In the NCTE, I work together with my colleague Ellen Haughey, a former special needs teacher from the USA, and together we selected a number of websites of interest from both sides of the Atlantic! We both have strong opinions of the layout of websites and have chosen some of our favourites in terms of content, currency and user-friendliness.

Special Olympics World Games Ireland 2003
With the next Special Olympics due to take place in 2003, this website is certainly one to watch. Already, one can find out what games will be featured through the Sports & Competition button, get information about the forthcoming Education Programme and find out about Ireland’s Host Towns for the different participating countries. Earlier this year, the site was made available in nine different languages making it a truly international website. The site is well laid out and simple to use, and can serve as both an educational and inspirational tool for all students.
URL: http://www.2003specialolympics.com/

European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education
The European Agency is an independent, self-governing organisation supported by the ministries of education in various European countries. Its website contains a wealth of information about special education in the 17 participating countries, as well as in-depth country-specific information which provides an outline of how special education is organised in the different countries across Europe. Of particular interest is its ICT project, which aims to establish a resource bank of information relating to ICT policies and practices in special needs education and a growing database of examples of ICT use in special needs education. This website is a great starting point for finding out comparative information about what’s happening in other countries.
URL: http://www.european-agency.org/

St John of God School, Dublin
Moving from the global to the local, I selected one of my favourite special school websites to share with you. The St John of God School caters for students from 4 to 18 years of age who have moderate general learning disabilities. Its attractive website is an example to all schools, showing what can be done with limited resources by interested teachers, especially when all teachers in the school come on board to help with the content. The content of this website includes materials by and for the students, as well as information, resources and research by the teachers. I note from the web newsletter that the next planned development is towards parental involvement in both the website and its Internet Committee, which will certainly make for a very comprehensive website catering to all of those involved with the students’ education.
URL: http://homepage.eircom.net/~johnofgodschool

LD OnLine: Learning Disabilities Information & Resources
LD OnLine is a service of the Learning Project in the United States and contains a great deal of information on specific learning disabilities as well as Attention Deficit Disorder. This interactive guide is geared at parents, students, teachers, and other professionals. It contains articles written by leading experts in the field as well as research findings and the latest news in the field of learning disabilities. Other areas of the site worth looking into include an extensive technology section, Ask Dr. Silver (a Learning Disabilities expert), and the Kid Zone. The site also contains many valuable resources, an excellent search feature and can be translated into several different languages.
URL: http://www.ldonline.org/

The ConnSENSE Bulletin is an informal American website that provides information on assistive technology to help individuals with disabilities. This site includes excellent articles, federal updates, as well as teacher friendly resources, software reviews and assistive technology sites. The main appeal of this site is that it welcomes contributions from all, especially people in their local area. It is definitely worth having a look. Other sites might do well to adopt this approach.
URL: http://www.connsensebulletin.com/

SET-BC is a Canadian resource programme designed to assist schools districts in British Columbia in meeting the technology needs of students with physical disabilities and visual impairments. Although some of the information on this website is specifically for teachers in the school district, there is enough other valuable information here to make it worth your while. There are product information resources, an Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) newsletter as well as some great assistive technology curriculum resources for teachers. Also be sure to check out the Student Stories section which highlights different students each month who use assistive technology for writing, reading, communication and social skills.
URL: http://www.set.gov.bc.ca/