Helpful Technology in the Classroom

Through teamwork, parents and teachers will find the best ways for children with hydrocephalus to perform in schools using a range of methods, such as assistive technology where appropriate.

Parents and carers may wish to recommend technology that they have found to be helpful at home.

Schools should follow the SEND Code of Practice to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ by providing ‘an equivalent method’ so your child can learn effectively in the classroom, according to the SEND Code of Practice.

Helpful technology currently available

• Dictaphone as an ‘evidence store’
• Social stories on apps to embed routines
• Visual timetables to aid memory
• Timers to give a sense of the time limit to complete tasks
• Talking photo albums with drop-in photos and paint tools to create order
• Talking mats as prompts
• Pen readers to speed up the reading process
• Apps to help with inaccurate touch on keyboards or screens
• Keyboards with word and phrase prediction to ease communication
• Change from qwerty to ABC keyboard
• Word and phrase banks for completing written work
• Apps to help with organisation and reminders
• Prompting software to keep on task

Assessing your child’s attainment

Hydrocephalus can cause fatigue, which can lead to under-performance in class, so quick assessment methods may be required using a range of helpful technology.

If your child has difficulty completing tasks within time limits in class then teachers can use equivalent methods of assessment where only short responses are required.