Transcript - Episode 83 — SEND Parenting

EP 83: Empowering Technology - Bitesize Summaries

Please excuse any errors from this autogenerated transcript

Dr Olivia KesselHost

00:06

Welcome to the Send Parenting Podcast. I'm your neurodiverse host, dr Olivia Kessel, and, more importantly, I'm mother to my wonderfully neurodivergent daughter, alexandra, who really inspired this podcast. As a veteran in navigating the world of neurodiversity in a UK education system, I've uncovered a wealth of misinformation, alongside many answers and solutions that were never taught to me in medical school or in any of the parenting handbooks. Each week on this podcast, I will be bringing the experts to your ears to empower you on your parenting crusade. In this episode, as many of us are already in the time constraints of summer holidays, I thought a bite-sized podcast would be appreciated. So today we're going to explore the intersection of technology and education in a small, easily to digest segment. I'll be joined by Tamsyn, my co-host, and we'll dive into an inspiring and essential topic how can we harness technology like Microsoft to support our neurodiverse children in their reading and writing challenges, both at school and out of school?

01:18

With summer holidays gearing up to go into full swing and with many of our children enjoying a break from the usual school pressures, this time kind of offers a unique opportunity to explore and enjoy technology tools in a more relaxed and creative environment. For instance, my own daughter uses Microsoft Word's dictation feature to bring her creative stories to life during the holidays in a way she never could before. She loves to dictate her stories and then print it out and see her ideas and imagination come to life. In this episode we're going to look at Microsoft's innovative tools that can really empower our children and make reading and writing not just accessible but also enjoyable and engaging, whether it's through voice dictation, immersive reader or some of the other incredible features Will will discuss today. These tools can transform how our children express themselves and how they can process that information. Join us in this episode as we uncover tips, share some personal stories and discuss practical ways to integrate these technologies into daily life. Let's embrace the summer as a time to explore and learn beyond the traditional classroom setting, tune in and discover how these tools can turn challenges into triumphs.

02:32

So welcome Tamsen, back to co-host the Bite Size Summary looking at harnessing technology, and this was an episode that we did really early on. It was episode eight, so there's potential that a lot of listeners didn't actually hear all the great advice that Sally Greenhalgh got to give us about Microsoft and how they incorporate technology into the school and I have to say you know it resonated so much with me and I get so frustrated that there are so many schools out there that don't use technology as an enabler for people with neurodiversity. I've been ridiculed at school in my university because of my spelling and grammar due to my dyslexia, and got it, you know, equated to my intelligence, which is not true. It's something I have difficulty and challenges with, but using technology as an adult, my spelling is taken care of, my grammar is taken care of, I'm able to come across in quote, unquote intelligent manner.

03:26

So I really would love for there to be more knowledge and more acceptance and more use of technologies in schools and I think that Sally did a great job of describing to our listeners. I think it'd be great if we kind of went through what some of those technologies were and then I'd recommend people listening. What was it from your perspective?

Tamsyn HendryCo-host

03:47

Oh, I found it so exciting. So I'm also a governor at my son's school and I listened to her thinking. Well, the first thing I did was email it to everybody in the governing body and the head teacher and said you know, we have to do this. And again, when we talk about what's the solution, this has to be right up there with what our solutions are. And I think what hugely came across to me was technology creates an equal platform for all of our children to be able to show their ability. So, whether they're in a mainstream school and having support, whether in a special school, it it does create that equal platform because they can.

04:26

There is so much available and and I think it's we've talked on lots of different podcasts and I've heard lots of your your speakers talk about technology. Is it our nemesis or is it our friend? And what she really? She took a completely different spin on it for me and said you know, if we want them to be prepared for life, we've got to start now. We've got to start really teaching them not just having the technology, but teaching staff how to use it effectively and properly.

Dr Olivia KesselHost

04:57

And how children use it, because it's like learning a language you have to learn to use it, but once you get proficient in it there's no going back from it. And what's really interesting with neurodiversities is it's not just dyslexia that needs technology ADHD, a large proportion of children with ADHD have fine motor issues so they can't write or draw, and that goes on into adulthood With autism as well. Getting those thoughts out, into being able to verbalize, into a dictation type setting can be so important. So it's not just for spelling, it's for being able to capture, for processing skill disorders. There's just such a wealth of information that can then get accessed through technology. But it's not like you can, it's not like a leg splint, so you just put it on and it works. You have to integrate it into education for kids to become proficient at it.

05:50

And then I look at my daughter, who cannot write, still can't write, still writes terribly, still draws terribly, and she is writing stories. Now. She loves writing stories, she uses dictation even on holiday, wakes up and starts. You know writing a story about the pig and you know her imagination is phenomenal. Her stories make me laugh. She wouldn't be able to do that because the act of writing is so frustrating. There's no way she would.

