Ian Bean was formerly the Consultancy and Training Manager at Inclusive Technology in the UK where he led a team of teachers and therapists providing consultancy and training services to schools in the use of assistive technology to support the learning, communication and leisure needs of students with disabilities. He has recently launched out independently as a Special Educational Needs and Assistive Technology Consultant based in the UK – but available to provide his valuable services worldwide!

Ian is also known for his work at Priory Woods School, where he taught learners of all ages with a wide range of severe and multiple disabilities – internationally recognised as a model of best practice in the use of ICT for this student group. Ian wrote and maintains the popular Priory Woods web site which is visited by many thousands of people each day eager to use the free switch and touch screen programs he wrote for the site. So popular in fact, that there have now been 3.5 million downloads of the activities! See http://www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk/page_viewer.asp?page=Resources&pid=4

He has an in-depth knowledge of assistive technology and has developed and shares detailed assessment techniques and novel teaching strategies to exploit the full potential of these technologies. He is passionate in his belief that technology has the potential to enable and empower ALL learners providing them with rich, meaningful and personalised learning experiences. He is a former Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) ICT in Practice Award winner for Inclusion; an award winning website designer; and a popular speaker at conferences around the world.