The greatest argument for incorporating technology into our early years settings is that it reflects the immediate and present world around us.
Consider a trip to a supermarket. There, a three-year-old might notice the automatic doors open as they approach, see themselves in the CCTV cameras, observe security staff using their pagers and hear the shop-floor messages to staff and customers. They might be shown how to use digital scales, and at the check-out they will encounter barcode scanners, bells and lights to request help, card readers... the list goes on.
At home, children as young as one often know how to turn the television on and off using the remote control. Young children register the importance to adults of objects such as key fobs that magically open car doors, and mobile phones. One three-year-old I know regularly asks me to phone her mother to find out when she's picking her up and tells me, 'If she doesn't answer, just keep trying, she might be driving'.
In practice
When considering the place of ICT within an early years curriculum and how to incorporate this world of technology into early years practice, a good starting point for practitioners is the 12 principles for early years education contained in Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (page 11-12).
The principles, drawn from common features of good practice in early years settings, should apply to all aspects of the early years curriculum, and ICT is no exception.
By turning to the principles, practitioners can come to understand what technology (or ICT) means in the Foundation Stage, appreciate its breadth and depth within the curriculum and develop appropriate and relevant uses of technology in their settings. In this guide, I will take the 12 principles and consider how ICT can underpin each of them. So, let's look at each principle in turn:
'Effective education requires both a relevant curriculum and practitioners who understand and are able to implement the curriculum requirements.'
Technology is absolutely relevant in even the youngest children's lives and is as much a part of our world as language, print and numbers. We cannot provide a relevant curriculum for young children today without considering the role of technology.
'Early years experience should build on what children already know and can do.'
This principle links with:
'Practitioners must be able to observe and respond appropriately to children.'
and with:
'Effective education requires practitioners who understand that children develop rapidly during the early years; physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially.'
When considering these principles, practitioners need to reflect on how to establish individual children's knowledge and experiences and how to provide for their next steps in learning. To gain this understanding, they need to talk to the children's families (see below) and observe and interact regularly with the children.
'Parents and practitioners should work together.'
There are many ways in which practitioners and families can exchange information about children's skills, knowledge and understanding of technology. For example:
* Listen to parents' stories about their children's experiences of technology at home.
* Encourage parents' interests and share their pleasure in their children's play and discoveries with technology.
* Encourage conversation with parents on the children's use of ICT in the setting and how it is supporting their learning.
* Provide information about suitable resources in hardware, software and ICT toys.
* Recognise parents' possible anxieties and respond appropriately. For example, make it clear that photographs of their children will only be used with their written permission.
* Act as models, using different kinds of technology to communicate with parents - for example, e-mail, newsletters and digital photographs.
* Make books on ICT in the early years available for parents to browse or borrow. (See Resources, page 24.)
* Distribute leaflets on children's development with technology (see www.early-education.org.uk).
* Organise workshops on themes such as 'Using a computer with young children', 'Everyday technology and children's play' and 'Children using the internet'.
'Practitioners should ensure that all children feel included, secure and valued.'
The immediacy of digital photography and its comparative low cost (not all photos need be printed) enable photographs to be used extensively in early years settings, specifically to help children feel valued and secure.
Practitioners often feed back to me the enormity of the impact of using digital cameras with young children, often citing these as the child's first motivation to speak in their new and unfamiliar setting.
In the CD 'Learning and Teaching using ICT in the Foundation Stage' (see Resources, page 24), a girl's delight at seeing herself in the camera display for the first time and a boy's delight at seeing the photograph he has taken remind us of children's need to be at the centre of their learning.
Children love to see photographs of themselves, their family and all that is familiar and personal to them. Seeing such photographs in their setting can give them a sense of belonging and enable them to make connections between home and nursery.
Practitioners can use photographs of the children in their setting, for example to identify coat pegs, to add to children's name cards and for self-registration.
They can incorporate into books and displays photographs of the children, their families, day trips and visits to convey positive images of race, culture, religion, gender or individual needs.
Above all else, when children see themselves in photographs and exclaim, 'Oh, that's me!', we can appreciate how photographs give children a sense of themselves. By celebrating the images in the photographs, we can convey how important they and their learning are to us.
'For children to have rich and stimulating experiences, the learning environment should be well planned and well organised.'
'There should be opportunities for children to engage in activities planned by adults and also those that they plan or initiate themselves.'
