up of verbs, pronouns and adjectives) which opened up a whole new world for her. Megan began combining and stringing words together to build sentences. She used a range of language functions, including commenting, rejecting (showing her stubborn side) and joking with staff and pupils. Her cheeky personality really began to shine!
Although the communication book had many positives, there were some downfalls. Megan is a social butterfly and has many friends she wanted to independently chat with, but the book kept her relying on adults. Due to fine motor issues she struggled to turn pages independently and the lack of voice output meant an adult would have to read out her messages. Both caused her frustration when she wanted to quickly get her message across.
The next step for us was to ask Liberator for a trial of a high tech AAC device (Accent 800 with EasyChat 60) to see if we could overcome these hurdles. Using the device, she learnt to find and use language that was important to her. She followed the example of two other AAC users in my class, who were great role models for her. Soon I saw her chatting with her friends on her own.
Having an AAC device with voice output also supported her verbal speech development. She began to say and combine more words. Her favourite phrase became ‘come back’. Due to lockdowns during the pandemic, school and staffing was not consistent. This caused her to become anxious and she would often ask if members of staff would ‘come back’.
Megan has severe epilepsy and during a cluster of seizures she stopped breathing. Between seizures she reached out to her AAC device to communicate ‘help me’. I will never forget how powerful AAC was in that moment. She was scared and frightened but was able to let the paramedics and those around her know she required help.
Although an AAC device had a positive impact on her life, there remained a place for paper-based resources too. My classroom staff and I used communication boards with Megan which mimicked pages on her AAC device so we could teach her things she could say without touching her device. Ace Centre’s free eBook on Getting Started with Paper-based Symbol Resources gave me some great guidance on how to make and use th
**Hadiqa is one of many of our students who has a vision impairment. As well as support from CENMAC, the local vision impairment service also work with Hadiqa. This service has provided a Braillenote Touch Plus device to use in conjunction with the laptop and iPad Pro that she borrows from CENMAC.
Text by Hadiqa and Mary Long, Deputy Team Leader
Audio by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant**
Next Monday marks World Down Syndrome Day, a global awareness day to develop understanding of and highlight issues linked with Down Syndrome. This day has been celebrated since 2006, but was officially declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2011, and recognised worldwide since March 2012.
Text by Mary Long, Deputy Team Leader
Audio by Toby Seriki, Specialist TA
In this week's blog we hear from Abeer at CENMAC and World Hearing Day – Theme: “To hear for life, listen with care!”
3 March 2022 marked World Hearing Day. This is a campaign held each year by the Office of Prevention of Blindness and Deafness of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to raise awareness of hearing care and hearing loss. WHO hosts the event and encourages stakeholders in the field across the globe to participate and organise their own campaigns.
Text by Abeer Essa, CENMAC Advisory Speech and Language Therapist
Audio by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant
Since the news broke about the situation in Ukraine, there is a constant stream of information available at all times via news outlets and social media feeds. Children and young people have access to all kinds of upsetting images and stories, which can cause fear and anxiety. Lots of the children and families that we work with will be affected by what is going on. There are many children with families and relatives from both sides of the conflict living in London (www.bbc.co.uk/news).
In this episode we will share some websites to support students' understanding of the situation.
Text by Mary Long, CENMAC Deputy Team Leader
Audio by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant
In this week’s edition, CENMAC have invited the team at AssistiveWare to introduce the Core Word Classroom, a large collection of learning resources, which are designed to support implementation of any communication system that is based on core words.
Text by AssistiveWare
Audio by Toby Seriki, CENMAC Specialist Teaching Assistant
'Internet Safety Day challenges not just young people, but everyone to think about their online presence to ensure that the relationships they have online are positive, healthy and respectful.'
On the 8 February 2022 this year, we highlight the need to recognise the importance of Online Safety. This event is held every year in February with a focus on a particular theme, and this year’s theme is “All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online”.Text by Wayne McCullough, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
Audio by Toby Seriki, CENMAC Specialist TA
This week CENMAC focuses on Children's Mental Health Week
Place2Be is a charity that provides mental health support to children and young people, families and staff in schools in the UK. Place2Be started Children’s Mental Health Week in 2015 with the aim of highlighting the importance of children and young people’s mental health.
Text and audio by Toby Seriki, CENMAC Specialist Technology Assistant
Innovative technology is constantly being developed, and occasionally a device comes along that has the potential to have a significant impact on the students CENMAC works with.
This month we have been trialing the new ORCAM read, reading pen. The ORCAM read looks like a typical reader pen, but it has the potential to make an enormous difference to students with a visual impairment and students who struggle to read.
