The Learning Hub, part of the Institute of Education (IoE) is committed to education; inclusion is an essential part of this commitment. The Hub aims to enhance the IoE students’ understanding of inclusion and diversity by incorporating specific equipment and books that are designed for blind, partially sighted and dyslexic children. A recent development in this area is PENpal. PENpal books are very different to ordinary paper books; they use ‘sound spots’, invisible to the eye but located in the corner of each page. These sound spots use ‘tactile talking technology’; the spots are sensitive to the PENpal and when touched by the PENpal the sensors inside the page borders are activated. The result is the book effectively ‘talks’ to the reader. PENpal texts are available in 55 different languages.
The pens and books are quite unique, and by the incorporation of such novel resources within the Hub, Education students are given not only a sense of the difficulties presented to some young readers by conventional readers but also of how ‘good practice’ can be promoted through the use of less conventional resources.
Thank you, Reading Alumni Fund.