'Well-planned, purposeful activity and appropriate intervention by practitioners will engage children in the learning process.'
To provide a technologically rich learning environment we need to provide a range of adult-led and child-initiated learning opportunities, both inside and outside. This needs careful planning and organisation if we are to make the most of the opportunities for learning through all our provision and interactions.
Take tidying-up, for example. Practitioners can make this time as important for children's learning as their play. By attaching digital photographs of resources to shelves and the outside of labelled boxes, children can manage their environment independently, and engage in purposeful sorting, matching and classifying tasks, such as hanging up all the aprons and returning pots of various sizes to their proper position on a shelf.
Purpose and operation
Children need to learn both about the uses of technology and how technology works, and a well-planned environment will provide opportunities for both.
Take the following examples:
* A group of children find leaves, creatures and pebbles while digging. An adult attaches a digital microscope to an interactive whiteboard and puts it on a chair where the children can reach. Throughout the morning the children look at parts of their collections under the microscope and comment on their observations, such as, 'Gosh, how many legs has it got?'
and 'Can you see the lines in the leaf?'
* A child picks up a defunct mobile phone near her, taps in a number and says into the phone, 'Hello, hello, can you hear me?' Turning to the nearby adult she says with exasperation, 'Oh, it's dead.' She then picks up the receiver on a pretend land-line phone and says, 'Hello, would you like to come around for tea later, good, see you then.' She replaces the receiver and says to the adult, 'I got through that time!' Just think what this child was beginning to understand about technology. Why could you 'get through' sometimes and not at other times? Did it make a difference what machine you used? And what did 'dead' mean in relation to technology?
Provision
When planning for children's experiences with technology, we should aim to provide a learning environment that reflects the full range of technologies that feature in a child's life.
For example, are the role-play areas, inside and out, as rich in technology as the real environments? Resourcing role-play areas needn't be costly; simply use defunct equipment, and equipment made from junk materials.
Creating the 'equipment' opens up opportunities for children to talk about buttons and switches and how things work.
Whatever the technology provided (see below), there should be a balance of adult-led and child-initiated experiences, with the environment organised in such a way that children can initiate their own play. It's no good having a digital camera on a top shelf if we wish the children to use it to support their learning.
The cost of some equipment may deter us from allowing the children to use it. If so, find ways of reminding the children that such technology is available and that they can ask to use it if they wish. For example, place a photograph of the digital camera in some areas of provision, such as the construction area, so children can be prompted to ask to photograph their models.
We need to consider, too, our own role in supporting children's skills, knowledge and understanding of technology and enabling them to use technology to learn (see box below).
We should also remember, when we are planning how to use technology in our learning environments, what a powerful motivator ICT can be for children.
Unlike some adults, they have no fear of ICT - technology is a major part of their world - and rich experiences using technology can only but extend and deepen their learning.
'To be effective, an early years curriculum should be carefully structured'
This principle, like the first that we considered, reminds us of the need for careful planning of experiences using ICT.
The growth in technology in our worlds is reflected in the abundance of ICT tools that are now available for young children to use in their learning.
This has changed our expectations for using ICT within an early years curriculum since the early learning goals were introduced in 1999.
ICT sits within the Knowledge and Understanding of the World area of learning, but we now expect to be able to use it across all areas of learning to reflect real applications of ICT and to capitalise on the benefits of technology in each area of learning.
Plan some of the following ideas to increase children's uses of ICT across all areas of learning (for further ideas and information, visit foundation.e2bn.net).
Overhead projectors or light boxes
* Make patterns with collections of natural objects. Objects can be placed and repositioned for effect as children explore colour, shape, form and space.
* Recreate the children's pictures on a larger scale for the children to then paint.
* Place pictures on the projectors to make a backdrop for children's imaginative play or a puppet theatre.
Camcorders
* Record all kinds of imaginative play, such as puppetry or dressing-up.
* Record the children's music, songs and dance.
* Replay recordings to the children to help them appreciate their own creativity.
Digital cameras
* Photograph children's constructions before they have to be disassembled.
* Encourage children to photograph patterns in natural and man-made objects and add them to their 2D or 3D creations.
* Encourage them to view objects in new ways. For example, take a close-up photo of part of a familiar object and see if children can guess what the object is.
