Hi everyone:
I am a brand new reader of this website. I work for an Independent Living Center and work with individuals who have a disability.
I have a middle aged woman who is dyslexic and attends one of the California State’s University. She has trouble with reading and spelling. I am looking for any suggetions to help her with those two subjects. I am considering a Reading Pen #2 and a spell checker. I would appreciate it if any of you would take the time and point me in the right direction for anything that would help her.
She graduated from a community college and transferred to university. She has two part-time jobs to help pay for college. I have told her to go to both Disabled Students Departments.
Thank you for any help.
Mel
Re: Help for a dyslexic college student
Depending on the courses she’s taking, she might also find books on tape helpful. The Recordings for the Blind will also allow dyslexic people to borrow their tapes.
But first of all, she should go - with her documentation - to the Learning Support Office at her school. She is protected by federal law and a state university is usually very aware of that and thus very supportive of their students with identified learning differences. Depending on what her documentation says or will say - if she’s retested - she could be provided with a tape recorder, a note taker, an Alpha Smart etc.among other accomodations.
Suggestions
I’m very new at this but, Have attended college with Dyslexia and ADHD. Two things helped greatly. Takeing classes that had essay questions for the tests. Yes spelling is a problem. But if letter reversal occurs B’s and D’s on a multiple choice test can kill a great. Also if book reading is a problem. see if the Professor’s will let you tape leactures. Listening to the tape over and over again while walking to class or driving to work. Seems to put all knowledge that both the professor and class wants you to learn. Some Professors tend to just repeat the book. I can offer no help on math. It is still kicking my butt. I hope this helps.
I’d look into a Franklin Speller first — the pens are generally not that easy to use and present problems for folks with dyslexia. It’s sort of like speech recognition — it’s just not quite there yet.
Getting connected with the disabiliites services folks is probably the most important move to make.