Background – This year I am teaching a primary 1 class.  The children are developing their reading skills and the focus just now is ‘reading with expression’. Included in the class is a child with elective mutism, (undiagnosed), who has never spoken to adults either in her 2 years nursery experience or since starting school.

How ICT supported learning – A group of 7 children were instructed to video each other while reading with a focus on reading for expression. I left the children in the open area while I worked with the remaining groups. On playing back the videos through the Smart board the class watched and talked about the way each was reading.  I was then amazed and delighted to hear the child who had not spoken, reading to her partner.

Impact -The FLIP camera has provided a wonderful opportunity for all the children to demonstrate their reading skills and to talk about good reading skills and how to improve theirs. However the greatest impact was concerning the child whom I had never heard speak.  Firstly she now knows I am aware she can speak. Moreover I had been very concerned about how I would assess her and this could provide an appropriate medium for assessment.  I feel this camera could provide an essential tool to open up the child’s ability to communicate.

Monika Dickson