Tamsyn HendryCo-host

06:13

Yeah, absolutely. And my son, he's a terrible procrastinator Terrible. So we'll spend two hours where he's saying I've got to write this story about the Cold War and we'll talk about it and he's got all the ideas. But again it's down to handwriting. He's got a Chromebook and I said, just do it on the Chromebook and then he'll write three pages. So I think you know, funny enough, in my work, often people will send me handwritten messages and I'll say I'm so sorry, I can't read it. Can you type it for me? So I can't read it, can you type it for me? Um, so I can I get it right.

06:47

And I think we're so focused on handwriting and handwriting is a really important skill. But what's? We've talked about this as well what's the primary function? So if the primary function is to write a story, when the learning goal is, that is, to share your thoughts and ideas and to tell a narrative in sequence, then actually the handwriting part of that is not the primary goal of that activity. And also, I think it really encourages, you know, things like reader pens. It stops the need for a reader, you know, particularly in exams. It also, and also with headphones, you can have headphones and a reader pen and that child can be independent in their learning. So there's going to be a big outlay, a big financial cost at the beginning, but actually the long term saving, particularly in all schools, but particularly in smaller specialist schools where they're running into a deficit all the time. If the government had a grant available for this technology in the long term it has to be part of the solution with deficit models in schools no-transcript.

Dr Olivia KesselHost

08:10

I mean I don't have to do the outlay of 1400 pounds for a Surface Go. It's 20 pounds a month while she's there. If it breaks they give her a loaner when they fix it. So it's not unattainable. But I've tried with a local school to us to help them. You know, bring technology on board for their children. That are really struggling. And you know what. The school put up so many barriers that I eventually pulled out. Oh, the wifi doesn't work. Oh, we can't possibly give in logins for students. Oh, you know, there was just why they couldn't do it over and over. And then the piece de la resistance was well, after this pilot, we're going to take the technology away and wipe all the computers down. And I'm like that's not fair to the children. I'm like I'm not going to go in and give the child the keys to the car and then take it away from them. I said I'm going to do more harm than good. So I pulled out.

Tamsyn HendryCo-host

09:06

Yeah, I was talking to a parent recently and, um, and and I'm not saying this, I don't want this to be negative because actually the, the it was very uplifting. I think her podcast was really uplifting um, but I've worked with a parent whose child's got type 1 diabetes. She's got a port into her arm or her, I don't know where it is actually an Apple watch and it speaks to her mum so her mum can monitor. And then she's got at lunch. She's got lots of different food labels and her mum can just send her a message and say you need to leave and you need to have snack A, you know, so it allows that child autonomy and she's still got a lot of embarrassment around her condition.

09:49

Do you know what the school has said? Our access, our Wi-Fi, is. We can't share our Wi-Fi. So I think we've got a long, long way to go, and I was thinking about this because when I forwarded it onto my son's school, I was saying what we need to do, what leadership needs to do, is go into Microsoft. Microsoft are clearly, or any of those companies clearly want to share what they've developed and it's beyond, I think, what any of us know.

Dr Olivia KesselHost

10:20

They develop it with disabled people. So it's actually people who are struggling that develop and test their software, Because I've gone through Chrome, I've gone through Dragonfly and I've landed in Microsoft and the ease is so much more and I think it's because it's designed and tested by the people who are going to be using it and that's really powerful. But even Sally you know she's volunteered, She'll come to your school, Tamsin, I mean she will, yeah.

Tamsyn HendryCo-host

you know we've talked before about it being from the top down.

10:50

Yeah, it has to be it has to be from the top down and the schools that have employed people. So there's a school near me called Moon Hall which is really specializes in dyslexia as a primary need. Lots of other things going on, but primarily, primarily, dyslexia. And they've got an it. Uh, they've got a permanent department so they are making sure that the reader pens are being used properly. They're used to record progress. It's part of their whole plan. Do review cycle. It's not just here's a reader pen and then we don't have to read for you, it's, it's, yeah, it's fully integrated into how they assess children's development.

Dr Olivia KesselHost

And for those who don't understand what a reader pen does. So I mean, obviously it's self-evident that it reads for you, but it also will say is it the reader pen? No, the one that when you read it, sees what your progression is on reading. It is the reader pen. Yeah, it is the reader pen. Yes, so that, as you're saying, tamsyn. So basically, if I'm making a lot of mistakes or you know I'm, I'm missing words or I'm not, phonetically it will. It will tally that all up and give you a report on it. So then you know what to work with on that child. So, integrating that into their, their reporting and what they need to work on with that child, versus it's just a pen, so we don't need to worry about you having to read with you is a really key point.