* Use digital photographs to make your own activities and games to support an area of learning. For example, to support mathematical development, use photographs of people or objects to make number lines; photographs of daily events, such as getting dressed to go outside, to develop children's understanding of time; and photographs of all the children to register who is present and absent.
* Use photographs of, for example, day trips to support children in retelling stories and experiences and extending their vocabulary.
* Record children's achievements and display the photographs around the setting, even outside if they are laminated!
Digital microscopes and scanners
* Use a digital microscope to explore textures and fabrics and add the print-outs to the children's 2D or 3D creations.
* Scan in pictures into a paint program for children to use as a backdrop or scan objects or collage materials to make patterns.
* Use microscopes to explore natural and man-made objects. Can the children find similar features of objects and sort according to their own criteria?
Paint programmes, Tablet PCs and graphic tablets
* Allow children to experiment and find out 'what would happen if' as they undo, redo and rub out parts of their pictures in a paint programme.
* Discover tools that are unique to ICT, for example, being able to make a perfect circle.
* Allow children to play with, copy and repeat shapes and patterns.
* Use pens on Tablet PCs or graphic tablets to interact with the software, making it closer to the experience of a pencil and paper.
* Allow the children to save work and to return to it, or to print out more than one copy.
* Provide lots of painting opportunities. For some children, particularly those with a disability, painting on the computer can be the first time they feel really excited by what they produce, which can greatly increase their self-esteem.
Interactive whiteboards and touch screens
* Interactive whiteboards can capture children's imagination, as their light, size and the opportunity to touch the screen and get a reaction draw children in.
* Music and movement software is also popular on these large boards as children touch, then stand back and move to music imitating the characters on screen.
* Share on screen 'big books', songs and rhymes.
* Offer opportunities for children to use paint programmes with their fingers and large-scale movements.
Keyboards and other music devices
* Children can explore sounds and rhythm through musical keyboards, dance mats and software, echo microphones and sing-along tape recorders.
* Software and internet sites can give them access to music from different cultures and enable them to compose music.
Tape recorders
* Tape recorders with karaoke devices encourage children to sing simple songs from memory, as well as prompt plenty of role-playing.
* Tape a 'sensory walk'. Can children follow the sensory clues to find your hidden treasure?
* Teach the children how to operate the tape recorder so that they can listen to their favourite tapes.
* Record rhymes and songs for the children to listen to.
* Provide a tape recorder, headphones and taped stories, read by children's parents and in children's home languages, in the book corner to broaden their access to books.
* Provide a tape recorder and story props (ideally, including digital photographs of the children so that they can literally put themselves into the stories) to encourage young children to retell stories in their own words.
Everyday technology: toasters, kettles, digital tills, etc
ICT in role play:
* builds on children's familiarity with technology in their daily lives and bridges their experiences in and out of the setting
* develops their mathematical thinking, experience and language. Providing resources such as calculators, phones, mobile phones, tills, digital scales and cash machines, will allow children to immerse themselves in the real-world applications of mathematics.
* can support children's communication, language and literacy skills. By reflecting the children's real worlds we allow them opportunities to share, solve problems and talk about daily events.
For example, a visit to a local supermarket, health clinic or cafe can encourage children to look at how technology is used to weigh and measure, price, scan bar codes, swipe bankcards and print receipts or cheques.
Back in the setting we can recreate these environments with the children.
They can use digital photographs of their visits to remind them what they saw. They can help make cardboard photocopiers or barcode scanners.
Through these activities the children will be interacting with others, negotiating plans and activities and taking turns in conversation.
Practitioners can add pretend or defunct telephones to talk into and use to record messages. Adding a computer for children to make labels and signs for their role-play environment can introduce the use of reading and writing in a meaningful context.
Another good way to make children aware of the technology around them is through an ICT walk, where they can look out for streetlights, signals, automatic doors, ticket machines and the like. Use the walk as an opportunity for the children to discuss what they know about technology in their lives.
Web cams
* Add a web cam to your computer and see what children do as they see themselves on screen.
* Wireless web cams can be added to wildlife areas.
Software and websites
* Look for programs that will encourage children to solve problems, create, plan, think and encourage talk. Look for links with activities away from the computer experiences so that children transfer their learning. For example, designing a house in a 'My World' screen could be used as a design for a role-play area.
