The B.E.A.T. welcomes guest writer Alan Nixon, who provides an update on events in Northern Ireland. Alan heads the Northern Ireland CameraMouse Steering Group.

Much is happening these days in Northern Ireland with respect to Assistive Technology in education. Special Education in Northern Ireland has a long and distinguished history of innovation in Information Technology and special schools have often led the way in the use of computers for teaching and learning. CameraMouse is one of the latest initiatives in that tradition.

CameraMouse first made an appearance in Northern Ireland in Autumn 2002 when pupils in 6 special schools engaged in a pilot project, funded by the Northern Ireland Department of Education, to evaluate the software. Positive feedback from teachers resulted in an extension of the project in September 2003 to provide CameraMouse-equipped systems for 26 special schools. The project steering group devised and delivered initial training and support for the new schools. All the original pilot schools stayed involved and received an additional system as reward for their hard work.

The project was formally launched at Parkview School in Lisburn, County Antrim by the Minister for Education Jane Kennedy who presented the children with certificates to mark their achievement. She said that CameraMouse was “a valuable resource, not just for education but also for communication, enabling children with severe special needs to communicate, in some cases for the first time, with others and with their peers.” The event was attended by members of the project steering group, teachers, pupils and their parents and was a day for celebrating success and looking to the future with optimism and anticipation.

Since receiving CameraMouse, the schools have learned much about how best to deploy it and which children benefit most from its use. For some, other solutions will be more appropriate but in many cases CameraMouse has proved to be a powerful tool for improving access to computers and thus to the curriculum. Feedback from teachers continues to be positive and reported benefits include increases in concentration span, self-confidence and posture as well as examples of children being enabled to demonstrate their capabilities more easily and more effectively. Assistive technology has an important role in opening up the world for people with disabilities. CameraMouse is making a valuable contribution to this.