The last thing to do is associate the library file you have built up with the particular student. To do this return to the main control panel and click on the Edit user button at the top this will open the Edit Child dialogue box go down to Library to use and click the down arrow tab on the right hand side click on the new library you have just made then click on OK at the bottom. With luck all you need to do is Click on GO. Remember that everything can be changed and that to escape from the program press escape.

Have fun with this little application. It is free to use in schools.

Dave Barlow, Northern Grid for Learning, 2000

This is the main box to allocate your sound, images and movie files. Click on add a new element. Type in the name of the individual sound file or picture you wish to use, press OK and you should then see the word you have typed into the previous box appear under the word elements. You can also associate a sound file with a particular picture to emphasise the effect. Click on OK when you have built up your library of images and sounds, these can be any you have available or can find on the Internet.

Now click on New. Another box will open and you need to give your files a name I have entered Sounds.

Then click on OK.

Yet another box opens (sorry about all the boxes) but you will soon get to know how the program is laid out. You should now see the box below.

To start with click on the Switch A/1 Click On the top tab, which says Setup. A small dialogue box will be displayed. Press your space bar (as a switch) to start with. You can alter this later to any kind of switch. Then click on OK at the bottom of the box.

The next job is to edit the Library files. These are your images, sounds, movies etc. The program needs to be told where these files are situated on the computer hard drive.

Click on Edit Library Sets another dialogue box opens see below.

After this you need to set-up which of your the switches is to be to be used, you can use the keyboard if you don't have a switch nearby. Click on the Set-up Switches tap at the bottom of the main control panel. If you have done this you should see the next dialogue box. As you can see it is possible to set up a number of possible switches to access the software.

You can see from this dialogue box that there are a number of buttons that can be activated. I suggest that you leave the top one set for now; this can be altered at any time. When you have done this click on OK.

The next thing to do is to select a game. I suggest that you click on Select-an-item (1 user) to start things off.

This main control section of the program and it is from here that you can add users, sounds and pictures. The first thing to do is to add a child to the list of users. Click on the Add tab at the top of the page to put in the name of the student. After you have entered a name another dialogue box appears, see below.

Switch Communication Tool

Introduction

This software was written for the students at Abbey Hill School Technology College http://www.abbeyhill.stockton.sch.uk during the early months of 2000. A student from Teesside University's Computing and Mathematics department spent a 15-week work placement at the school as part of his course. Alex Seewald (a French student) worked on this program. It is written in Visual Basic and can be uninstalled from your machine if you do not wish to continue to use it.

Aim

The software is a content free framework to encourage students to use switches to operate a computer. It is very simple in operation the only thing that takes time is building up the picture, sound and possibly movie files. When you first load up the program after installation you should see the dialogue box below.

SEN Software