From Mandie Lewis's kitchen table in Bristol, the bi-annual special needs magazine Information Exchange goes out to teachers, nursery nurses and parents all around the world. There are readers in New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia, the US, Kenya, India and Brazil. Which is why, when the publication ceased for a year and it looked as if it was going to fold, there was a great outcry in readers' letters from faraway places.
'There was an incredible response,' says Sally Silverman, Information Exchange's managing editor. 'People said "There's no way that this can stop".' Sally works as a peripatetic teacher for multi-needs visually impaired children aged from birth to 19 in the West Country. She has six volunteers, who include Mandie Lewis, to help her put the magazine together. Information Exchange has been going for 20 years and it strives to be an unbiased and accessible network that continually evolves.
Sally explains, 'It started in 1979 as part of my dissertation for Birmingham University on specialist training for working with blind children.' She found special needs teachers to be innovative but isolated, and so started circulating a single photocopied fact sheet among them. The publication was picked up and supported by the Royal National Institute of the Blind for ten years, but in 1990 it went independent and its organisers bought their own printer. They opened their doors to teachers of the hearing impaired with the help of Wendy McCracken, a specialist in this area, and Ken Woods (see box) has organised the subscriptions since that time. Sheila Brill, another specialist teacher and parent of a special needs child, was editor for four years before Sally took over.
'The great thing is that we've put a lot of the ideas featured in the magazine into practice,' says Sally, adding that she is thinking of setting up a website. The first issue after the year-long gap will come out at the end of this month and be a special Millennium one with a colour front cover. The relaunch has been helped by a grant from the Dormouse Trust, which was set up by playwright Sir John Mortimer, who has written about his own father being blind.
Here follows a selection of ideas from Information Exchange's book, Rag Bag Ideas To Make.
Bottle Forest
This idea, which aims to create a mini environment which encourages children with very little voluntary movement to reach out and explore, was first designed by Tony Letts from Briarwood School in Bristol. The children benefit from being on a mat or resonance board with the 'forest' all around them. The slightest movement of a hand or foot can have quite a dramatic effect on the bottles. The activity needs adult supervision if there is a mixed group of children.
Materials needed: A collection of plastic lemonade, fizzy drink and water bottles. You could collect the one-litre ones, or the half-sized, the transparent or just the green or blue, depending on your theme.
Method
- Wash the bottles well and take off the labels. Decide the theme of your forest, which is most successful for children with profound and complex needs. It could be green for spring or multi-coloured for a circus theme.
- When you've decided on your colours, think about how to cover the bottles. Some could have beads, tinsel and objects which are not too heavy inside. Others could have textures pulled over them, old tights are useful here, or could have painted strips stuck on, or could be painted.
- Think about where the bottle forest is going to be suspended. At the Woodside Family Centre in Bristol, the bottle forest is suspended on a wooden clothes airer which is on a pully. This way the height can be adjusted as needed.
- Carefully attach the bottles to the frame with strong material, elastic or string.
Feelie board
This is simply a collection of washing-up gloves with an assortment of textures, shapes, sounds and weights inside them. These can include sand, marbles, plaster, netting, uncooked jelly, popoids, balloons with air, balloons with water, small objects in containers, crunchy paper, and assorted wooden and plastic shapes. You can also alter the texture of some of the gloves by turning them inside-out.
To attach them to the board use strips of Velcro. By making them detachable from the board the play value of the gloves is greatly enhanced.
From Glen Eastman, Elmfield House, Bristol
Balloon faces
My daughter Laura puts flour into a good-quality balloon until it feels full but not stretched. She then seals the top with a knot, decorates the balloon with a face and ties short pieces of wool over the knot for hair. These balloon faces make great tactile stress relievers. You can squeeze them into funny shapes.
From Mandi Piper, Beccles, Suffolk
Tactile hoop
Take a large hoop and attach various tactile or auditory items to it using lengths of ribbon. Students can then have the hoop placed over them and be left safely to explore the various items. If the items are dropped they are easily retrieved by the student with a simple tug on the ribbon.
From Julia Austin and Melinda Hutchinson, Orchard Hill Further Education Centre, Surrey
Pot-pourri
Some years ago when working with a group of children we made a huge basketful of this pot-pourri and the fragrance wafted through the unit. The ingredients are not suitable for handling by any individual who would put them in their mouth because of the danger of choking.
You will need: Two oranges, two cinnamon sticks, tablespoon nutmeg powder, a few small pine or larch cones, some alder cones, a few walnut shell halves.
Method
- Pare the orange peel into strips about 1cm wide and 4cm to 10cm long, leaving the pith behind. Roll each strip into a rose shape and secure with a toothpick. Leave in a warm place for two to three days to thoroughly dry out, or dry in a microwave (please check individual microwave books for times). When dry and brittle, remove toothpicks.
- If you want to spray or paint the walnut shells they should be given plenty of time to dry and for any smell or paint to fade. Ensure that all the cones are completely dry before use.
- Break the cinnamon sticks into pieces about 3cm to 4cm long.
- Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight box or plastic bag until ready to use.
- Place in a shallow bowl or tie loosely in a clean muslin (if you pack it too tightly you will prevent the aroma escaping) and let the fragrance fill the room.
From Wendy
Managing hearing aids and glasses when worn together
Materials needed: Velcro.
Method: Cut a tiny slither of the 'hooky' piece of Velcro and stick it on the outside of the glasses arm (behind the ear) and the other piece of Velcro on the side of the hearing aid. It works wonders!
From Bronwen Campbell, who is a teacher for the deaf. Thanks to Angela Humphries of New Fosseway School, Bristol, for sharing this with her.