Text by David Howard, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
Audio by Toby Seriki, CENMAC Specialist Teaching Assistant
Charlton Park Academy (CPA) has recently provisioned a new building – Mulberry Tree House. It contains a residential facility, alongside several teaching spaces for CPA classes. The students based in the building have a range of needs, including PMLD, ASD and SLD. Advisory Teacher Ben Annett writes how access to the latest sensory equipment to support multi sensory learning is vital to support students' learning needs.
Text by Ben Annett, Advisory Teacher
Audio read by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant
Happy New Year! And welcome to 2022!
It’s that time of year when our attention turns to setting goals and making promises to ourselves (and others) in areas where we want to make improvements. New Year’s Resolutions can be easy to make, but somehow even easier to break. It is hard to stick to our resolutions at times, especially if we have set ourselves particularly challenging ones.
Text | by Mary Long, Deputy Team Leader
Audio read by | Toby, Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant
Guest blog by Tim Swingler at Soundbeam
Used in over 5000 special schools and other centres, in more than 30 countries, Soundbeam (the ‘invisible keyboard in space’) has revolutionised music making for youngsters with special needs. Its unique contact-free motion sensor technology makes self-expression possible for even the most physically, behaviourally, or cognitively challenged.
Text by Tim Swingler, Soundbeam
Audio by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant
This week we hear from a CENMAC student and also Ambassador.
One of our CENMAC Ambassadors, Khamani, wrote about his experiences of being invited to attend the TES SEN Show 2021 with CENMAC.
Text by Khamani, CENMAC Ambassador
Audio read by Toby Seriki, CENMAC Specialist Teaching Assistant
Our Charlton Park Academy librarian, Caroline Fielding, has been in touch with Helen Rutter, the author of ‘The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh’ for a short question & answer session to mark International Stammering Awareness Day**.
Interview with Helen Rutter by Caroline Fielding (@CazApr1)
Audio read by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant, CENMAC**
Charlton Park Academy's librarian Caroline Fielding says:
'Last October for Black History Month I shared some of my favourite titles by Black British authors/illustrators/poets . This time I want to focus on non-fiction for children about British Black history because there have been some brilliant books published in recent years! '
Here what she has recommends for Black History Month.
Text by Caroline Fielding (Twitter @CazApr1)
Read by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant, CENMAC
World Smile Day took place on Friday 1 October and World Kindness Day is coming up on 13 November. Both days aim to promote the importance and benefits of being kind to those around you, the world and to yourself. Acts of kindness bring us together, improve our mood and the mood of those who experience them. The idea is that if enough people make a conscious effort to do at least one random act of kindness, others will be more likely to act kindly themselves, causing a ripple effect where the positive effects of kindness spread far and wide and are experienced by everyone!
Text and audio ready by Toby Seriki, CENMAC Specialist Technology Assistant
World Space Week is an international salute to science and technology, and the ways that humans can live better lives through ongoing development in these areas. It was declared as a world-wide event in 1999 by the United Nations General Assembly.
Text by Mary Long, Deputy Team Lead, CENMAC
Audio read by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant, CENMAC
Guest blog by Amanda and the Scribeasy Team
' I am myself a bit of a perfectionist. This blog has had umpteen different titles. “I wish I was a bird” and "The gift of perfectionism: a blessing, a curse, and the cure" was the one that I liked but then decided against. ( If this year’s taught us anything, it’s that a cure is hard to find.) '
Text by Scribeasy
Audio read by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant
Literacy #Writing #Scribeasy #Technology #Education
Your Child's Right to Sight | Guest blog by SeeAbility.
SeeAbility work closely with students in many schools and Charlton Park Academy benefits from their ongoing support. As part of the CENMAC team’s professional development one staff member spent a morning observing the work of SeeAbility. It was fascinating to see the range of eye conditions that are dealt with and also the innovative ways in which students’ vision was tested. CENMAC invited SeeAbility to write a guest blog to further highlight the work that they do and to coincide with National Eye Health Week.
Text by SeeAbility
Audio read by Toby Seriki, Specialist Teaching Assistant, CENMAC
Home | SeeAbility
SeeAbility (@SeeAbility) / Twitter
SeeAbility (@seeability) • Instagram photos and videos
SeeAbility | LinkedIn
National Coding Week by David Howard, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
Coding is everywhere, we use modern computing equipment and technology in all facets of life and at CENMAC we provide students with superb innovative technology that just wouldn’t be possible without coding. Our image of a computer programmer as a geek with glasses hunched over his computer is no longer the case; anyone can now code, from building websites to blogging and creating apps.
Find out about coding and its impact on education in this week's blog.
Code #Coding #Technology #Education #SEN #Mainstream #Literacy
This year’s UNESCO International Literacy Day will be celebrated on 8 September. For over 50 years it has raised awareness “of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights, and to advance the literacy agenda towards a more literate and sustainable society.”
