The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary analysis of relations between child and environmental variables, including factors related to communication aid provision, and participation in informal everyday activities in a sample of children with complex communication needs.Ninety-seven caregivers of children provided with communication aids responded to a questionnaire survey. Child variables assessed were level of ability, trait emotional selfefficacy, and competence in communication aid use. Environmental variables assessed were the impact of childhood disability on the family, family socio-economic category, perceived reliability of electronic communication aids provided to children, and ease of use of the aid.The outcome measure was the intensity of child participation in informal activities.Significant correlations were observed between participation scores and the following variables: child age, level of ability, trait emotional self-efficacy, and family impact of childhood disability. Regression analyses highlighted trait emotional self-efficacy and, to a lesser degree, family impact of childhood disability as the strongest potential predictors of participation.While aspects of child personality may be difficult to disentangle from behaviours related to disability type or developmental age, this research highlights a clinical requirement to assess systematically child behaviours relating to their general emotional functioning.

Evidence also suggests that those younger children with partial intelligibility participated more frequently in recreational and social activities than both younger children without speech and older children. Results and limitations are discussed within the context of participation research in childhood disability, highlighting the impact of communicative resources and maturation on everyday participation. PARTICIPATION, COMMUNICATION AND AGE

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Abstract.A supportive Web browser, developed by the EU WWAAC project, aims to make the Internet easier to use by people with complex communication needs who use graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication. Further user consultations with older users, people with aphasia and people with learning disabilities, specifically with dyslexia, have demonstrated that the ability to personalise Internet software (for example, through the provision of simple summaries of content and the ability to configure the interface to suit individual needs) can potentially provide more accessible and usable interfaces for other user groups.

Andrew Lysley, information officer at the ACE Centre (MESU), Ormerod School, Headington, Oxford describes recent developments in computers, computerised aids and programs which help children with cerebral palsy to take their place in mainstream schools.