* Children can experience other ways of 'writing' through using keyboards, both in role play and for specific purposes such as making name labels and 'writing' photo captions before printing them.
Programmable toys, remote control vehicles
* Use photographs of the local area to make small worlds for the programmable toy to travel around, so helping children to become more familiar with their immediate environment.
* A floor robot, like Pixie, can offer highly enjoyable opportunities for counting, estimating, predicting and ordering.
* 2Go is a flexible piece of software that, when used with adult support, encourages the use of directional language, estimation and prediction. The work can be linked with activities away from the computer using programmable toys.
* Programmable toys can be used to retell stories and sequence events.
Programmable toys can encourage children to use talk to organise and sequence events and clarify their thinking.
* Navigating a remote-control vehicle through blocks will develop children's awareness of spatial relationships.
Television and video
* Introduce children to unfamiliar worlds and stimulate their imaginations through TV and video. For example, link documentaries on animals with their interests and play.
'No child should be excluded or disadvantaged.'
Using ICT in the early years can help us interpret this principle in two ways. We will need to monitor children to ensure no children are excluded or disadvantaged, and we can use ICT to help all children access learning in our settings (see case studies and teaching notes).
ICT is particularly enabling for children with special educational needs.
It can provide access to experiences that might be hard for some children to reach through any other means and so aids children's development. It is also highly motivating, it can help build children's confidence in their abilities and it provides an excellent focus for social interaction.
For children with special needs, using ICT can:
* enable them to be included in experiences alongside their peer group, so allowing their learning to take place within a social context
* enable to them to learn independently
* be motivating and offer opportunities for success
* enable them to repeatedly practise and reinforce skills and understandings in different contexts
* encourage them to co-operate with an adult or with their peers
* support their language development and offer multi-sensory ways of learning
* provide switch-control or adapted access to tape recorder, computer, moving toys and the like and so access to playful learning experiences
* produce outcomes that can be on a par with their peer group - for example, a print-out from a paint programme
* provide alternative means of communication, such as picture symbols
* aid adults in preparing materials which are specially adapted with large pictures, fonts, symbols and particular colours.
'Above all, effective learning and development for young children requires high-quality care and education by practitioners.'
Here we need to reflect on the earlier principles and ask ourselves: Are we planning for, observing, monitoring and assessing children's use and understanding of ICT?
Only by observing and assessing children's current skills, knowledge and interests can practitioners then plan how to further children's learning in ICT.
The following observations illustrate children with varying ICT skills and knowledge and how practitioners can help support their learning.
The observations were taken of children initiating their own play. There appears to be a dominance of computer play, but this is not reflected in the range of children's experiences with technology in the nursery, it just happens to give us some insightful information.
Case study: Jane, three years old
Jane comes to the computer, clicks on the cross and closes 2Paint. She looks excited. She finds it hard to double-click on an icon but keeps trying and eventually opens Leaps and Bounds 3. She uses her left hand to move the mouse and selects the sausage monster from the main menu. She clicks the objects in the right order to produce a sausage. The first one goes in the monster's ear; she alters the direction by clicking on part of the machine, and the sausage lands in the plate. She makes more sausages, then leaves that screen and chooses a colouring screen from the main menu.
She colours the monster in one colour by clicking and filling spaces with colour, then colours the background and the border all in the same colour.
This observation was taken the month Jane entered nursery. She is able to access the programmes through her mouse skills and navigate proficiently through screens. It is unlikely Jane has this educational software at home, so she has been able to generalise from her experiences to learn a new programme in a short time. We can guess that Jane has had considerable experience of technology to be able to build her mouse skills and know how to 'read' information on the screen - by spotting menus, buttons and icons and having some idea of what they might do.
Teaching points
To develop such children's ICT learning, encourage them to:
* learn a range of programmes, so that they can select appropriate ones for their purpose; perhaps a good art package with a range of tools (for example, Revelation Natural Art); sorting, matching and discriminating software that supports their learning (Millie's Maths House); games that encourage language development and collaboration (Leaps and Bounds 3); modelling software (My World 3); and books on screen (Cat in the Hat - Living Books series)
* become familiar with how to use different tools in art packages to create various effects and make them aware of different screens in programmes
* teach their peers how to use simple aspects of these programmes
* use the computer as a tool and link its use with activities away from the computer - for example, design something on the computer to make out of junk or play dough, or use a simple word processor (2Publish) to embellish a role-play setting
* use the computer creatively - for example, use a scanner to put in children's drawings and pictures from storybooks and let them make their own version of stories
* learn from your example by seeing how you use a computer to make signs for the classroom or use digital photography
* find information that supports their questions and interests by searching the internet with them
* talk about technology, their likes and dislikes, how they see it being used in their lives and what purposes it can have
* to tackle other technologies, such as programmable toys, digital cameras and peripherals. Ensure these support their development across all areas of learning.