Tamsyn HendryCo-host

12:10

And also just things that are available now for the children. So, for example, andrew will come home and they'll say what's your homework? I don't remember Where's your book. I've left it at school. Where's your's your chromebook? I didn't charge it so you can't access what the homework is. But actually what she said was so simple the one thing he doesn't lose is his phone, funnily enough. So actually, if the teacher recorded a voice note that they can listen to over and over again to remind them what the homework is or what the steps are or what the instructions are, again, it allows autonomy and as they get older, that's much more appropriate to have that autonomy.

Dr Olivia KesselHost

12:48

Well, alexandra, she can never bring home a handout. It never makes it home. You know it's gone, but now she goes. Mommy, look, I just opened up this. I go into Teams. I mean, she knows how to use Teams better than I know how to use Teams. And then she goes oh, I've just uploaded it to my teacher now, and I've done this. Her PowerPoints are more advanced than my PowerPoint. She's taught her teacher Once you let them into technology, they'll exceed you in no time. And then she's transferred those skills that she's had in Microsoft to like Google to everything. She uses voice activation to search for things on the internet. She knows how to navigate not needing to write and not needing to spell and not needing to do these things, and all of the technologies have that within them, so it just it opens the world.

Tamsyn HendryCo-host

13:33

It's a passage of time, because I do think like I don't know about you. I was 18 when I had my first mobile phone, when it was even a thing. So think, as as the as this generation moves through education, I do think it will naturally happen. I think it's really difficult to get a whole school approach for people that and professionals that it hasn't been part of their careers. So I think people are worried about change, whereas actually if we said okay, if the government said right, one inset day, at least one inset day a year has to be dedicated to exploration of technology within your school and just getting, getting wi-fi.

14:16

Why isn't wi-fi free in every educational setting and functioning, just wi-fi yeah, and I I was thinking, um, I was actually wandering around my daughter's school the other day. So she's, she's a neurotypical, she's in a mainstream school and I walked it's a, it's a state school and I walked into their music department and it's full of Apple, absolutely you name it Beautiful, amazing equipment. And I thought I don't. I wonder if this has been gifted, because now all the children are coming home and saying I want an Apple, I need, I need a Mac, that's what I need. And I thought that's really clever. So you know you never, you just don't know what's out there until you ask. You know, you don't know, you don't know what these companies can do for you, what grants are available for you. So I think it was, it was, I think it was really uplifting to think actually there is, there are uplifting but frustrating these. This technology has been developed, it's ready to go. Why? What's the why behind? Why we aren't using it?

Dr Olivia KesselHost

15:23

and I don't know there's so many reasons for how did it go at your school. I'm curious to know when, when you've introduced this to them, have they? Have they been excited about it? Have there been barriers? Has you know um?

Tamsyn HendryCo-host

15:35

uh, well, yeah, we've got some reader pens. Okay, what we do with them? Are we recording with them? Are we using them for assessment? What are we doing with them? You know, because I have this really huge pet hate.

19:02

It's about these toolboxes, and I think when they're little, when they're young, your toolboxes include things like putting them in a shower, you know, for 20 minutes to calm them down, having, um, a muzzy allowing them to take all their clothes off. We've all got a toolbox. But as they get older, that toolbox has to become much more sophisticated because it needs to be age appropriate. And so we've talked about lots of alternative uh solutions. You know, tapping, mindfulness, talking, therapy, whatever it might be. Technology has to be there and I know I've got lots of friends who, who are maybe single parents, can't go out so much and technology is their lifeline to have conversations with people. You know my son doesn't game, but I've got a lot of friends whose boys game and actually I don't want to take it away from them because they communicate and socialize in that way. It's come on so much um and I I have.

22:36

Yeah, exactly Like if you look at years ago, they don't do it anymore. But so 15 years ago, when my son was born, he was given a sum of money that went into an account. They stopped it two years later. But how much money must that have cost? That must have cost huge amounts of money, whereas actually if every child, when they're born, was given a technology budget, some may need it, some may not, um, but actually when you look at you know travel.

23:05

So how much money is being spent on travel for young people that are neurodiverse, getting to the colleges or their schools? The local authority funds lots of travel, but actually half the problem is anxiety about reading timetables if things go wrong. But now with their phones, you know there's loads of apps that are being developed that they're saying. I think it's now called also the there's I saw this morning on the news uber trains. You know you can ask it where can I, I need to get here, and it finds your location and it will tell you where you need to go and what train you need to get on, you know. So there's so much out there got to, got to, got to be brought into schools and we've got to address it with leadership. So, just like every school has to have a SENCO, I think every school should have an IT department.

Dr Olivia KesselHost

That functions, because let me tell you, there are them with IT functions that are just you know, or IT expert.