Please visit https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/literacyday for more information about UNESCO’s International Literacy Day.
Don’t forget you can share your CENMAC experiences for our CENMAC family to enjoy.
#AAC #literacyforall #literacyday
As we end the school year, many of us are looking forward to spending time with friends and family, visiting new places and having some time to relax after a busy year.
If you need to speak to someone during the summer term and holiday, charities such as the NSPCC, Open Minds and Barnardo’s can all offer free help and support and they will listen to your problems. If you are under 18, you can call the NSPCC for free on 0800 1111.
Text by Wayne McCullough, CENMAC
Read by Toby Seriki CENMAC
In this week’s edition, CENMAC have invited guest blogger Victoria Oakes **(Storytelling & Digital Destinations Lead, Microsoft UK) to introduce Signly, a key partner supporting Microsoft to further their inclusion goals. As our visions regarding accessibility are so closely aligned, the CENMAC team are delighted to endorse and share the technology with our professional contacts and wider community.
Text by Guest blogger Victoria Oakes
Read by Toby Seriki**
**This year saw CENMAC’s annual six-week-long Spring project between Charlton Park Academy (CPA) students and student social workers at the University of East London restructured as an online venture. In previous years the social worker students have come into school to work alongside some of the pupils, helping the pupils develop their Wikis and enabling them to develop and broaden their knowledge for their social work degree.
Text by Kathryn Stowell
Read by Toby Seriki**
Transition is a time of moving on to new stages and settings, a time of growth and adventure, but for many of our students, it is a time of nervous uncertainty as they prepare for change.
Listen to find out how transition has changed due to the pandemic and some information for CENMAC student.
Text by Mary Long
Audio by Toby Seriki
Image (c) canva.com
This term I was asked to share some books for children and young people that feature disability. There is a real lack of good representation but there are some recent gems, many of which are own voices.Guest blogger Caroline Fielding, librarian at Charlton Park Acacdemy
Read by Toby Seriki
Find Caroline on Twitter @CazApr1
Autistic Pride Day is a time for autistic people to celebrate their abilities, not mourn their disabilities. Autistic people have always played an important role in our society, and Autistic Pride Day is a time to celebrate the role of neurodiversity in the rich tapestry of human experience.
Text by Ben Annett, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
Read by Toby Seriki
Text by Abeer Essa, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
Read by Toby Seriki
Pandemic restrictions have meant many jobs have had to suddenly switch to homeworking. Working in therapy has always been thought of as an essential face-to-face job. While this is true, therapists have now had to ‘think outside of the box’ to deliver therapy - this has made working remotely, a surprising success!
Image (c) canva.com
CENMAC #AssistiveTechnology #SpeeechAndLanguageTherapy #RemoteWorking
**Tourette's Syndrome is often sensationalised and misunderstood in mainstream media and in our blog post Toby, our specialist Teaching Assistant, gives an insight into the condition and helps to break down the stigma.
Text and reading by Toby Seriki
TourettesSyndrome #MotorTics #VocalTics #*AssistiveTechnology* #AAC #*CENMAC* #*Education* #*Homeschooling* #*Mainstream* #*SEN* #S*olutions* #S*upport* #**Technology
Mental Health Awareness Month
Text by Wayne McCullough, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
**During the past year we have all faced new challenges and had to learn new learn ways of living and working, and for some of us this has had an impact on our mental health. Now more than ever we need to highlight how we can support our physical and mental health to maintain a healthy lifestyle and what support is available when we need it.
Audio reading of the blog post by Toby Seriki
Twitter @cenmac
Instagram _CENMAC
Linktr.ee/CENMAC
AssistiveTechnology #Education #MentalHealth**
Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Text by Mary Long, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The day began from a single blog post **written by Joe Devon, a web developer based in Los Angeles. Joe’s idea was that on one day every year web developers would be encouraged to test at least one page on their site, using an accessibility tool. He also wanted to raise awareness of why accessibility is so important for so many people around the world.
Audio reading by Toby Seriki, CENMAC Specialist Teaching Assistant
Twitter @cenmac
Instagram _CENMAC
lintr.ee/CENMAC
AssistiveTechnology #Accessibility #CENMAC**
CENMAC's audio version blog post
National Children’s Day UKTextby Amorel Kennedy, CENMAC Administrator
This is an audio reading of our blog post which is aboutNational Children’s Day UK. The United Nations-nominated date is 20 November, but each country has its own date. In the UK it is in the Spring, in recognition of the importance of children being able to get outside into their neighbourhoods and nature.
Audio reading by Toby Seriki
Image (c) National Children's Day
Image description - child wearing a red top and blue scarf. The child is sitting in a wheelchair and is smiling. The background is blurred.