The importance of computers when teaching students with special educational needs will be highlighted in an INTO document which will be launched shortly.

The teachers' union, in launching its strategy document The Way Ahead, wants to stress the importance of new technology for teachers of children with special educational needs. The union claims that "the current structures and resourcing levels" do not allow the potential of computers to be exploited fully.

"Computers have enormous potential to reduce or eliminate some of the learning difficulties associated with disability," says Senator Joe O'Toole, general secretary of the teachers' union, in his introduction to this strategy document. The INTO "wishes to ensure that suitable technological resources are provided to teachers of children with special educational needs to allow them to deliver an appropriate service," he says. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) "has tremendous potential for enhancing the learning opportunities for children with special needs", he says. "The current grant application procedures which teachers may use for accessing ICT for children with special educational needs are totally unclear, inadequate and haphazard," says the INTO.

The INTO wants every child with special educational needs to have access "as a matter of right, to any device/piece of equipment which enhances their ability to participate in classroom activities".

"More emphasis must be given to ICT and special education/learning difficulties in pre-service courses for teachers," the strategy document states. It also says that "provision needs to be co-ordinated" and "clear procedures identified for granting access to technology for children with special educational needs".