Case study: Benjamin, three years old
Benjamin comes to sit down; an adult sits beside him. 'Start again,' he says. The adult gets a new page for him. Benjamin makes a green mark on the page, points and laughs. He makes dots and lines and looks carefully at what he has drawn. Sometimes menus pop up, showing he is clicking with the right mouse button. The adult next to him closes them down. He chooses the new page icon but selects 'No' from the dialogue box. He selects purple, clicks on various other colours and then settles on green again. He moves his mouse, saying 'Ah, green' and pointing. He selects the print icon, then clicks on everything he sees.
In this observation, taken a month after Benjamin joined the nursery, we can see his delight in exploring this software. He is beginning to understand cause and effect as he selects green and is delighted it is green. We can see he is confident to discover by clicking. He is not yet ready to use the software for a purpose, and will need plenty of experience of cause and effect, and pointing and clicking, while he builds on his skills and understanding.
Teaching points
Such children will progress:
* with some direct teaching. These children can be helped to read on-screen information through questioning, explaining and instructing, such as 'What do you think will happen if we click on this button?', 'Are there any other buttons we could try?' and so on.
* by working alongside their peer group. Put two chairs in front of the computer so they can learn more about how programmes work by watching and participating with each other.
* with appropriate software. Programmes such as 2Simple and Leaps and Bounds are excellent at helping children recognise how information can be presented in different ways and encouraging them to click and find out for themselves.
* by learning control and procedures through a range of technologies, such as digital cameras, programmable toys, role-play toys and remote controls.
Children will generalise from their learning, particularly if they are encouraged to talk about it.
* through discussion. When planning role play, urge children to consider the place of technology in any scenario.
* by modelling your own uses of technology and making over the procedures that you are following.
Case study: Charlie, three years old
Charlie stands by the computer and moves the mouse, makes a mark and tries again, but the pointer is at the bottom of the screen. He shakes the mouse and clicks repeatedly, but without effect. He continues to shake and click and the exit dialogue box appears. Now each time he clicks the computer beeps. He looks carefully at the screen but can't make anything happen.
Charlie may well have plenty of other kinds of experiences of technology in his life and have considerable ideas about what technology can do for him.
He is now interested in the computer and trying to gain some control over it.
Teaching points
Such children will progress:
* through appropriate access to the computer. Not all young children can manage a small mouse (most will not manage an adult mouse) and they may need an alternative until they develop the fine motor control to manage a mouse. A tracker ball is a good alternative and can be connected to a computer at the same time as a mouse
* with appropriate software. There are various programmes, such as Jump Ahead Toddlers, that will promote children's mouse skills and help them recognise cause and effect
* by setting the computer pointer to 'large', so the children can find it easily on the screen (some software has a large pointer, such as Jump Ahead Toddlers)
* through frequent supported access to various appropriate technologies.
Teach children on a need-to-know basis how to work a digital camera, a remote-control car, a keyboard and a programmable toy
* by encouraging their use of technology in role play, from which they will be able to generalise cause and effect, build up their fine motor skills, experience success and establish problem-solving skills
* by supporting them at the computer through task structuring, helping them to gain a measure of success and to continue feeling motivated to learn.
Case study: Hugh and Nathan
An adult helps Hugh photograph his model with a digital camera and asks Nathan, who is at the computer, for permission to print it. She involves both by asking if they know where the floppy drive is so they can insert the photo disc. Nathan knows where the drive is and inserts the floppy.
Then, with adult support, the boys look for the floppy disc icon on the desktop. They watch the photograph open and Nathan gets the model and matches it to the photograph. The adult leads them through to printing the photograph with Hugh holding the mouse; Nathan watches intensely.
Teaching points
All children need not feel the same about technology or use technology much of the time, but no child should miss out on developing ICT skills and knowledge that supports their learning and development. Such children will be helped by:
* making sure the role-play area contains everyday ICT equipment
* putting the computer in the role-play area. Discuss its uses in different role-play settings and provide appropriate software, such as 'At the Vets'
(Granada Learning)
* ensuring that ICT is purposeful. Not all children will want to use a computer, but they may love listening to songs and stories on a tape recorder. Help them to learn what the buttons are for and the sequence of buttons needed for different procedures (picture clues help)
* making sure ICT is relevant by personalising resources - for example, using photographs and scanned pictures with Pixie, photocopying hands to make place mats and making talking photo albums of events
* involving the children in how you use ICT. Make explicit what you are doing, why you are doing it and how technology is helping you and find ways in which the children can contribute, for example by selecting a border for a newsletter.
* building on children's interests and what they know and can do. If children are very social, encourage them to take photographs of their friends and family using a digital camera.
* making sure that technology is included in all areas of provision. For example, provide traffic lights near the trikes, a digital camera for taking photographs, or dance mats for music and movement.
* recognising that some children might not be interested in the computer because they are uninterested in games software. Make sure the computer is used to support creative learning. For example, scan in drawings, alter them in an art programme or scribe underneath the pictures as the children retell stories in their own words.
Adult role
To assess practice, use the following questions as the basis for a group discussion in your setting. How do we:
* stimulate children's interest in technology?
* help children become aware of the technology around them?
* teach simple skills in using ICT, such as how to operate an electronic toy?
* promote children's understanding of how things work?
* build on children's existing ICT skills and experiences?
* use a wide range of ICT in the setting, such as tape recorders and radio-controlled toys?
* incorporate ICT into role-play areas?
* encourage children to develop ideas and a sense of control over technology?
* introduce correct technical ICT language in conversations?
* give children opportunities to use ICT across all areas of learning and to support learning within all areas of provision?
* encourage conversations about using ICT in the environment?
* encourage children to show each other how to use ICT equipment?
* support collaborative and independent ICT experiences?
Recommended resources
Websites for practitioners
* Foundation.e2bn.net
* www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/foundation
* www.becta.org.uk
* www.early-education.org.uk
* www.ioe.ac.uk/cdl/DATEC/
* http://ecs.lewisham.gov.uk/talent/pricor/ foundation.html
* www.edu.dudley.gov.uk/foundation Websites for children
* www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/
* www.bbc.co.uk/education/numbertime
* www.mape.org.uk/kids/bigbooks/index.htm
* www.asiabigtime.com/storybooks/aki_menu.html
* www.bbc.co.uk/education/numbertime Software and resources
* 2Simple Infant Video Toolkit V2 (includes 2Go and 2Publish), tel: 0208 203 1781
* Revelation Natural Art, tel: 01223 425558
* Leaps and Bounds 3 and Musical Leaps and Bounds, tel: 0161 827 2927
* Fizzy's First Numbers, tel: 01666 843200
* Clicker5, tel: 0845 121 1691
* Millie's Maths House, tel: 0845 050 2400
* Pixie, tel: 01494 813471
* Early Learning Centre, tel: 08705 352352
* Duplo remote controls, tel: 01732 773399
* Digital cameras, microscope, role play and remote controls, tel: 01623 447800
* Talking Photo Album, tel: 01476 550391
* Learning and teaching using ICT; example materials for the Foundation Stage, CD, tel: 0845 6022260 Ref: DfES 0384-2004 GCDI Books
* More than computers - information and communication technology in the early years by Iram Siraj-Blatchford and John Siraj-Blatchford, available from Early Education (www.early-education.org.uk)
* Supporting information and communications technology in the early years by John Siraj-Blatchford and David Whitebread (OUP)
* The Little Book of ICT by Andrew Trythall (Featherstone Education) - activity book (www.featherstone.uk.com)
* Belair Early Years: Hands on ICT by Graham Parton, full of colour photographs and good ideas for teaching ICT,and includes home links
* Young children and technology - Early Education leaflet for parents and practitioners, can be downloaded from www.early-education.org.uk
Special needs Companies supplying software and hardware for children with special needs include:
* Crick, tel: 01604 671691
* Widgit, tel: 01223 425558
* SEMERC, tel: 0161 827 2927
* Inclusive Technology, tel: 01457 819790
* Liberator, tel: 01476 550 391 Most offer 30-day free trail evaluations on software
